Posted 8/8/25 10:35 pm
Friday nights — before the LIGHTS. Even if you’re having an average or even a “meh” Friday night, remember that there’s just something inherently fun about Friday nights in the summer.
Undefeated is a hard mountaintop to reach — it’s improbable. And each step is harder and less likely to actually happen. And you might even start to mainly focus on trying not to lose, and trying to keep the streak alive / trying to achieve something very, very rare.
Goals are awesome — thinking in terms of outcomes can work very well for individuals and teams. I think we over-value goals, though. There’s the stereotype that goes, “If you don’t have goals, you’re gonna be that one 35 year-old without a job playing Nintendo Switch all afternoon.”
Besides being too black and white, too all-or-nothing, over-focusing on goals also seems like a Petri dish for growing disappointments and letdowns.
Being process-oriented, instead of goal-oriented / outcome-oriented, is a more holistic, organic, love-yourself way to approach achievement. It’s focusing on the journey and not just the destination — finding joy and fulfillment along the path toward whatever you’re eventually hoping to reach, create, or win.
It’s celebrating the mere act of sticking to the process, doing all the things that set you up for a good shot at hitting the goal or outcome. That could be a commitment to the weight room (at a certain frequency, with a certain attitude). It could be constantly supporting your teammates and yourself. It’s often about keeping tabs on your mindset.
Yup — it can be as simple as “DOING ALL THE THINGS!” Which is much more meaningful, doable, and livable than “Winning all the comps.”
Focusing on the process rather than just the outcome also means you get to notice and value growth. Those little gains are something you can feel much more often than actual competition victories and trophies.
Putting together the ideas of process and growth, your undefeated season could mean things like holding your releve for ___ seconds each day, and then actually tracking how that increases over weeks and months. Or after that 5-laps-around the gym run, you’re a little less out of breath every couple weeks. Do the things, note the growth, treat little things like the real wins.
Another side of going undefeated is its literal definition — to never be defeated or beaten…or deflated. When you “lose” in sports, you’ve been defeated by an opponent, according to the official stats of your athletic department, conference, or IHSA. But at any point throughout a season (not just games or comps), you can be defeated by self-doubt, fear, internal team conflict, wavering commitment to the process, sloppy or half-hearted efforts, fickle priorities…it’s a long list.
If you can commit to the effort input and be open to the joy of the process, the value and satisfaction of growth — and do that most of the time — AND be willing to get back on track if you slip off the path — you’re going undefeated.
I really meant to write it that way! “Going” undefeated, in this sense, isn’t about the destination and status of reaching an unblemished comp record. You’re literally living an ongoing journey of approaching your season in a way that makes you constantly undefeated.
Not saying goals and outcomes don’t matter. Just that they matter too much, too often, at too high of a price.
Today’s random pic: Back to Neuqua Valley’s glory days — here’s the opening hit of their jazz at the Stevenson TDI comp on February 5, 2012. Arguably the last couple months of everything being just right on the Illinois high school dance team scene.
