1. GOAL SETTING BASICS IN SPORT & PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Damon Burton, Ph.D.
University of Idaho

2. WHAT ARE GOALS?
Goals – are like magnets that attract us to higher ground and new horizons. They give our eyes a focus, our mind an aim, and our strength a purpose. Without their pull, we would remain forever stationary, incapable of moving forward A goal is a possibility that fulfills a dream (Lessin, 1999)

3. COMPONENTS OF GOALS
direction – athletes’ choice about how to direct or focus their behavior.
comparison standard – a minimal quality and/or quantity of behavior that must be attained to achieve success.

4. HOW GOALS WORK Motivate Growth Focus attention on specific tasks,
Increase effort and intensity,
Encourage persistence.
Reveal Need to Problem Solve
Prompt the development of new task strategies.

5. DO GOALS WORK?
Goal setting is the most popular and effective performance-enhancement technique used in sport psychology
Over 90% of all business studies and almost 80% of all sport studies demonstrate goal setting effects, normally in 6 weeks or less.

6. WHAT TYPES OF GOALS ARE MOST EFFECTIVE?
process, performance and/or outcome goals?
specific and/or general goals?
easy, moderate and/or difficult goals?
positive and/or negative goals?
practice and/or competitive goals?
short-term and/or long-term goals? individual and/or team goals?

7. GOAL FOCUS: PROCESS, PERFORMANCE & OUTCOME GOALS
Process goals focus on improving form, technique and strategies.
Performance goals emphasize improving personal performance or attaining a particular performance standard.
Outcome goals concentrate on winning and outperforming others.

8. HOW DO WE DETERMINE OPTIMAL GOAL DIFFICULTY?
Goals define perceived success and failure. If we reach our goal, we succeed. If we fall short, we fail -- at least to some degree.
If goals are set too high, they elicit stress.
If goals are set too low, they are not motivating.

9. GOAL FOCUS: PROCESS, PERFORMANCE & OUTCOME GOALS
Process and performance goals promote better performance than outcome goals because they are . .
Controllable – athletes should take credit for their own success or goal attainment.
Flexibility – goals should be easy to raise and lower to ensure optimal goal difficulty in every situation making success realistic.

10. GOAL DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT, MODERATE OR EASY GOALS
Research confirms that most athletes prefer moderately difficult goals that are 5-15% above current performance capabilities,
Orlick recommends 3 goal difficulty levels,
Dream Goals – level of performance possible if athletes experience Flow.
Realistic Goals – moderately difficult level of performance possible if the athlete performs well-- up to expectations.
Growth Goals – lowest level of performance that a competitor can achieve and still feel successful.

11. GOAL VALENCE
Positively-worded goals are believed to be better than negative goals.
Want you to focus on images of success.
Skill level may impact valence
Low Skilled Moderately Skilled Highly Skilled
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
Generally, positive goals are encouraged!!

12. GOAL PROXIMITY: SHORT-TERM VERSUS LONG-TERM GOALS
Long-term goals provide direction to help identify where you are going.
Short-term goals are the stepping stones to reach long-term goals . They promote the motivation and self-confidence increments necessary to pursue those long-term objectives.
A combination of short- and long-term goals is recommended.

13. STAIRCASE APPROACH TO ACHIEVING LONG-TERM GOALS
Week 4 goal
Week 3 goal
Week 2 goal
Week 1 goal
Baseline

14. PRACTICE VERSUS COMPETITIVE GOALS
Practice Goals
focus - developing skills
concentration and motivation
outcome, process & performance goals
push comfort zone
Competitive Goals
focus - performing optimally
poise, confidence & stress management
process & performance goals
difficulty realistic for CPC

15. GOAL COLLECTIVITY: TEAM VERSUS INDIVIDUAL GOALS
Team goals focus
on boosting
cohesion and
collective performance.
Individual goals are role-specific in order to maximize team success.

