Player Intro
Chase Foster played basketball at Covenant College, exhibiting leadership and skill developed through dedication to his craft. His current work has led him to different places in the country, including Virginia, California, and New York. Throughout his engagement in sports and in career, he has found that goal-setting was what gave him drive to continue to improve and succeed. He discusses how he was able to set those goals that led him to achieve.
Some edits have been made to Chase's interview to support clarity and organization.
Gameplan
pD: Tell me about your sports background, what sports you played growing up, that kind of thing.
CF: Growing up, I loved basically every sport, and I played everything that I could. I played basketball, baseball, football; I even did a lot of board sports; I was into skateboarding, surfing, and wakeboarding. But basketball was my first love, and that's what I ended up focusing on. By my junior year of high school, I knew I wanted to play basketball in college, so I focused on that, and ended up getting the opportunity to play at Covenant.
pD: You talked about some of the sports you played growing up. Some of them were more individual sports like skateboarding and those types of activities; so what drew you more about basketball than the other ones you played?
CF: I never competed in individual sports at a high level, so they have always been more of an escape for me. I never felt any pressure to perform in them.
But team sports came with some pressure to perform... So if I had a game where I didn't play well, then I felt like I not only let myself down, but I also let my teammates and coaches down too -- and this was added pressure. But for me, those high pressure situations were also the most fun. I always viewed them as the best opportunity to better myself and my team.
And what I really love about basketball is the fact it's not an individual sport. When every member of the team steps up and performs well because they don't want to let each other down... That's really when it becomes the most fun for me. There is kind of this magical thing that happens on a team where everyone gets exponentially better than just every individual maximizing their talent on their own.
pD: You talked about maximizing talent; what are some of the habits you've developed through playing sports?
CF: I would say that goal setting is definitely one of the habits I developed through playing sports. I think every athlete is looking for a goal of some type, whether it's just trying to win your next game, or maybe make it to the playoffs, or achieve whatever win-loss record for the season. Athletes develop this mindset of always working towards something... Towards some type of goal. So for me, that goal oriented mindset has carried with me because I've been playing sports my whole life... I'm always striving for something that's further ahead.
You're always trying to work towards something
And thinking of my professional career now, this mindset has been extremely helpful.
pD: Delve a little bit into how that goal-setting carried over into other parts of your life.
CF: It's funny; it took me a little while to figure out what I wanted to do for work, like finding the right career. I do sales now, and it's no surprise that I loved it from the day I started. The reason I bring that up is, the first thing I would do every day when I open up my computer, is I look at my sales goal for the year. I see that I'm at X percent, and I need to achieve Y percent more to reach my goal.
This is what drives me, and it's what I enjoy.
That's one example, but there's tons of different goals that I'm always trying to reach and work towards. But it's my goal oriented mindset that has really helped me improve in tons of aspects of my life.
pD: I'm sure you've talked to people or have met people who have goals, and just for whatever reason, there seem to be some people who can achieve their goals, and some who can't. What do you think is the difference between those who achieve their goals and those who don't seem to achieve their goals?
CF: That is a great question, and I think I have a good answer. There's two things.
Whose goals are they?
One is, you just may not be passionate about what you're working towards. Whose goals are they? Are they your goals, or your parents' goals, or your friends' goals for you? Whoever's opinions you might care about, I think a lot of people try to conform to that, versus doing something that they themselves are actually passionate about.
So for me, I mentioned earlier that it took me a while until I figured out what I really wanted to do work-wise. What happened was after college, I took a job that gave me a lot of responsibility, especially for a 22 year-old. But I hated it. I didn't have a lot of motivation, and overall I just wasn't happy. I set goals, but I wasn't reaching them. But going through that experience helped me realize that I wasn't performing well because I wasn't passionate about what I was doing. One reason people can't reach goals is maybe they just set the wrong goal, if that makes sense.
The second thing is probably more important of why people don't reach goals, and that is self-awareness.
Maybe you set goals that are too unrealistic, which means you don't know yourself that well yet. Self awareness was something that I really developed in college. You know, I was an athlete, and I loved to set high goals and think that I can beat anyone on the court, and that's the kind of mentality you need to have as an athlete. Even as a kid, I dreamt of being in the NBA, which is not a bad thing, but at some point, my self-awareness kicked in, and I realized where my limits were... I would never be able to dunk over LeBron James... Or Sam Bowman. And what I learned playing at Covenant was when I tried to do too much, or when I tried to play outside of my role, I found my limitations.
So for me, self awareness means staying true to myself, which means keeping my competitive edge and my goal oriented mindset, but at the same time, I also know myself well enough to recognize where my limits are. If I don't know where my limits are, I'll set unrealistic goals and never reach them.
pD: You talked about building some of that self-awareness during your time at college. What are some steps people might be able to take to build that self-awareness?
CF: Don't be afraid to ask for feedback. That's a huge one. In basketball, you get feedback; you get taken out of the game, you'll get yelled at, you learn to take those things as an athlete. A lot of people are afraid to really just face the truth head-on, but man, in order to really know yourself, you have to just acknowledge where your weaknesses are. For me, the people I work with now, it's kind of an awkward conversation, but I ask them genuinely: "What can I be doing better?" So that's been huge for me, doing that with the people, not even just in work, but people in my personal life who I am closest with.
So if you can get feedback from the people that know you the best, you'll really get a much better understanding of yourself. Again, use that to make yourself better and work towards your overarching, bigger goals.
pD: I'm going to pivot a little bit. What's a challenge that you've faced, either in life or playing sports, and how did you approach that challenge?
CF: Well, back to that first job that I had a year after college, because it was something I wasn't passionate about. It paid well, and it gave me a lot of responsibility, but the truth is, it just was not a good fit. So I thought I could mold into the job, and I tried to convince myself that it was worth it, but at some point, I just realized this is not what I'm supposed to be doing.
So how did I overcome it? I think it was almost an experience I had to go through to get to know myself better. And I feel like, once I knew myself, I could step back and see clearly what I'm good at, what I'm bad at, and most importantly, what I enjoy. When I figured out that job wasn't something I enjoyed, it was pretty clear to me, and it wasn't too difficult for me to start moving into other things.
So even though that job was a miserable experience, I am really thankful I went through it, because I learned what I don't like. It was all part of my self-discovery process.
pD: And you started talking about it a little already, but what is the significance of you having faced that challenge in that job?
CF: Here's what was significant about it: the fact that I overcome adversity. I think going through that experience could have had a lot of different outcomes; for example, it could have given me a negative view of work. But instead, I viewed it as a positive: "Here are things I learned in my job that I don't like; now I know more about myself, I know what I enjoy, and I'm going to use that to keep moving forward."
I start to celebrate when I fail
It's this idea that the older I get, I almost start to celebrate when I fail. I know that sounds crazy, but if I fail, I've actually learned something new about myself and I am now better for it... And that's a positive. Again, I want to keep moving forward and continue to make these self-discoveries and use that to better myself and reach my goals.
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