{"id":13789,"date":"2019-09-09T09:53:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T16:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/?p=13789"},"modified":"2025-06-27T04:54:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T04:54:10","slug":"for-ski-racing-success-devil-is-in-the-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/for-ski-racing-success-devil-is-in-the-details\/","title":{"rendered":"For Ski Racing Success, the \u2018Devil is in the Details\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been my observation that the best ski racers in the world don\u2019t just do what most other ski racers do. It reminded me of one of my favorite sayings (which I invented), \u201cIf you want to ski like everyone else, be like everyone else,\u201d in other words, do what everyone else is doing.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the Michaelas and Marcels (we\u2019ll miss you!) do what most other ski racers don\u2019t do. Here\u2019s a list of the \u201cdevil is in the details\u201d items that most young racers don\u2019t consistently do:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set outcome and process goals<\/li>\n<li>Have a detailed plan on how to achieve their goals<\/li>\n<li>Focus on the process more than results<\/li>\n<li>Know their strengths and weaknesses<\/li>\n<li>Focus on their weaknesses<\/li>\n<li>Watch their nutrition<\/li>\n<li>Go to sleep at a decent hour<\/li>\n<li>Continue to stay focused and work hard when conditioning or training gets tiring, painful, boring, or monotonous<\/li>\n<li>Have a training routine that they use before every training and race run to ensure consistent and total preparation<\/li>\n<li>Do warm-up before training.<\/li>\n<li>Do recovery after training<\/li>\n<li>Tune their skis every day<\/li>\n<li>Keep a journal or training log<\/li>\n<li>Control their tech use (yes, too much tech is bad!)<\/li>\n<li>Lead a consistent life<\/li>\n<li>Be a student of our sport<\/li>\n<li>Do mental imagery off-snow at least three times a week<\/li>\n<li>Embrace adversity<\/li>\n<li>Stay positive and motivated when struggling<\/li>\n<li>Anything else that might impact your ski racing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And being a really committed ski racer doesn\u2019t mean you do these things because your coaches tell you to or because your training group is doing it. Instead, you do it because you know it\u2019s important to achieve your ski racing goals. And you never forget just like you never forget to go to conditioning or on-snow training. Why? Because it\u2019s just what you do to be your best.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-12843\" src=\"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Atomic-logo.jpg\" alt=\"Atomic\" width=\"183\" height=\"72\" \/>So, are you a really committed ski racer? If so, you are on a very good road, so stay on it. If you\u2019re not, it\u2019s not too late. With the winter upon us and race season already underway for some and soon to be for most, here\u2019s my challenge to you. Make a list of everything that might impact your ski racing (you can use my list above, but I might have missed some items). Then, put a check next to every item that you are already doing consistently (occasionally doesn\u2019t count). Then, put an X next to those that you aren\u2019t doing consistently. From that X list, first, make a commitment to doing them (that\u2019s where really committed ski racers start). Then, find a time in your day in which you will do those really committed things (if you don\u2019t, you\u2019ll forget). Finally, because talk is cheap, do those really committed things every opportunity you have (that\u2019s where really committed racers finish).<\/p>\n<p>Being really committed doesn\u2019t mean that you are so focused on your ski racing goals all of the time that you\u2019re not allowed to have some fun by staying up late periodically, checking your social media, or having some junk food every once in a while. At the same time, you also realize that it may be fun to do those things, but it\u2019s far more fun to ski fast and achieve your ski racing goals.<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t guarantee that if you do the things that really committed ski racers do, you\u2019ll beat those who aren\u2019t as committed; there are just too many other factors that influence our sport to make such a promise. But I can guarantee that you will become the best ski racer you can be. That may be skiing for your high school team, regional FIS races, competing in college, earning a USST jacket, or winning an Olympic medal. I can also say that, whatever level of ski racing you reach, if you\u2019re a really committed ski racer, you will experience great enjoyment and satisfaction in your journey. You will have no regrets or have to ask yourself, \u201cI wonder what could have been?\u201d And you will learn some amazing life lessons and skills that you can then transfer into other aspects of your life where I am confident you will find great success. Because it\u2019s really committed people who find success, happiness, and meaning in their lives. And that, my friends, is the ultimate goal for why you should ski race.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Want to make a real commitment to your mental training? Take a look at my<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/prime-ski-racing-online-courses\/\"><em>online mental training courses<\/em><\/a><strong><em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been my observation that the best ski racers in the world don\u2019t just do what most other ski racers do. It reminded me of one of my favorite sayings (which I invented), \u201cIf you want to ski like everyone else, be like everyone else,\u201d in other words, do what everyone else is doing. Instead, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1516],"tags":[712,350,230,1306,153,155,61],"class_list":["post-13789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ski-racing","tag-commitment","tag-mental-preparation","tag-motivation","tag-passion","tag-ski-racing-2","tag-sport-psychology","tag-sports-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19078,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13789\/revisions\/19078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}