104. Finding Your Why with Professor of Sports Leadership and Coaching for High-Performance Cathy Utzschneider

104. Finding Your Why with Professor of Sports Leadership and Coaching for High-Performance Cathy Utzschneider

Introducing Cathy Utzschneider

Today I’m talking to author and Professor of Sports Leadership and Coaching for High-Performance Dr. Cathy Utzschneider about finding your why.

Her Career Journey

Cathy studied English at Middlebury College, where she played varsity tennis and squash. She used her writing and editing skills for several years before going back to school to get her MBA from Boston University. When it came time for the next steps, Cathy stayed at BU to study physiology and performance, earning her MA and EdD. During her doctorate, she created MOVE!, a goal-setting methodology, to help create balance between her professional, athletic, and personal lives. She continues to coach athletes and professionals through MOVE! and teaches courses on high performance at Boston College as a professor.

Finding Your Why

During her career, Cathy learned that one of the most important parts of athletic performance is understanding what the goal means to the individual. Cathy created her coaching program, MOVE!, in part to fill the gap that she needed in her busy life. She emphasizes that everyday life is often the greatest barrier in athletics and helps those she coaches to develop a way to fit athletics in with the rest of life’s demands. Her program encourages people to take time to both find their why and reflect on their progress.

Inside this episode:

  • Cathy talks about the importance of embracing change in our careers. When the average person changes jobs twelve times, it’s important to keep an open mind to opportunities in emerging fields.
  • When Cathy was told that the most important part of any physical goal is to figure out what the goal means to the individual, she received a key insight that would shape the rest of her career.
  • While Cathy had been an athlete in college, her most competitive period came later as a masters runner. She ran both to make up for her own missed opportunity but also to honor her father, a talented athlete who had missed the chance to compete as well.
  • With her program, MOVE!, she created a system to work towards goals that she wished that she had had. At its core is a belief that athletics can be balanced with the rest of life.
  • Cathy also emphasizes the importance of rest and relaxation and encourages others to build in time to reflect on what progress they’ve made towards their goals.
  • She has learned and observed that we get more unique as we age, when life’s challenges fan out for each person a little differently.
  • Cathy describes the challenges found during the transition periods of every person’s life but also recognizes that this period of uncertainty is where the best entrepreneurs thrive. 
  • Her advice to all is to create a board of two to three people who believe in you unconditionally to always have a place to air your thoughts.

Resources

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