Goal Setting for Sport

Goal Setting is a tremendously powerful tool for sport because Goal setting is a key element in your overall sporting Mental Preparation Program (MPP). Simplistically a Mental Preparation Program has two elements – Competition Day Preparation and a Goal Achievement Program (GAP).

Typically Goal Setting is the platform on which both a Goal Achievement Program and your overall Mental Preparation Program is built. Goal Setting will help you focus on what your really want and it will help you appreciate what you need to do in order to achieve your goal.

Goal Setting will bring changes to your life. So, an important aspect of goal setting is to anticipate what those changes could be so that you will know how to cope with them when they have arrived. You will need to determine if you really want the changes that will happen to you.

Goal Setting brings things to fruition. Early on in a goal setting program it can sometimes appear as if things are not going to plan. Paradoxically this can be a good sign. It typically means that there are significant things you need to learn or significant adjustments you need to make in order to prepare yourself for goalsetting success. Alternatively it could mean you need to reassess your goal. Is it a goal you really wish to achieve? Is it your goal or the goal of someone else? Is the goal too challenging or even too simple? When things don’t go exactly to plan for your goal setting this is an important signpost to reassess your goal and your strategies and determine what you need to change.

Goal setting can bring amazing improvements in your sporting performance, especially over the longer term. Even though goal setting is at its most effective for terms of one year or more there is still a place for short term goal setting in sport. Short term goal setting can help you learn about yourself and develop goal setting skills. But with short term goal setting you need to understand that it is more about developing yourself and goal setting skills than it is about achieving your goal.

Very often setting short term goals is the stepping stone to more ambitious goals. It is the more ambitious goals that leads you into the Goal Achievement Program and the more advanced goal setting skills such as visualization.

The key steps in the goal achievement program are:

Decide on your goal
Document your goal
Know what evidence will signify the achievement of your goal
Decide on your first step
Understand how it will impact upon your life
Removing limitations
Visualize
Get help with your goal setting if needed

Your goal setting results will be enhanced as you understand more about the process and learn from others that have done it. The goal setting journey can certainly have its highs and lows. It is useful to appreciate that before you start. We are building a library of a number of Goal Setting Case Studies.

Improvement in sport is typically not a linear process. So even if your performance levels out for a period you need to be excited to understand that often a sharp improvement follows a big plateau. Having set your goal and having people to support you can provide you with the motivation to keep at your goal during those flat spots.

If you would like to know more about how Goal Setting can help improve your goal setting outcomes you can:

Subscribe to our goal setting ezine
Enrol in a Goal Setting Program
Send us an email
Download the Goal Achievement Program Checklist
Enquire about personalised programs

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