16. WHY TEAM GOALS PROMOTE SOCIAL LOAFING?
The larger the number of team members, the less effort each athlete expends.
Social loafing declines when identifiability and accountability increase.
Individual goals counter social loafing.
A combination of team and individual goals is recommended.

17. DRUM – GOAL SETTING ACRONYM
D = Daily,
R = Realistic,
U = Urgent,
M = Measurable.

18. RHYTHM ENHANCES GOAL SETTTING EFFFECTIVENESS
Drums are instruments designed to provide the appropriate rhythm to music.
When performers get into a good goal setting rhythm, performance is enhanced.

19. HOW TO PROMOTE GOAL SETTING ‘URGENCY’
Increasing optimal uncertainty enhances urgency,
Finding an optimal amount of importance enhances urgency,
Rhythm promotes ‘automation’ that increases ‘urgency,
Team climate and culture to ‘do your job’ elevates urgency.

20. GOAL SETTING PROCESS Process Goal Setting
Goal setting is best understood and most effective when understood as a process
Most coaches and athletes do a great job of setting goals and then forget or ignore the rest of the process
Set
Goals
Reinforce
Goal
Attainment
Secure
Commitment i
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate
Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans

21. GOAL SETTING PROCESS Set Goals follow goal type recommendations
use Orlick’s three levels of goal difficulty
moderate goal difficulty that’s % above current capabilities.
Set
Goals
Reinforce
Goal
Attainment
Secure
Commitment i
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate
Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans

22. GOAL SETTING PROCESS Commitment Secure Goal
get athletes to participate in setting goals,
rewards build commitment,
post goals and goal progress to promote social support and accountability.
Set
Goals
Reinforce
Goal
Attainment
Secure
Commitment i
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate
Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans

23. GOAL SETTING PROCESS Construct Action Plans Identify Barriers &
Identify skill and knowledge barriers to goal attainment,
Develop a systematic plan for how you’ll overcome barriers and attain goals.
Set
Goals
Reinforce
Goal
Attainment
Secure
Commitment i
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate
Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans

24. GOAL SETTING PROCESS Evaluate Goal Attainment Obtain Feedback and
Feedback is critical to goal success.
Schedule times daily and weekly to monitor goals.
Evaluation is the most overlooked step in making goals work.
Set
Goals
Reinforce
Goal
Attainment
Secure
Commitment i
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate
Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans

25. GOAL SETTING PROCESS Attainment Reinforce Goal
reward goal achievement,
use appropriate shaping procedures for reinforcement,
intermittent reinforcement enhances retention,
self-reward or develop a team reward system
Set
Goals
Reinforce
Goal
Attainment
Secure
Commitment i
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate
Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans

26. COORDINATING GOALS
Step 1 – establish a culminating goal (e.g., outcome goal - win conference)
Step 2 – develop a series of intermediate performance goals (e.g., stroke mechanics, conditioning, tactics, attacking skills and mental skills) to win conference
Step 3 – set a series of short-term process goals that are needed to reach performance goals (i.e., timing, footwork, horizontal movement and vertical swing enhance stroke mechanics)

27. GOAL ROADMAPS

28. DEVELOPING A “GOAL MENTALITY”
“Goal Mentality” – is the mindset to love setting goals and set them spontaneously and systematically in everything you do.
Setting goals become self-fueling and increases intrinsic motivation and steadily enhances self-confidence.

29. “GOAL MENTALITY” REQUIREMENTS
A minimum of 8-12 weeks is necessary to create a “goal mentality” (GM)
The process requires setting daily goals and monitoring them closely while learning how to set goals effectively and building a history of success needed to optimize intrinsic motivation and self-confidence.

30. COMMON GOAL PROBLEMS
failure to sell practitioners on goal setting to ensure commitment,
setting goals that are not measurable and realistic,
unwillingness to raise and lower goals to maintain optimal difficulty,
setting too many goals,
focusing too much on outcome goals,
forgetting to monitor and evaluate goals.
Develop a ”goal roadmap” to coordinate goals

31. The End
The End