Strength By Skyler

By Skyler Zarndt MS, ATC, RSCC

Do you make it count?  Do you have purpose?  Do you wake up each morning with a goal?

If I were to ask most people that question, I would get an unsure “yes” or “I think so.”  But do you really?

Is your goal each day to wake up, drag yourself to work, make it through your 8 hours without screwing up or looking stupid, and going home, all in an effort to collect a paycheck every 2 weeks?

I’ll be the first to admit that many times – probably more often than not – my “goal” has been unclear and muted.  I’ll come into work with great intentions and positive energy, but without a clearly defined goal, or better yet, a Self Mission Statement, I find myself merely going through the motions.

As a strength coach, especially in professional sports, it’s easy to let a guy come in and lift, knock out a workout, and leave without having much of an impact on him.  There is a definite problem with this: It’s my JOB to have an impact!  What am I doing??  How can I make him better?!  How can I make ME better?!

If you ask him “how can I help?” he might respond with “nothing, I’m good” or “uuuh, I think I got it.”

Oh really?  There’s not ONE thing you can get better at?  Because I sure as hell know I have a million things that I need to get better at, so let’s make this time together count!

So every single day we need to ask ourselves “What am I going to do today to make a difference?”  What is something I can do every single day that will have a positive effect on my athletes?  The changes we can induce may be physiologically based, performance based, psychologically based, or emotionally based.  Even if the difference we make is small and all we do is make a guy laugh or make him feel good about himself, then we’ve accomplished something.

But I refuse to not have an impact.

The good Lord did not put me or you or anybody on this earth to waste our talents and accept going through the motions.  So everyday, ask yourself how you can make a difference in someone’s life.  You’ve got to make each day count.