How to Set and Conquer Goals Like an Olympian

I’m a big believer in the power of setting ambitious, long-term goals. Not so big or unrealistic that they’re demoralizing, but significant enough to stretch us a bit beyond what logic might lead us to think is possible.

Big goals draw things out of us that we would not otherwise achieve. And in a faith context, healthy stretch goals involve two critical components — bringing our best but trusting God for the outcome.

And at the same time, there’s no need to be afraid of failure. Failure is always an option when we try something challenging. If we don’t want to fail, don’t try. But if we don’t try, we won’t succeed.

Come back with me to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. It was the fourth event of the two-day decathlon competition, which features 10 events in total. We were nearing the end of the three-hour high jump event with two competitors left: Daley Thompson from the UK, who was the reigning two-time Olympic champion and World Record holder, and me, an unknown athlete from El Salvador. The bar is now at 6 feet, 9 and a quarter inches — or 2.06 meters.

This was a vulnerable moment: I was the only Salvadoran male track athlete who qualified to go to the Olympics, and there was a civil war taking place in the country at the time. I really wanted to do well for them, so the pressure I felt was palpable.

You can’t fear failure in the high jump because it’s designed around failure. Every time you clear the bar, they just raise it until you fail! If you don’t want to fail, never raise the bar. But if you don’t raise the bar, you’ll never know how high you can jump.

You get three attempts to clear the bar at each height. Both Daley and I had missed our first attempts. On our second round, Daley went first and missed. But he missed in a way that made me pretty sure he wasn’t going to make it on his final attempt. It had been a long battle, and we were both tired. I was pretty sure that if I didn’t make it on my second attempt, I wouldn’t make my third either. So, this was it. It was now or never.

In my first miss, I had been trying to ignore the fact that my every move was being reflected back at me on the massive stadium jumbotron that was right behind the high jump pit. But as I prepared for my second jump, the jumbotron feed changed to another event in the arena. And with that added distraction gone, I suddenly noticed the roof of the stadium. Compared to the roof, the high jump bar looked very short and doable. That visual redefined the challenge. With that fresh sense of belief, I jumped and cleared the bar.

Daley missed on his final attempt, meaning I won the high jump, as the second-shortest of 42 athletes.

Truth is, I had tried and failed at that height for seven years before finally making it in the Olympics. I doubted a lot along the way. There were many times I looked at the bar in front of me and didn’t think I could make it.

It’s okay to think really big goals are impossible at first glance, but you can’t let that paralyze you. You have to keep moving forward. You have to believe enough to prepare with conviction. And when you prepare well, one day, your belief will catch up with your preparation and you’ll achieve beyond what you think is possible.

Interestingly, my deepest belief that I could achieve my goal came at the very end.

We might not fully believe at the beginning that a goal can be reached. We just need to believe enough to make the next right move. Whatever the right next move is for you, do it!