{"id":680188,"date":"2026-01-15T21:19:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/680188\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T21:19:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:19:38","slug":"an-nfl-player-breaks-down-his-goal-sheet-for-the-2025-season-plus-this-weeks-best-peak-nuggets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/680188\/","title":{"rendered":"An NFL player breaks down his goal sheet for the 2025 season, plus this week\u2019s best Peak nuggets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peak newsletter \ud83e\udde0\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s weekly newsletter covering the mental side of sports.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive the Peak newsletter directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Welcome back to the Peak newsletter! Thanks for all your feedback on our first edition last week<\/a>. Let\u2019s dive in\u2026<\/p>\n

As a fullback out of Wisconsin, Alec Ingold went undrafted in 2019. Since then, he has carved out a nice career in the NFL:<\/p>\n

One Pro Bowl (2023)
\nFour-time team captain for the Miami Dolphins
\nSeven years in the league<\/p>\n

So I was pumped when Ingold shared his goal sheet for the 2025 season with Peak\u2019s readers (after he shared\u00a0his favorite motivational song<\/a>\u00a0with us last week!). Ingold, 29, takes goal-setting seriously \u2014 you can read more of his thoughts in\u00a0this story<\/a>\u00a0from Elise Devlin.<\/p>\n

For the newsletter, I asked him to break down each part of his goal sheet and explain his rationale. Very few of us can relate to an NFL player\u2019s specific goals. But most of us can relate to the\u00a0thought\u00a0process\u00a0behind an NFL player\u2019s goal sheet. Starting from the top:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ingold:\u00a0\u201cI wanted to attach a little self-talk to my goal sheet. When stuff gets hard or when things go sideways, don\u2019t flinch. Do not go back on the commitment that you made to yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll notice Ingold split this next section into two categories:\u00a0objective\u00a0goals (body fat) and\u00a0subjective\u00a0goals (authentic leader).<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the subjective goals.<\/p>\n

Ingold:\u00a0\u201cI really wanted to nail down big-picture goals and then break them down. So when I say subjective: I wanted to be an authentic leader. I wanted to be in great physical condition. I literally pictured the perfect offseason: what I look like, what I feel like, how I\u2019m doing things. And from there, I broke out four controllable and very objective goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

That gets us to his more measurable goals.<\/p>\n

Ingold:\u00a0\u201cI need to be at this body fat percentage to prove to myself that my body was in great shape. I need to intentionally plan new off-the-field traditions with the running backs because that\u2019s authentic to the relationships you\u2019re trying to build, the leader you\u2019re trying to be.* Through those measurable, controllable goals, I felt like I reverse-engineered the vision of me being at my best at the end of the offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

*The off-field tradition? Steak dinner bets.<\/p>\n

Mostly, I was curious how he saw objective and subjective goals working together.<\/p>\n

Ingold:\u00a0\u201cSubjective goals allow for you to be creative. It allows you to paint a picture: who you want to be and what you want to do. The objective is about finding those measurable, literal ways to\u00a0prove to yourself that you\u2019re on the right track\u00a0and doing the right things to create the outcome you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Immediately, you\u2019ll notice that many of these goals feel out of Ingold\u2019s individual control.<\/p>\n

Ingold:\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019re measurable for sure. They\u2019re objective for sure. But they\u2019re a little bit out of my control so that competitiveness drives me to dig deep and fight to push toward the limit. I probably only got half of those goals, but I also didn\u2019t attach failure of a goal to my identity. If you are dominating your day to day throughout the whole process, you\u2019ll get a whole heck of a lot closer to those goals. Or you\u2019re closer to the best version of yourself because you\u2019re chasing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Ingold acknowledged these are the biggest-picture goals, the kind they put in your Wikipedia bio. There is a reason for that.<\/p>\n

Ingold:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s important to create a North Star to determine why you\u2019re trying so hard and what you\u2019re going after for\u00a0sustained\u00a0success. And I did prioritize this list. We\u2019re in this game to win Super Bowls, so that\u2019s No. 1 on my list. And then all the way down to individual accolades at the bottom. Do those define your career or legacy? Probably not. But they do indicate that you\u2019re doing stuff the right way for an extremely long period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Ingold said \u201cinspire belief\u201d was his mission statement, his \u201cwhy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ingold:\u00a0\u201cI want to inspire others to believe in the best version of themselves. I also want to inspire myself to believe in the best version of myself, too. That\u2019s one of my huge struggles. I felt like if I attached my why and purpose statement at the bottom there, it tied the career goals to the season goals and the season goals to the offseason goals. That was also the\u00a0final reminder for myself\u00a0when I reflect on these goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea for the signature, he said, was something he picked up from Kobe Bryant.<\/p>\n

