Written by: C.J. Aragon

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One of my favorite quotes is “Success is not a goal, it’s a byproduct.”
So what is success a byproduct of? Your daily effort at practice?
One thing that always amazes me every year is how much time some students are willing to spend in the practice pen. They spend a lot of time there, and they don’t accomplish much because of their approach to practice. Here is my advice to many students every year it’s not how much time you put into your practice that counts.
Practice with a purpose, other than spending a lot of time in the arena. Just because you spend a lot of time in the arena does not mean you are making progress or even improving.
It’s always what you put into that time in the practice pen that matters. It is how you practice that ultimately makes the difference between your success and failure, between you reaching your goals or falling short. Time is a terrible measuring stick in the practice pen. Progress and improvement are what you should strive for.

When you commit yourself to train mentally and physically the quality of your practices will improve. Make your runs matter in the practice pen. Make consequences for poor runs or poor efforts in the practice pen. Eventually you will perform like you practice. You can’t practice on cruise control and then go expect to perform at a high level.
As a high level athlete you need to be willing to directly connect what you are doing in practice pen with the ultimate performance that you’re training for in the future. When you are able to do this you will get the very most out of each practice session.
Don’t just practice. To be a top competitor you must have a practice plan and be able to prepare to get better. Don’t practice and hope to get better, Practice with the purpose and intent to get better every day.
Don’t just go through the motions.
Understand why you’re doing what you’re doing in the practice pen today and how it will help you when you have entry fees up in the future.
Success is not a goal, it’s a byproduct of your daily practice efforts. What are your practices producing?

C.J. Aragon was named the 2008-2011 Grand Canyon Region Coach-of-the-Year. 2014-2015 WJCAC Coach-of-the-Year, 2016 Southwest Region Coach-of-the-Year, and 2010 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Coach-of-the-Year.