Like many champions, Olympic gold-medal skier Jessie Diggins sets goals. But winning isn't one of them. Yet she keeps on winning.
What's her secret? Rather than declare her intention to win every race, she sets goals to improve her performance.
"To win in the Olympics, you have to not focus on the actual medal," said Diggins, the most decorated cross-country skier in U.S. history. "You have to focus on training and executing the best techniques."
Set Internal Goals Like Jessie Diggins
Setting internally driven goals gives Diggins an edge. Her motivation comes from within, not from the allure of external glory.
"Today, I did some hard (practice) intervals," she said. "I'm really satisfied that on a random Tuesday morning, I met my interval training goals."
Harnessing what she calls her "internal grit" works wonders. The 33-year-old has won three Olympic medals — a gold, silver and bronze — and 27 World Cup cross-country skiing races, an American record.
She has won the World Cup overall title twice (2021 and 2024) along with six World Championship medals. And she keeps pushing herself to new heights.
On Dec. 29, 2024, for example, she earned her first World Cup victory in classic skiing on a course in Toblach, Italy. It took her 14 years of racing World Cups and 330 World Cup individual starts to win a classic race.
"I'm still doing drills that high school skiers do, working on my technique," she said. "I don't have all this figured out. I'm still learning every day, innovating and finding ways to improve."
Focus On Improvement
To keep upping her game, she often asks herself, "How can I get better today?" This reinforces her drive to tweak her technique and training regimen.
"Just asking that question assumes I'm not already the best," she said. "I'm not perfect. But you have to be curious" about ways to get better.
By focusing on how to refine her technique, Diggins drowns out the noise. She can concentrate on learning and maximizing her training without dwelling on her ever-growing icon status in the sport.
"The pressure externally has increased," she said. "People are expecting me to (win). So I think, 'Am I doing the best I can right now?' If no, I figure out why and what has to change."
Be Realistic
When it comes to setting goals, Diggins is a realist. Reaching for the stars sounds great, but it can backfire.
"A lot of people say, 'I have this big goal,'" she said. "But do you understand realistically how hard that'll be? Are you willing to sacrifice the little day-to-day things, like the hours of training, to meet that goal? You have to be honest with yourself and be realistic about how much work it'll take — and be willing to do that work."
It helps that Diggins, a Minnesota native, grew up with supportive parents "who never pushed me," she says.
"You have to do it for you," they told her. "We'll support you. We'll believe in you. But you have to be the driver of this train."
Their encouragement paved the way for her to make a pivotal decision after she graduated high school. Instead of accepting a full academic scholarship to Northern Michigan University, Diggins deferred her acceptance for a year to race competitively on an elite team of cross-country skiers.
It was a steppingstone to make the U.S. Ski Team, which she ultimately did. "I had no guarantee of anything," she said. She realized she had to take a shot. "I was betting on myself," she said. "I knew I was giving up something big and taking a really risky path."
Diggins: Conquer Obstacles In Your Path
The gamble paid off.
Diggins started winning races at an impressive clip, overcoming a series of challenges. In high school, she started to develop an eating disorder. She was still working through her recovery when launching her competitive racing career.
During her first year on the team, she encountered a jealous teammate who discovered her bulimia and sought to undermine her.
"This psychological sabotage and bullying were all an attempt to chip away at my confidence and self-esteem," she writes in her memoir, "Brave Enough," co-written with Todd Smith. "There never is a good time to get bullied. But being bullied when I was fresh out of treatment and at my most emotionally vulnerable absolutely gutted me."
While harrowing, the experience boosted her resilience and commitment to succeed. She kept racking up victories and qualified for her first Olympics in 2014.
She didn't get any medals in Sochi. But four years later in Pyeongchang, she made history with teammate Kikkan Randall: They won the first-ever U.S. women's Olympic gold in cross-country skiing.
Find Your Own Resources
Along the way, Diggins had to raise funds to support her dream. The U.S. Ski Team cut its budget after the 2014 Olympics, forcing Diggins to plug the gap.
She pitched the chief executive of Minnesota-based Slumberland Furniture to sponsor her. The company agreed and became a longtime supporter.
Growing up in Stillwater, Minn., Diggins also began cold-calling on local businesses to raise $15,000. She recalls walking into a local cafe, introducing herself to the co-owner and asking, "Is it OK if I put out a tip jar?"
"No, you can't have a tip jar," the co-owner replied. "Instead, I'm going to host a big fundraising event for you." The community gathering turned into an annual celebration, a tribute to Diggins and her local roots.
"It all started in this moment when he had an opportunity to influence this young person's life," Diggins said. "I've never forgotten that."
Drive A Long List Of Goals
Early on, Diggins made a commitment to work hard and serve as an upbeat, supportive teammate. She also welcomed input from coaches.
Jason Cork started coaching Diggins in 2010 just after her high school graduation. He admits that she didn't stand out from the pack on Day One.
"She'd won state championships in Minnesota," recalled Cork, World Cup coach for the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. "But on our team, we had two others who had been to the Olympics. She was much younger and the least accomplished of the bunch."
Be Honest With Yourself
But with her determination to learn, grow and improve, Diggins kept winning. Cork took notice.
"She's quite honest with herself," he said. "She has a high pain tolerance. But she also knows when to be realistic and say, 'This hurts. I need to back it down and change something.'"
Cork admires how Diggins sets goals. Every spring, they meet to review the past year's goals and list new ones for the year ahead. "It's four pages, single spaced," he said. "Her goals are more process goals than outcome goals."
Examples might include how she intends to improve her recovering and sleeping. Winning races isn't on the list.
"She understands how powerful that is," Cork said. "If you do your very best and someone beats you to get gold, you can still be proud of silver or bronze."
Jessie Diggins' Keys:
- Won three Olympic medals and two World Cup overall titles as the most decorated U.S. cross-country skier.
- Overcame: Eating disorder and a bullying teammate on her ski team who sought to sabotage her success.
- "A lot of people say, 'I have this big goal.' But do you understand realistically how hard that'll be?"
