“Goal times,” an Olympian’s challenge for all the rest of us

By Mark A. Taylor

NBC’s Lester Holt asked Olympic swimming champion Caeleb Dressel if he had come to Tokyo expecting to finish the games with five gold medals. “I didn’t come here to count medals,” Dressel replied. “I came here to fulfill what my potential is in this sport. My goal in this sport ultimately is goal times.” Then, with a smile he added, “I didn’t reach my goal times, but rarely do I ever. So it’s exciting to be able to move forward from this meet, still hungry, knowing this isn’t the end goal or the pinnacle of my swimming career.”

Unequaled performance

Refreshing, isn’t it? Here’s an athlete in the world’s most visible competition focusing on his own improvement and not on his success at outperforming all the others.

It’s an attitude shared by many we’ve seen vaulting, racing, jumping, skateboarding, diving, and catapulting themselves onto and off of bars and beams. The drive to do better, to be faster, to perfect form, to increase distance—we’ve seen it every day.

And as we watch, we shake our heads at performance that seems, if not superhuman, certainly beyond what we could ever have hoped to equal. The tendency is to be amazed and then simply to move on. But I can’t get past Dressel’s talk about “goal times.” What if each of us pondered personal “goal times” to improve our own health or value?

Personal improvement

Of course, we’ll never be Olympic athletes. But even us oldsters could walk a little farther, a little faster in our neighborhood jaunts. We could eat a little healthier, be more careful about wearing sunscreen, take the stairs instead of the elevator.

But our health is only the beginning. Personal, spiritual improvement is always possible, too, and that’s the inspiration I can take from an attitude like Dressel’s.

One of my favorite Facebook posters often offers a challenge something like this each December or January: “So what personal or professional shortfall is still with you at the end of another year? What progress have you seen on making yourself a better person and your world a better place?”

Niggling problems

The questions penetrate, but they need not lead to self-flagellation. There’s no future in beating up on yourself. But if we harbor a niggling problem that makes us less happy or effective, one question looms: When will we have the courage to address it?

Maybe we talk too much, or don’t speak up as often as we should. Maybe we’re always late to work, or always bringing work home on the weekend. Maybe we spend too much time on the internet, too little time with good books. Maybe it’s a relationship breach that lingers year after year, a habit we haven’t confronted, a hobby we know we’d love to try, a class we’ve always said we’ll take someday. Maybe we want to give more, save more, manage better.

Are we reading the Bible? Learning to pray? What are we doing to improve the impact of the church in our community?

In short, are we reaching our “goal times”? Do we even have “goal times”? That’s the challenge I feel when I hear Dressel, a world record holder, talk about improving his performance.

Starting today

Life is hard, responsibilities are many, and days are busy. I get it. But it surprises me to realize how often I still tell myself I’m too busy, even now that I’m retired with more unstructured time than ever. I’ve decided time is not the issue as often as attention.

Things don’t get better on their own. A Christian college president once told me, “I’ve discovered that problems do not go away by ignoring them.” The leader may think a contentious team member will one day get nice, that a lazy worker will eventually decide to up his effort, that a dysfunctional system will improve if we just try harder. But this doesn’t happen.

Neither will I become my best self, the person God all along had in mind for me to be, without a decision to act.

The new year may not be the best time to set a personal goal or two. Maybe the best time is today. Now we’re enjoying the quiet weeks of August, at the end of the summer before the new school year starts, after vacation and before the holidays. This could be the perfect time to look at ourselves and admit an area or two where improvement is possible, desirable, maybe even critical.

Like Dressel, none of us is at the pinnacle. “Goal times” are for everyone.

Caeleb Dressel photo courtesy of Toyota Newsroom. Olympics rings photo by Alex Smith on Unsplash

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