Goals, Desire and Ambition

Morning came with a sliver of light through the opaque drapes. I was eager to see what a night’s sleep did to Tanner’s foot. I watched him slowly rise and look himself. One foot was a round ball at the bottom of his long leg. There was purple along his heel. He put his foot on the tile floor, but could not put any weight on it at all. He hopped to the bathroom.

We both knew what this meant. He had to ride in the truck with Andrew today. We wondered if maybe one day of rest would be enough. We hoped. We had come 3000 miles with a job to do. Racing a course you have never seen before is not ideal, although the next 75 miles Tanner had seen in the race two years earlier. After that, it was all new to us, as the course wound south.

It was the start of the first full day and we were a man down already. I was bummed out. Heading south from San Felipe the course was fast sandy roads – like 75 miles an hour fast. At that speed, a motocross helmet, with its big visor, becomes a sail, and you struggle, exposed against the wind. When you’re going at that speed, things happen quicker. You have to watch your GPS for upcoming turns because missing one could put you into a barbed wire fence or down a ditch or hillside.

The sand road abruptly turned to the infamous San Felipe whoops, which for the next 23 miles were pretty rocky. It takes a lot of physical strength when you get into rough terrain. 

A positive attitude won’t help you if you aren’t physically prepared and don’t know what you need to do to get a job done. A change in attitude means nothing without a change in behavior. We have to be ready. We have to learn from others. We have to do the work. Nobody can do your push-ups for you. And when the time comes, it will be obvious who’s been working in the offseason when nobody was looking.

When you are ready, then a positive attitude will help you do everything better than a negative attitude will – and it’s easier to have a positive attitude when you are prepared. Confidence comes from preparation.

If someone followed you each day and wrote down everything you did to be a chronicle of your life for all to see forever, what would they write? Do you make each moment count? Would it be obvious to the observer what your goals were? What were you getting better at? What were you preparing for? Each activity is to our detriment or our credit.

In his book, Die Empty, Todd Henry talks about mediocrity. It’s settling in and succumbing to the stasis. Mediocrity comes from the Latin word “medius” meaning “middle,” and “ocris” meaning a rugged mountain. It literally means “to settle halfway to the summit of a difficult mountain”; a compromise of abilities and potential. A negotiation between the drive to excel and the biological urge to settle for the most comfortable option. Mediocrity is aimlessness, comfort, boredom, delusion, ego, fear and guardedness. Its antonym is excellence.

Antidotes to mediocrity? Define your battles, be fiercely curious, step out of your comfort zone, know yourself, be confidently adaptable, find your voice, and stay connected.

Here I was, a kid from Connecticut, over 3000 miles from home, riding this dirt bike in the rocks amongst the cacti, “practicing”; chasing a dream. All I can see is sand and rocks coming at me like an undulating conveyor belt. Hundreds of miles of this. Why? A goal gives purpose to these moments, and these hours and days and months – and years. 

Without a goal backed by desire and ambition, these are just meaningless rocks and sand…

…and I would never be here.