Setting Short Term Goals to Achieve Long Term Ambition
To date, previous articles have covered, A positive mental attitude, Conditioning our Conscious and Sub-Conscious mind, and Affirmations. You will have recognised that while we train our bodies, we should also focus on the mind. Future articles will cover: Elite Athletes Psychological Profile, Getting in The Zone and Managing Anxiety. This article talks about the importance of “Goal Setting”.
Let’s think about goals as exciting objectives that provide a clear focus of what you want to achieve. Without clearly defined goals, you may lack the drive and motivation to succeed.
Goals apply in all areas of life. To demonstrate the importance, The Harvard Business School graduating Class of 1953 had only 3% of students who had goals and who had written them down. In 1973, when surveying members of the Class of 1953 were re-united, the 3% of students who had goals and who had written them down, were worth more, in net terms, than the other 97% combined! The point of this is not the wealth, but the power of goals!
Goals help to provide the drive and motivation to succeed, and in some respects work alongside affirmations, and creating a mental image of the future success.
Before explaining how to set goals, it is important to differentiate between goals and ambition. Goals need to reflect a shorter term, and which can be regularly reset…this can be as you achieve and move on or for a new goal. Shorter term goals also allow you to celebrate your achievements on the journey!
On one occasion, I was with a Football Premiership Official, when a newly appointed referee walked into the room. He was asked what his goal was! His answer…” To referee a world cup final”! Now that is fabulous but that could take twenty years to get there! It becomes an ambition, not short-term goals that we use as building bricks!
An example that I often use when giving talks is about John Naber an American swimmer. In 1972, he watched in awe as Mark Spitz ruled the pool in the Olympics. At that time Naber was a talented university swimmer, certainly not Olympic standard.
He worked out to improve to the level that he would need to, that he would have to improve at the rate of 1/5th of the blink of an eyelid, for every hour of training that he could commit too…The goal broken down into minutia.
Fast forward to the 1976 Olympics and Naber was made American swimming captain, winning four gold medals; all in world record time! This was a long-term goal, but one broken down into such small parts, that it became realistic!
The saying “how do you eat an elephant” comes to mind!?...In bite sized chunks!
It will be apparent why creating goals is so important. They provide motivation, focus and guidance on how to train.
We can have short term and long-term goals, but the focus is on short term ideally with a road map to your ambitions. Goals should be personal to you. They should also be something that you have control over and an influence…With a degree of stretch!
An example being that you want to beat another athlete in order to win the event. You have no control over this!
The goal has to become the perceived level of attainment necessary to beat the other athlete…Time/Distance etc. is in your control.
Goals need to be SMART.
Specific
Measurable
Achievable (with stretch)
Realistic
Timebound
Specific Means no ambiguity, it is clear what the goal is!
Measurable So that it is obvious what needs to be achieved. What gets measured is more likely to be achieved!
Achievable Setting a goal that is clearly out of reach to the athlete concerned is a wasted goal.
Relevant It has to be something that resonates with the athlete.
Timebound A date by which the goal has to be achieved. This gives more focus!
Some also believe that A' can be used for adjustable. This allows for stretch, especially where injury or events outside of your control happen and allow you to adjust the 'achievable' accordingly. For example you could set a a target of improving by
1-minute,
at least 1-minute, or even
up to 1-minute,
depending on what you and your coach deem most suitable based on your psyche and injury history.
Goals are best created in conjunction with your coach, or even discussing and telling a colleague. It gives further accountability!
Without goals, we have no drive or motivation. Goals drive you towards something that you want to achieve. This is termed “Towards motivation”.
There is a term “Away from motivation” …The feeling of failing to achieve spurs the athlete on towards the goal. It can work for some, but does not offer the clear picture of success that towards motivation does.
Clearly defined goals can become the stepping stones to your future success. As each one is hit, a new one is created, allowing you to celebrate success on the journey!
Goals should be linked to the affirmations that you create (refer the previous blog), and will then create a powerful mental picture of the success that you plan to achieve.
“The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can't let yourself be beat because of lack of effort”.
Michael Jordan
Other articles from Nick Bishop include:
A positive mental attitude You can read it here.
Conditioning of behaviour You can read more here.
The conscious and sub-conscious mind. You can read more here.
Affirmations and self-talking your way to succeed
Readers may be interested in the following for further reading:
Black Box Thinking: Marginal Gains and the Secrets of High Performance by Matthew Syed
Self Talk: How to Train Your Brain to Turn Negative Thinking into Positive Thinking & Practice Self Love by Aston Sanderson
The Complete Guide to Sport Motivation by Ken Hodge
Black Box Thinking: Marginal Gains and the Secrets of High Performance by Matthew Syed
Self Talk: How to Train Your Brain to Turn Negative Thinking into Positive Thinking & Practice Self Love by Aston Sanderson
The Complete Guide to Sport Motivation (Complete Guides) by Ken Hodge