Dara Torres was recently featured on the cover of Oxygen magazine. After watching her behind-the-scenes footage on the site, I was left inspired not only by how fantastic she looked, but how determined she is and dedicated to the sport of swimming. It is not enough for her to simply engage in the sport or do well. She wants, and even expects, to win.

She trains with purpose and intent and that got me thinking about my own training. How many times have I gone into the gym to train and truly trained with purpose and intent? Did I bring a plan of action, a workout to follow, taking notes of reps and sets, or did I just walk into the gym and work out willy-nilly? Definitely willy-nilly! And when I trained, was I 100 percent focused on engaging the muscle and getting that peak contraction? How was I breathing? More often than not, my head is filled with thoughts from the day, things yet to do and groceries that I need to pick up on the way home.

Seeing someone like Dara, I realize that I need to start training with better focus if I want to stay at the top of my game and really reach my full potential. I know that it's nearly impossible to maintain that sort of focus every single day, but if I stay mindful of athletes like Dara and keep my goals front and center with visual reminders, hopefully I'll trade more of those days where I'm simply going through the motions for days where I let the thoughts of the day go and shift my focus to truly making progress.