At the South Island Show Jumping Champs late last year, my daughters won the classes they were entered in.
They work so hard, so it was wonderful to see them succeed.
It is beautiful to watch them progress, to hit plateaus, to struggle with the plateaus, and then find that thing that gets them onto the next progression.
Progress is never linear; it’s never straight.
Show jumping is not easy because you not only have yourself to contend with, but you also have a 400kg beast with its own instinctive opinions, a finely tuned athlete who will spook at a plastic bag and find creative ways to injure themselves!
What I have learned about achievement from my daughters is that it must be founded in joy. And that joy is combined with a relentless focus on progress. There are goals to work towards, but the journey, the progression, outweighs those targets. The targets are merely used to focus activity. There is a lot of self-reflection and accountability… it is never the pony’s fault, no round is ever good enough, perfection is an ideal that is strived for but never achieved.
What I would like my daughters to hear from me, with the benefit of decades of trial and error, is to be careful not to be too hard on themselves, to leave space for grace, to focus on the good before focussing on the improvements.
But maybe that is not the hallmark of the young achiever. Maybe that is a lesson we have to learn ourselves with time.
Either way, I am immensely proud of my girls and the time I get to spend with them pursuing their dreams is priceless.