Meet Josh Foley | Cyclist & Student

We had the good fortune of connecting with Josh Foley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Josh, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
The internet is full of articles explaining how to be successful and videos titled “Top Executives Do These Five Things Every Morning” yet many people still struggle to understand that success will not be built overnight. However, as someone who is living in the process of building my personal brand and training to become a national champion, I can share my thoughts on how I believe I WILL achieve long-term success in the future. I know I will not simply just become successful, it takes years of being consistent in all areas building fitness, knowledge, and relationships while also taking calculated and effective risks and evaluating my failures. Being a 19-year-old collegiate mountain biker, my vision of success encompasses several different goals. When I look towards the future, I see myself racing mountain bikes professionally, and when my racing career is over, I plan to have amassed a large enough following on my socials where I can create a business and instantly have customers who know me and my brand. Currently, to reach these goals I have begun creating more content, posting three times per week on Instagram (josh_foley15) and creating longer content for YouTube (Josh Foley). I plan on documenting this journey and sharing it with others who want to attempt a similar path in cycling. This past year I amplified all aspects of my training and racing including more volume, larger races, challenging workouts, and better competition. I traveled out to Colorado twice for both mountain bike championships in Winter Park and Collegiate National Champs in Purgatory. Both races pushed me further than ever before and I have used these experiences to build for next year.
Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. This one word holds so much power and can get you so much farther than you would ever believe. For me, consistency plays a major role in training. Only committing halfway to a training plan or work project you can’t ever reach your full potential. If I wish to come remotely close to my goals of winning a national championship and racing professionally, I must be dedicated and consistent in my training. This means not straying from the planned workout, getting the correct amount of sleep, maintaining a healthy diet, proper recovery, getting in strength workouts, and many other tiny tasks. Over time the progress from completing these tasks every day will compound propelling me to the place I see myself in the future. I fully committed to being consistent in my training two years ago and have seen immense changes in my performance and skills as a cyclist. Seeing these results in my aesthetics gives me a much broader perspective on relating my experiences to building a business. If you spend two years working on a project you will see tangible progress that will motivate you to continue working for the next two years.
With so many tasks all being required daily I find it valuable to keep a to-do list and a planner for what is to be completed each day. I use two variations of these the first is a to-do list on my phone. This list includes projects that need to be completed for school and my personal life. While the other place I plan is an app called Training Peaks. All the training I need to complete is listed neatly for each day of the week. I can upload my workouts into the app and then review them. I have found that through proper debriefing and review there are many gains to be found. After completing a big project, hard training session, or in-depth meeting, it is important to go back and break down what was done. This is time to find key things that were missed or even done well and should be repeated. A review allows for small successes to be found and helps prevent catastrophic failures.
The final aspect of my life that I believe will allow me to become more successful is taking calculated and effective risks. Being an athlete, I am used to taking calculated risks. Many times, in sport, especially bicycle racing you must make quick decisions calculating the risk and its potential outcome in an instant. Having to make risky decisions in sport will transfer over into the business world. Being comfortable having taken many risks in the past will provide the foundation to be confident in myself when making business decisions. A quote that I feel encompasses risk-taking as an important trait for being successful is from the movie “A Most Violent Year”. Able says “When it feels scary to jump, that is exactly when you jump, otherwise you end up staying in the same place your whole life, and that I can’t do.” I have taken this quote to heart; I will not be complacent in my life. I want to grow, be successful, and create something worth talking about. Without taking the necessary risks, maintaining consistency, and analyzing my failures I will become stagnant, living the same boring dissatisfying life as so many others and That I Can’t Do!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a 19-year-old student-athlete studying at Lees-McRae College and am a part of their collegiate cycling team. What I wrote for the first section of this article covers most of the questions asked here.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am not from Denver, originally I am from New Jersey and now go to school in North Carolina. However, I have been to Denver and Colorado and can say that if you have to opportunity to go and check out Winter Park that is an awesome place.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The Lees-McRae Cycling Team

Instagram: josh_foley15

Linkedin: Josh Foley

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyNb_59CH9BRuSk2yEI_lfw

Image Credits
Bergen Khare