Episode 014 - The Champion's Journey - What's your plan for 2026?
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Introduction
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[00:00:00]
Christoffer Endresen: The purpose of a goal is not just to communicate out to the world what you attend to accomplish, but to communicate to yourself what is our target so that you can reprogram yourself to work towards that direction.
So reset your mindset towards that specific goal, and then you will start to develop the plans and take the actions necessary for you to accomplish that. Because having a plan is not about creating a rigid structure, it's about creating clarity that will. Create a calmness and a confidence that will cause you to take the action that is necessary for you to get the outcome that you want.
Main Content
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Christoffer Endresen: Hi, and welcome to the Champions Journey. This is the first episode for 2026, and I want to start out by inviting you to reflect back on 2025, [00:01:00] how did it actually feel? Did you get the most out of 2025 or was it that you felt that you could have gotten more out of it? This, of course, is very individual, but one thing that is important is that now that we're entering into New Year, it is smart to look back on 2025, not just based on how you felt or how you experienced it, but what is the actual data that you gathered.
Agility Sport is a very young sport, but it's also fast developing, and one of the ways that we can make it move faster and have a higher growth is to look at other sports. What are they doing? What can we learn from them, and what can we implement into the sport so that we can have the same type of growth?
One part of that is planning or review, plus planning. Now when we attend a [00:02:00] competition or a set of competitions, we get a result list, but the results that we get only tells us a part of the story and not the whole story. So what I emphasize to the people that I coach is that you are the one who are to define what success looks like.
Yes, the community as a whole has some criteria or definition about what success looks like, but it's really up to you as well. And there are more ways to measure success than just the result list and what championship or revenue got. And one of the things I really wanna emphasize is that the name of the game in agility is stability.
And let me explain why. The way that you can do well at a big competition is to delivers reliable, repeatable. Performance. The best [00:03:00] way that you can grow is through learning over time, and what I'm about to share with you in this session is probably a different way of how you could define success. If we think that agility is about stability and not just the fastest dog, then we need to find a different way to measure that.
How we do it is that we, throughout the year or at the end of the year, we go through all the competitions. We list them up, we put in the placement where you ended up in a result list. But what we look at is the collective result in terms of completed runs versus eliminations and how many of the completed runs were actually clean runs.
When you add up all the runs throughout the year for one dog and then you do this for each and every dog, you will get a different set of data, a different set [00:04:00] of input, maybe something that's more, and even, I would say better to define how stable you are at a competition. And this is one way of measuring success.
But what we do is that we fill in this Excel sheet. And based on that, we can make some decisions. We get an awareness about how well you're performing at an overall, and we're not judging it. We're just looking at it and viewing the information that we get and having this clarity helps us to set new goals for the coming year.
And that should prompt us to ask the question, how are you measuring success? How have you been measuring success for 2025, and how will you be measuring success throughout 2026 As I mentioned in the beginning of this episode, it's important for you to have a plan for [00:05:00] 2026, but before you can have a plan, you need to have two things. Number one, you need to know where you are, and number two, you need to know where you're going. Once you know where you are and where you're going, then you can create a plan.
And this is how A GPS works. So when you are using a GPS on your phone or in your car, it knows at every single second where you are on the map. And if you put in a clear and defined and specific address that you want to go to, it can show you the best way towards that goal. That is the plan. If the GPS loses connection, let's say that it doesn't know where you are, it cannot present to you a plan.
If you don't put in a specific measurable place where you want to go, it cannot present you a plan. So [00:06:00] these two things are essential for you as well, for you to make a good plan for 2026.
And that's why I really want you to first start off by looking at 2025 to get a clearer view of how well did you perform, where are your weaknesses, where are your strengths? And based on that, you can set new and meaningful goals for 2026
when it comes to setting goals. The thing with agility is that it's very tied to events. It could be a specific single event, or it could be a number of events. It could be a performance outcome, or it could be also something more personal. As I mentioned before, you are the one that set the goals. It's your goal, so you have the power to define it, and you are the person that defines what success looks like.
So keep that in mind , but what I recommend for people when they're setting goal is that, first of all, it's your goal, [00:07:00] as I mentioned, but it has to be something that is outside of your comfort zone. It doesn't have to be far out of your comfort zone, but slightly outside of your comfort zone.
