I meet lots of people who have goals.

When someone tells me their goals, whether it’s race goals or general life goals, I can tell if they’re just talk, or if they’re going to “make them happen”

It seems that when you speak about your goals, if you believe what you’re saying can actually happen. It changes your body language.

If the goal is truly inspiring, if it raises your level of passion, what you feel on the inside, shows on the outside. Passionate people perform.

When I sign up a new athlete, or an established athlete starts a new season. I ask them to give me their goals for that season. I want them to be fairly specific.

Usually this process is to get them to talk about it or write about it. At least this starts them thinking about it. I want my athletes to be driven by their desire to reach their goals.

Whether you’re Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Casey Stoner or Chris McCormack, the amount of passion connected to your goal is the power which drives you.

If you think you have a goal, learn to sight it regularly. Turn on the vision when the alarm clock goes off early in the morning. Turn it on when you come home from work and you’re due to start a workout before dinner.

If sighting that goal doesn’t excite you, it may be time to look into the goal more closely. The true test of the strength of your goal is when conditions are not ideal. Any fool can train when they feel good. Champions can get something out of every session.

If you can use your goals to get you through really tough training sessions, you’ve tested them. Those goals will get you through tough race situations.