Goals vs. Opportunity || Coach Wes Kimball

Whether it be in the fitness, nutrition, business, or just life in general goals are all the rage. Pick up any book on one these topics and there is sure to be a chapter or two on setting goals. Short term goals, long term goals, SMART goals, big hairy audacious goals! The list goes on and on.  While I agree that goals are important they tend to overshadow a simpler and to me more powerful concept: Opportunity.

Opportunity is presented to us daily and finding happiness, success, and achievement hinges on us recognizing these opportunities and seizing them.  Maybe it’s an opportunity to help someone that’s not as good as you at something. You learn by teaching and the person you help has a new respect for you as a person and a peer. Maybe there’s an opportunity for you to go above and beyond what’s asked in a job or as an athlete. You don’t have to do the little extra things but your coach or superior notices when you do. Setting yourself up to be depending on down the road.  Maybe it’s something bigger like moving to new city, taking a risk, talking to a stranger, or exploring a new place. All things that don’t fit nice and clean into a goal or plan, but force us to grow as a people and expand our view of the world.

I’m a relatively young guy that doesn’t have a ton of life experience. However, I’ve seen on numerous occasions, people so wrapped up in what the end state of a “goal” should look like that they fail to see thousands of opportunities to get themselves there. I’ve also seen many a successful person that has seized a moment or opportunity that’s carried them far past what they thought could be accomplished.  Ultimately both are important, but don’t get blinded by the pursuit of something, and miss out on all the wonderful opportunities around you.

-Coach Wes