Another way to look at that is to say that it has to be something you haven't done yet. That means that if you are training a new dog and it's one of the first grades or you're about to compete with that, you could set goals that are within that range. It doesn't have to be like, I need to go to the World Championship.
It could be within 2026 to pass the first or second grade. That could be a goal because you never accomplished that with that dog before. and the last part that I really emphasize is that when you define the goal, when you articulate it, that it should be within your control.
One thing that we are really clear about is that we never set a goal of winning the [00:08:00] world championship. That could definitely be an objective that we have as a long term, but the goals that we define are within our control. Because if Eli and Xera does really good runs four out of four clean runs at the world championship, that could give her a really good position in the result list.
But we do not control the other competitors, how well they do, how fast they run, how clean they run,
how they choose to handle the course. That is really up to them, and it's outside of our control, but the way that we define. Goals could be that to have four out of four clean runs at the world championship. If we manage to do that, it could be that we will be able to get on the podium or even win gold.
So define your goals based on what could be within your control or your circle of influence. And as you [00:09:00] probably heard many times before, you have to use the smart framework. Now, the smart framework isn't necessarily how you should structure it. It's more of a checklist to ensure that your goals aren't vague, but they're specific, measurable, attractive, realistic, and time bound.
Time bound is just to create an urgency. Realistic. Well, we can ask ourself a question, what is realistic or not? But, um, one of the things that is important is that it's specific and it's measurable and it's something that you want. Going back to attractive. Now, specific could be an event. It could be to participate and do X amount of clean runs or have a x amount of clean run percentage at that specific event.
That is both measurable and specific as we mentioned.
The clue here is that you have a goal that is so well defined that you can generate a picture in your [00:10:00] mind and see and imagine how that would look and feel like if you were to accomplish it. The purpose of a goal is not just to communicate out to the world what you attend to accomplish, but to communicate to yourself what is our target so that you can reprogram yourself to work towards that direction.
Christoffer Endresen: So reset your mindset towards that specific goal, and then you will start to develop the plans and take the actions necessary for you to accomplish that. But as I mentioned, you need to know where you are and you need to know where you're going. Once you've done that, you've actually created a gap, and that gap prompts us to create a plan.
The purpose of a plan is to bridge that gap with manageable step, because once you've laid out where [00:11:00] you want to go and where you are, the gap there could be really large, and by breaking it down into manageable steps.
You'll see that it will become easier for you to take action if there's too much friction. You will not act if you, manage to scale it down so that you have a clear next action. Then you can focus on the task at hand, and you're constantly working towards your goal. Now, the way that we do this is that we have a certain structure.
First off, we start with a yearly plan. Then we break that down into a quarterly plan. Then we create weekly plans and daily plans. So let me just give you a quick overview of how that looks like. The yearly plan is very broad, not very specific, but what we focus on is what are the main events that we want to attend?
What are the two, the three most important events for [00:12:00] us for the year? All the other competitions become training competitions that we use to prepare for those events. So those are the events that really matters. But also, as I mentioned, we can use those events in order to see the stability and track the stability, but also map out skills that we need to retrain or to have put more focus on.
So we use most of our competitions as feedback sessions. In order for us to perform better and well when it matters the most and when it matters the most is defined by us.
Now, there are a couple of benefits by doing it this way. First of all, I see a lot of agility handlers. They are labeling every competition as the most important competition. But if you extend the labels saying that these are the main competitions and these are training competitions, that changes the [00:13:00] intention.
And when you have a different intention, it also causes a different tension. So
that means that the training competitions is more about learning rather than winning. And that creates a different pressure, it creates a different focus, and it can also help you to gain more lessons from that competition in order to prepare for what is the most important competition. So training competitions is all about preparing not judging.
Once we lay that yearly plan, we then focus on a quarterly plan. What are the competitions that we're attending this quarter? What is the focus of this quarter? That meaning that in this time of the year, we're basically preparing, uh, in terms of building a solid foundation. Of the skillset of the dog, the physical capacity of the dog, and as we get closer to the competition period, we're starting to intensify it.
And once we're in a competition [00:14:00] quarter, then we're taking down the amount of training and focusing on recovering in between competitions in order to peak that performance.
