The Greatest Lesson of 2024

2024. What can I say? One of the hardest years yet.

Multiple injuries back to back, losing a loved one, witnessed others close to me succumb to addiction all while working on my own “areas of improvement”.

Last year ebbed and flowed. Highs and lows.

But one thing continued to come up as a recurring theme or lesson….

What is power, without presence?

This point, I feel strongly inclined to share and would highly recommend you consider; especially if you are of a “growth mindset”.

Seeking “power” without “presence”  will only lead you into trouble.

It is not if, but when.

I am not dimming down the idea of seeking greatness.

But personally as an athlete and professionally for over a decade as a coach, I’m witnessing the same mistake being made time and time again.

About as far as most people’s discipline goes is seeking the ability to do more or be better.

The seductive and socially celebrated “power”

When I say “power” I’m referring to the feeling of being unstoppable. Feeling limitless.

Specifically, in the physical sense.

One could argue, that’s exactly the business that I am in, and I’d agree.

Helping people become powerful.

But I’d be ignoring the greatest lesson I’ve learned as a competitive athlete and coach if I let people pursue that desire without presence or intention.

Consider this…

You have your entire life to keep pushing at whatever it is you love.

You can be competitive; cut-throat even.

You can push yourself and increase your potential.

But you will have to flex your mind as much as your body.

What I’ve found is that most “active” people seem to be after one thing alone:

their athletic ambition.

Many of these folks are throwing away everything else to have a heavy metal season.

I’m no different. I too have suffered from this trap which proved to be part of my lesson this year.

Let’s be more wise than to look at this season alone; pushing too hard with no consideration for the big picture.

Training beyond 80%.

And more times than not, as a result, developing some bad habit, poor imbalance, actual injury or complete systemic fatigue.

I have experienced each. Rehabbed athletes through each and continue to witness people driving themselves into the ground.

So what’s missing?

The culturally unsexy yet truly life-changing “presence”

Presence begins with awareness.

Awareness of this moment here and now.

Presence is knowing.

It’s recognizing when you are doing something inefficiently.

Or repeating a pattern of compensation that’ll lead to injury.

Aware of your breath, noticing when the pace has increased.

It’s becoming familiar with your 80%, and listening.

All so that you can play/compete/explore for many years to come.

Presence is also looking at the big picture…

It’s taking into consideration the season and your training calendar.

Planning deloads, recovery, in what sessions to push hard, etc.

It’s in these moments of recovery that we can integrate and download the hard work we’ve been doing.

There are many “practices” in building presence or awareness.

Here are two of my favourites:

Mindful Movement

A practice like yoga grows your awareness of your body, your breath and how adjusting each can change the outcome exponentially.

But even without joining a yoga class you can practice this on your own.

Simply be mindful of how you’re moving, how you are breathing, or where regions of your body are in space. Feet, pelvis, rib cage, head position. All these can set up a runner for either injury or efficiency.

But it’s this mindfulness on the mat, or in a movement session that can directly transfer to your activity.

On the bike I often say to myself, “eyes up”.

Where my gaze is will change how I ride.

When I descend loose fast terrain, or long steep slabs, I think about where my heels are and how much I’m digging them in.

In a corner, there’s a sweet spot; I’ll watch, wait, adjust my hips, shoulders then at the perfect time push hard and for a moment the tires will drift, to then catch and spit me out of the corner with speed and lined up for the next feature.

This all happens in milliseconds. And often, it happens without much thought. In a state of “flow”. But this state, this practice, becomes much easier the more I ride and the more I practice other methods of connecting with my body.

Morning Ritual

Above all, the most valuable thing I’ve ever done for myself is having a morning practice of solitude and self reflection. Just be.

Spend the first part of your day doing some kind of personal practice.

Check in!

Where’s my mind?

Am I calm and centred?

Or anxious and overwhelmed.

Move a little bit.

How’s my body?

Am I tight and sore? Where? What from? How can I adjust?

Rarely are two sequential days the same.

Some days, I want to move slowly.

So I’ll lift, yoga or hike.

Others, and often, I want to go fast.

So I ask, do I have the conditions necessary to do so?

Are the trails greasy? Am I fatigued? Well fuelled?

Presence is knowing.

And in knowing, recognizing when something doesn’t feel right.

Whether that be your equipment, your body or your mind.

Without presence, without knowing, you are left to guess and you are left to doubt.

Presence is more work than power:

Presence is knowing.

Discipline is listening.

It’s hard work!

Presence takes more discipline and quieting the noise than chasing power.

I don’t know about you, but sitting still for an hour is way harder than getting out for an hour long training session.

But it’s worth it.

The more consistently I practice slowing down, or taking time to appreciate the big days in the mountains and respectively meet them with rest days, the more I find peace in it all. I think to myself “this is enough”.

I feel light, grateful, stoked to have lived such a rad day.

It’s then I realize I have everything I need, and I just want to play.

Happiness is simply the absence of desire. When you observe a cue, but do not desire to change your state, you are content with the current situation. Happiness is not about the achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire. It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently. Happiness is the state you enter when you no longer want to change your state.

- James Clear; Atomic Habits

I called presence un-sexy earlier. Though I would say it’s very much the opposite.

What I mean, is it’s not marketed and sold to us as sexy.

Presence, is bad to business. You can’t sell it because you already own it.

And the more of it you own, the less other junk you desire.

You’ve got the tool, it just needs a little sharpening.

On the other hand, know what’s good for business?

Whatever platform you subscribe to that gives you kudos every time you go do an activity.

The bigger the better.

It will keep you plugged in.

It will make you feel powerful.

Every time you get that extra hit of dopamine on top of your efforts (which should be enough in the first place).

That’s the frightening thing about dopamine, your baseline moves every day.

Making you susceptible and victim to reaching for more.

Powerful stuff right there.

I hope you’re using it with awareness.

The risk of racing to the top, without presence

Most clients I work with in the later years of their life, and most people that have retired from competition seem to agree on a similar feeling…

That if they could go back, they’d do it differently.

I have spent time training in the USA and I have spent time practicing in Japan.

In only one culture are people in their 70’s eating in a squat.

In fact, our neighbours to the South can barely move into a squat at half that age.

Is the power we as athletes pursue really worth the sacrifice of later enjoying what you love?

Let me ask this way.

If you could feel limitless, for longer, why wouldn’t you?

Power alone might get you to the top, but you will not remain there.

It’s a fast climb, and a fast fall.

But when presence meets power, it might be a longer climb towards the top, requiring more patience; little adjustments, tweaks, rest days and recovery protocol along the way.

But your time, dancing, playing and competing with the best will last much longer.

If you so wish.

There are two ways to become an incredible athlete.

Only one presents an opportunity to stay that way.

It is not with force alone, but mindful, intentional finesse.

Practice presence, when you are in the pursuit of power.

Much Love.

And may 2025 be both adventurous and grounded.