Ingold:\u00a0\u201cSo when things are hard,\u00a0when you\u2019re 1-6 and pissed off in Atlanta<\/a>, you don\u2019t waver. You don\u2019t flinch. That signature created this desired heart with me to stay committed to that process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ingold kept his goal sheet in his playbook. Once a month, he reviewed it and journaled to see if he was on track. Speaking of \u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019m (still) eating like an NFL player<\/p>\n

For those who are new here: In\u00a0the first edition<\/a>\u00a0of the newsletter last week, I said I was going to try eating healthily, like former NFL player Lorenzo Alexander.<\/p>\n

Five days in, I\u2019m here to report back: So far, so good. I even took a picture of what my wife and I are eating for breakfast as proof.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In next week\u2019s newsletter, I\u2019m going to dive more into how elite athletes set and stick to goals (that\u2019s a tease!), but one thing I can say for sure:\u00a0Making your goal public in a newsletter is one good way to hold yourself accountable\u00a0and force you to stick with it, even when a bag of chips is trying to turn me into Gollum from \u201cThe Lord of the Rings.\u201d<\/p>\n

In all seriousness, I\u2019m not even totally sure if I feel better on this diet. Maybe it\u2019s just too soon to tell. But I do feel more \u2026 disciplined. I\u2019ve never considered myself a disciplined person. But I\u2019m reminded of something Richard Jefferson, the longtime NBA player, said recently when I mentioned that to him:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might struggle with the discipline to go to the gym; I struggle with the discipline to return a freaking email or text.\u00a0We all struggle with different disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve stuck with Alexander\u2019s diet, how are you feeling? Email me: peak@theathletic.com. And if you want to try it, check out the parameters\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Peak Nuggets<\/p>\n

Bite-sized ideas from around sports:<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc8 Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti is never happy. Ahead of the college football national championship Monday, a former player\u00a0details why that\u2019s a good thing.<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcd5 Elise explains why small one moment from a team captain was a\u00a0textbook display of leadership<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfa4 Laura Okmin was an NFL sideline reporter. Now she helps coaches find their blind spots. Cool story from Rustin Dodd\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfa5 Walk and talk:\u00a0Elise shares weekly insights while walking around New York City. This week\u2019s topic? A former NFL player\u2019s trick for sticking with a New Year\u2019s resolution.<\/p>\n

Click the GIF below to hear it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfb6Peak Playlist<\/p>\n

Every week, I ask someone for a song that motivates them. This week, it was Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson, who recently wrote about the\u00a0three lessons\u00a0he learned when\u00a0he was benched in the NFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His song:\u00a0\u201cGonna Be A Lovely Day\u201d by Kirk Franklin
His reason:\u00a0\u201cGave me a sense of hope regardless of what was about to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s our playlist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You asked\u2026and Michael Phelps answered<\/p>\n

Sean G. wanted to know about Michael Phelps\u2019 mindset and mentality. Wrote Sean: \u201cI\u2019d like a peek into his mind in order to help me emulate that and gain a mental edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

So we reached out to Phelps.\u00a0Here\u2019s what he said:<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcac \u201cIt all comes back to preparation.\u00a0If you\u2019re not prepared, you\u2019re going to be extra nervous, you\u2019re going to think maybe you\u2019re not ready for this or that, and then your mind naturally plays these tricks with your head. That\u2019s why I always loved competition and meets so much. I got a chance to see where I was in my training and see what I needed to fix so I didn\u2019t have that happen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy losses always stayed with me. And when I was in practice every day, those were the things that motivated me.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Check out\u00a0Elise\u2019s story<\/a>\u00a0where she journaled like Phelps for a week.)<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f Got a question about the mental side of sports that you want answered by a player, coach or expert?\u00a0Email me at peak@theathletic.com. Every week, I\u2019ll pick a question and get an answer.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb\u00a0Love Peak?\u00a0Check out\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0other\u00a0newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peak newsletter \ud83e\udde0\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s weekly newsletter covering the mental side of sports.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,216,251,2087,6,4864,156],"class_list":["post-680188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami-dolphins","tag-dolphins","tag-football","tag-miami","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-miamidolphins","tag-nfl","tag-peak","tag-sports-business"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115901207441845744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}