One thing to mention. Is that there's no perfect plan because when we make a yearly plan, we're guessing. We're guessing how the year would look like when we're making a quarterly plan, we're guessing how that quarter will look like. There are some pieces that we know will happen to a certain degree with high likelihood, but there's nothing for certain.
What that means is that it is no use for us to. Create a quarterly plan for every quarter at the beginning of the year. So in the beginning of the year, we, where we are now, we're making the yearly plan. We're making the plan for the first quarter, then we're making a plan for the first week and then [00:15:00] day by day.
So that means that we're constantly reviewing our daily plans. We're constantly on a weekly basis, planning for a new week. And once we've finished a quarter, we're creating a new plan for the next quarter. So we basically creating plans on demand and what's happening because we don't have a crystal ball.
And the more information we have, the better we can actually create those plans. So by doing it as the demand happens, like focusing on 90 days at a time, one week at a time, one day at a time. Then you have more flexibility in your plans and they're not too rigid because anything could happen. You need that flexibility.
What if you get injured? What if your dog get injured? Then you have to adjust the plan without it becoming a disappointment, but you adapt. You become agile in your planning, and you [00:16:00] adjust and you adapt, and then you still can be able to make the most out of the season of 2026.
And I cannot emphasize how important and how valuable this has been. I've used this structure not only in terms of planning for athletes. And also into agility, but for school, for work, all of those, the same principles can be applied. And I've seen time and time again that every time I do this, every time I plan it in this way, my performance goes up.
Because having a plan is not about creating a rigid structure, it's about creating clarity that will. Create a calmness and a confidence that will cause you to take the action that is necessary for you to get the outcome that you want. I want to sum it up [00:17:00] what this podcast episode is really about.
The simple steps that you can take is to review 2025, look more towards the stability. And see if you actually manage to reach the goal that you set at the beginning of the year. Then you set new goals for 2026. You set a goal that you want to accomplish that is slightly outside of your comfort zone, that is forcing you to stretch and make it as
as clear and specific and measurable as possible, and then you start to build your plan. Build it step by step. No rush, no pressure, just create clarity If it's clear to you, the plan is great. Now, I know that a lot of people that are doing agility are used to doing this type of planning in other areas of their life, but they haven't yet implemented it into agility. If you are that type of [00:18:00] person, you know what to do. You just need to implement this into this category as well.
If you have a structure that you're used to, use that structure, you don't need to take my structure. This is what works for me. This is what worked for us. And I know that it's worked for other people, but if you know something that works for you and you're used to it, go ahead and use that. If you are a person that is not used to creating a plan and you want additional support to do that, then you could check out the agility mindset community where we now actually have an online course, one that is on demand that you can watch and go through in your own pace.
Or you can join the weekly lessons that we have now in January where we're having a workshop in order to ensure that you're going through the steps and doing the work, not just listening to the videos that you can create your Agility Master plan for 2026. In addition to that, there are a couple [00:19:00] cool tools that I'm really excited about.
One of them is the Digital Competition Journal, and this is a tool that helps you to organize and. Process each and every competition that you attend, what does that mean? Well, after every competition, there's a lesson to be learned, and that lesson should be implemented into your following week so that you can get the most out of that week.
Learn the lessons from the previous competitions and get the best training sessions you possibly can. You do that by processing your runs.
And by having a process of how to process, you can actually get a bigger and clearer overview of what you need to improve until the next competitions. This helps you to get clarity again, create awareness, but also in order to do the mental reset and get ready for the next competition.[00:20:00]
So, as I mentioned, planning isn't about control. It's about creating calmness, confidence, and clarity. And the best investment you could do at the beginning of the year is to create your plan. My name is Christoffer Endresen. Thank you so much for listening to.
The champion's journey. I hope that this is a valuable tool in your journey and that you see this as a tool that can help you to build that growth mindset. I also hope that you are taking action based on this episode. Some form of action, any type of action is good. Just planning your runs and competitions that you will attend for the year will take you a good step further.
And if you haven't yet. Please subscribe to this podcast so that you will be notified every single time that a new episode comes out. Thank you so much for listening in, and I'll see you in the [00:21:00] next podcast.
