Counting the Cost

Now that the competition season is in full swing, wrestlers are starting to see if the visions in their heads are dreams or goals. I have never met a wrestler (or any person for that matter) that starts out with the intent to fail. Early season talk is always about the championships, awards, and honors they are going to win. Yet, within just a few weeks, the majority of them will be relegated to "hopefully qualifying" or just getting close to success. What happens to those wonderful thoughts of glory? How do they go from visions of winning the "big matches" to settling for keeping the score close during a loss, or "at least not getting pinned?"

The answer is Reality. Too many wrestlers go into the season holding some superficial, positive, middle-class, I can-do-it "picture" in their minds and then run into some mean, hungry, determined SOB that rams their slick new technique down their dainty little throats.

Why does this happen? Because so many people try to buy championship success at bargain-basement prices. The fact is, the cost to reach those dreams is often much higher than people are willing to pay. I've seen more examples than I care to count. Wrestlers start "working out" a week or two before the season, or they've picked up a new move or two. They have lots of energy and enthusiasm, only to fizzle out when they find out things aren't going to be as easy as they thought. If they had counted the cost first -- if they had seriously investigated what it would take to make them successful in wrestling -- they may have competed in the off season, or worked harder in the weight room. Instead, they're right back where they started- dissatisfied and unfulfilled.

The good news is, You can avoid this scenario. In my next blog I'll discuss how to turn those dreams into goals, by "Paying the Price."