Goal setting is part of every athlete’s journey. We write them in notebooks, talk about them in check-ins, and sometimes even define our entire training cycle by them.

But over time—both as an athlete and a coach—I’ve learned that not all goals are created equal.

Every year feels like a full training cycle—physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Some lifts land. Some don’t. Some weeks feel smooth. Others feel like everything’s heavier than it should be.

This past year wasn’t my strongest year competitively.

But it was one of my best years personally.