ARTICLE: Priorities Focus on what you want to accomplish

Success, Making it a Priority

By Matt Vincent

Making training a priority is necessary if you want to be successful.  This idea is definitely nothing new, however many people still don’t get it.  For the last two years I have been competing in Highland Games seriously.  In that time I have gone from being a decent amateur to winning the IHGF Amateur World Championships in Spokane, WA this past weekend.  To make this happen I had to make training to throw far my priority.  When I tell people about the amount of time I put into throwing and training I usually hear that they do not have time to train like that.  Well I’m here to say that the reason I have time to train like I do is because I make time.  The most important thing in my life is my relationship with my wife, without this everything falls apart.  Next is making sure my job is being done well, not having a job is not an option and I like the one I have.  Third is my training.  Everything else in my life falls into distant places behind that. 

Having time to train properly is something that does not just happen, it’s something that you have to make happen.  When I write my training program, I do the workouts as scheduled each day with little exception.  I don’t skip training to go to the bar with friends or because I am tired at the end of the day from work.  Everyone has an hour or two that they could get for training if they wanted to.  The key here is that “want” to train.  There will be sacrifices made so that your priorities stay in line.  However, anything worth accomplishing is hard and will require sacrifice and discipline.  If something is truly important to you then these sacrifices are will not be an issue.  This dedication to what you want to accomplish will get you closer to your goals. 

I have tried many different things to dial in what works best for me.  Personally I like a high training volume.  I can lift and throw in the afternoon in about an hour-hour and a half at most.  I do all of my recovery work in the am before work.  I do some walking ( 10-30 min) then rolling and stretching, this usually give me time to wake up clear my head and figure out what I need to try and accomplish that day in training and work.  Another sacrifice I have had to make is now I train alone 90% of the time.  When I was focusing on powerlifting I was training with a great group -- however the workouts were taking too long.  Even though getting a chance to talk shop and bullshit with a group of guys is something I enjoyed, it wasn’t getting me any closer to my end goal.  Because of that I had to take my training back to my garage and go it alone.  Many people hate training alone and find it hard to self motivate; I’m not one of those people.  I have goals I am focused on achieving, and that is all the motivation I need. 

               

                In short if there is something you want to accomplish in your sport or life for that matter, stop talking about it or making excuses and get to doing it.  Every day that you sit by and do nothing, you just gave yourself one less day to accomplish things before you die.  So time is short and there is no time like now.  Stop making excuses and get your priorities set for whatever it is that you want to do.