Last Season’s Letdown Serves As Valuable Lesson For Bourgeois In 2025 Efforts

There’s a saying Waylon Bourgeois calls back to that goes something like, “If your goals don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.”

It’s a mantra that has become one of the hardest lessons he’s had to learn.

In 2024, the Church Point, La., bareback rider set lofty but attainable goals. After back-to-back years just inside the top 30 in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association World Standings, Bourgeois wanted to dream big. In 2023, he failed to clear $60,000 in earnings. A year later, he aimed to double that, aspiring to secure $120,000 or more by the end of the 2024 schedule.

To outsiders, that might seem like a stretch. Turns out, he wasn’t thinking big enough.

“I bit myself in the butt. I set my goals lower than I should have. I definitely learned not to ever do that again,” Bourgeois said. “If I wouldn’t have fallen short, I would have never learned the things that I’ve learned this year. I’ve learned so much just by falling short like that. I hit my goal, but my goal wasn’t enough. If I would have set my goal higher than that and hit my goal, I make the NFR.”

Bourgeois cleared his self-created benchmark, finishing with just more than $123,000 in winnings last season. Unfortunately, that put him 18th in the PRCA World Standings, three spots away from his first trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December.

Reaching the standard he set was a positive, but it was quickly marred by the reality that he had narrowly missed out on ProRodeo’s biggest showcase event

Yet without that moment, his beginning to the 2025 campaign might look vastly different.

In the offseason, Bourgeois amplified his already robust training routine, focusing on doing everything to keep mentally and physically sharp.

As of January 15, Bourgeois has taken part in six rodeos that count towards the new season. At every stop, he’s managed to walk away with money, including two rounds wins and the average title at the Southeastern Circuit Finals Rodeo back in November.

With the action of the new season just getting started, Bourgeois has but himself in good position early, with more than $16,000 already in his ledger to place him third in the PRCA Standings.

The end goal for 2025 is very simple – be among the top 15 in the PRCA World Standings to earn a spot at NFR. Each year Bourgeois sets an earnings goal before the season starts. This go-round, he left nothing to chance, setting the standard at $200,000, a mark that will guarantee him a place in the field.

Between now and the regular season’s conclusion at the end of September, he’s got a lot of work to do to remain in position. It’s a challenge he’s eager for.

“Whenever you miss the NFR by that close, it’ll light a fire in you, that’s for sure,” Bourgeois said. “I have a bunch of short term goals, but my main, long term goal is to get to Las Vegas and then we’ll train and write some new goals down for that time. But right now, I’ve got one thing on my mind and that’s to get to Las Vegas and we’ll see what comes after that.”