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Life Lessons Life Lesson #53: Goal Setting Introduce young athletes to the power of setting goals While the immediate benefits of setting and achieving goals can be measured with hits and strikeouts, the long term benefits involve development of individuals as athletes, family members and workers. Goal Setting is a skill that takes practice, and effective practice to improve a skill often involves high numbers of repetition. Improving one?s ability to set and work to achieve goals is no different ? it takes practice and a willingness to push through the hard work and repetitions. It?s important to note that Goal Setting does not have right or wrong answers. You don?t have to know how to achieve it in order to set a specific goal. There are no ?stupid? goals, and I?ve never heard any teacher explain the perils or dangers of setting them. Therefore, I think it is incredibly valuable to start young athletes down the road of goal setting at a very early age and accelerate their own process of improving and honing their goal-setting skills. I can personally say I?ve practiced setting goals for 7-8 years and have only recently begun to fully understand the power associated with the process. With special thanks to a great friend and mentor that pushed me, I?m thankful that I started my training at the age of 23. Why NOT start an athlete setting goals at 16? 14? 12? Imagine the possibilities associated with starting that development process 10 years earlier? Where would these young athletes be when they turn 23 if they start working on skills such as setting and working to achieve goals at the age of 15?! This line of thinking is one of the driving forces behind our elite training. There is not a tremendous pressure for our young athletes to full understand the philosophy behind goal setting (or any of the other topics covered in the classroom sessions). That is something takes years to understand and plenty of practice, combined with a natural maturity and willingness to explore. Instead, the requirements of Lifeletics training involve a firm commitment to fully engage into every exercise and do the work associated with that exercise. This helps to take the pressure off of setting goals: there are no wrong answers, you can always change your set of goals, and nothing is permanent! Give your best effort, understand that you are starting a long process that will take years to master, and have fun along the way. Let?s examine further the two main benefits to setting goals - achievement and personal development. Achievement refers to accomplishment or the result of acquiring things and stuff, while personal development is how one changes and develops along the way: BIG BENEFIT #1 ? ACHIEVEMENT Most simply stated: If you set goals and you achieve them? you get stuff. That ?stuff? can be trophies, cars, money, accolades, praise, or even love. It can also be the opportunity to play a desired position or participate on a high school team. A baseball player?s goal of earning all-league honors can help him to attract college coaches. A softball player?s goal of one strikeout per inning can lead to a newspaper article. Whatever the reward, goal setting can help you to focus in on what you want to accomplish and then develop the plan for how you are going to get it. Setting specific goals is also important to ensure that hard work has direction. While it?s good to give effort and practice hard, goals help to provide focus and make sure an individual or team is moving in the right direction. It can break up a long season or make it less overwhelming. Goals keep teams grounded during good times and can raise morale during tough times. And if you?re constantly hitting goals and receiving ?stuff,? you can be sure that your performance on the field will show it. Achievement is very important to an athlete. The inherent competitive desire to improve and grow is fully stoked by constantly achieving goals. Rewards are a healthy way to keep morale high and ensure that deserving performances are recognized. BIG BENEFIT #2 ? PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT The most powerful life application of goal setting is what the effort working towards a goal will make of you as a person. Setting and achieving goals lead directly to development of important character traits such as persistence, desire, poise, and attitude as well as physical traits like strength, skill and ability. Let?s use a specific example to show the personal development benefits of goal setting: Hit for an average of .400 this season Any athlete that successfully reached a goal of hitting for a .400 average would and should be both excited and proud. They would undoubtedly achieve accolades, perhaps make an all-star team or earn the game ball. However, as soon as that season is over? that athlete?s average resets and he must start all over again. The goal has been reached and any trophies or awards won become memories. Challenges begin anew with a fresh set of goals to strive for. So, what is the athlete left with? In this case, an athlete can be proud to add a slew of physical and mental developments as a direct result of working towards the goal of hitting .400: Physical Developments:
When training athletes in the classroom, I always try to break the session into two sections. In the first section, my goal is to expose the athletes to the philosophy associated with the topic. In this case, we would talk through the process of personal development associated with Goal Setting. My own challenge is to push each individual to engage into how they will personally change by working towards a goal: the habits they will develop, the expectations they will set, the physical, mental and emotional improvements that will result from their commitment. Here?s where I take special pride in starting their development process ? I don?t ask them to become experts on goal setting in an hour. I simply ask them to follow intently and participate fully! The second part of a classroom session involves a practical exercise. In this case, I want each athlete to leave the session with a firm set of goals written down on a piece of paper or journal. As a group, we walk through an exercise designed to get athletes to think and write. Using music to quiet distractions and allow athletes to focus, the group follows a tangible process with simple prompts and clear questions. At the end of the session, each athlete can look down at a set of specific goals that he or she created, and leave with the motivation to start the process of accomplishment! You can search books or the internet for wonderful goal-setting exercises, or you?ll simply have to join Lifeletics Elite or Team Training! Blending Life with Athletics? goal-setting the Lifeletics way. ?It is a funny thing about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it.? ~ W. Somerset Maugham, American Playwright |
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