Goal Setting The foundation of a plan for success includes goal setting and the achievement of goals.

Success is nothing more than the attainment of goals.

A goal is a map of your peak performance that will let you know where you are going, how you will get there, and how well you are progressing on your journey. Are you a goal setter?

Goal Processing

The process of goal setting requires: Become aware of your present position Establish your priorities Select goals that are progressive, appropriate and attainable.

Goals Objective Goal: focus on “attaining a specific standard of proficiency on a task, usually within a specified time”. Subjective Goal: General statements of intent. An objective goal is the desire to attain a specific standard of proficiency on a task, usually within a specified time.

Kinds of Goals Performance – oriented: focusses on increasing success by emphasizing learning and skill improvement. Outcome – oriented: focusses on winning and losing and comparing your skills with the skills of others. – Reason most athletes and coaches are frustrated with the competitive experience and rarely reach their potential – Outcome goals lower our confidence

People move best toward their potential when they are progressively learning and improving and focused on what they control.

“The coach must have goals. The team must have goals. Each tennis player must have goals—real vivid living goals…goals keep everyone on target. Goals commit me to the work, time, pain, and whatever else is part of the price of achieving success.” --Top collegiate tennis player

Goal setting is an extremely powerful technique for enhancing performance, but it must be implemented correctly.

Principles for a successful and workable goal setting program: Choose goals over which you have control Write down your goals – contract Write your goals in positive language – Whatever dominates my thoughts is what I move towards Read and review your goals often – The more you focus on your goals the closer they will come to reality

SMARTS Goals S pecific. Goals should indicate precisely what is to be done. M easurable. Make sure you can quantify your goal. A ction oriented. Goals should indicate something that needs to be done. R ealistic. Make sure the goals can be achieved given various constraints. T imely. Make sure the goal can be achieved in a reasonable time. S elf-determined. Goals should be set by, or have input from, the participant.

Areas Goals Should be Set In Individual Skills Team Skills Fitness Playing Time Enjoyment Psychological Skills

Group Goals “The future state of affairs desired by enough members of a group to work towards its achievement”

Principals of Setting Team Goals Establish long-term goals first Establish clear paths of short-term goals en route to long-term goals Involve all members of the team in establishing team goals Monitor progress toward team goals Reward progress made toward team goals Foster collective team confidence or efficacy concerning team goals

Common Problems in Goal Setting Convincing Students, Athletes, and Exercisers to Set Goals Failing to Set Specific Goals Setting Too Many Goals Too Soon Failing to Adjust Goals Failure to Recognize Individual Differences Not Providing Follow-Up and Evaluation

Setting Goals Refer back to the ideal performance that you described. Confident and successful people have a persona about them. They expect success, are mentally tough, and bounce back easily. For your goal setting plan you are moving toward an ideal performance, an ideal competitive situation, a group of mastered skills, or a single skill.

Describe the performance results you want by including the following information about you and the athletic situation: Appearance Emotional responses Responses to success Responses from coaches, teammates, competitors, fans, and others Body language Confidence level Responses to errors Self talk Focus Facial expressions

As you are describing your results think in terms of how someone watching you would be able to recognize that you are being successful by observing these traits.

Your Goal Setting Program

You have established what results you want now you are ready to get down to the details of setting goals. What would have to happen or change to get these results? Look at your results and describe what has to happen and how.

You now have some good ideas about what you need and want to do. Those outcomes or changes will become your goals. It is time to do a reality check. By doing this exercise with your goals you will know how realistic they are and how difficult they will be to accomplish. This will help you to clarify your goals by looking at your barriers and resources.

Looking at your goals What are the possible barriers to reaching your goals? Be honest and list all that you can think of. What are the resources that will help you obtain your goals? These could include people, programs, personal traits, equipment, and knowledge. Review your barriers and resources and look back at the results you want to establish where you are now. You are now ready to put your goal plan together. To begin write your first goal (after you learn the process you can write others). Remember your goal has to be related to the results you desire. Write your goal and read the next section to complete the next step:

The Goal Test Look at what you have written. Ask yourself the following questions about your goal. These questions and their answers will help you to further evaluate your goals. – Is it believable and achievable for you? – Is it stated in positive and specific terms? – Do you want to do it? (it should be your goal, not chosen for you.) – Is it presented with no alternative? Does it have focus? – Are you motivated to achieve the goal? – Is it worth attaining? Does it fit into your value system? – Will it make a difference to you to achieve it? Is it important

Now rewrite your goal. Apply to goal test and tighten your goal so that it is clearly written and directly related to the results desired if you achieve the goal. Ask someone else to read it for clarity. Once you have a good goal that will work move on to the next section and plan your action to reach that goal.

Action Goals You have completed the first step in goal setting. Most people never get past this point. They mistakenly believe that having a goal is all that is necessary. We call this wishing. Effective goal setting requires action be planned and taken to achieve the goals. This is the part of goal setting that will make or break your goal setting plan. One other problem we have found with goal setting is that people know what they have to do yet often do not know where to begin. Follow the strategies below and you will see how easy it is to overcome this problem.

Take your goal. On the lines that follow, list the specific actions that you would and should take to accomplish your goal. It is critical that you are very specific as these will be the steps to your goal.

Now look at the list of actions and prioritize them by numbering them starting with number 1 assigned to the action you would have to take first to reach your goal. Continue to number them in that order.

Take your action list and complete the following: What specific action(s) can you take today (probably 1) that will move you toward this goal? What specific action(s) can you take this week that will move you toward this goal?