- Sir Edmund Hillary, first climber to successfully summit Mt. Everest
You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.
Setting goals is one of the most commonly used training tools. People’s goals are all too often made incorrectly. If you are interested in setting some goals, or even reevaluating your current goals, follow these seven steps for proper goal setting.
Step 1) Define your goal
Ask yourself these questions:
- What achievement would be worth your very best effort?
- What would you attempt if you knew it was impossible to fail?
- What exactly do you want to accomplish?
- What would you go for if you knew this was your very last chance?
Make sure your vision is powerful and clear, one that you would follow despite whatever setbacks and failures that might arise along the way. The goal has to be very specific (i.e. “My goal is to place in the top 32 of the Division I NAC,”), rather than general or vague (i.e. “I want to fence well.”) You can tell whether or not you have actually reached it.
Step 2) Where are you right now?
Carefully examine where you are right now in terms of your goal. Are you willing to do things you may not want to do in order to reach your goal?
Step 3) Be honest about what you need to do
In order to get where you want to go, you have to know how to get there. Identify at least one aspect in each of the following skill type categories that needs improvement: physical (i.e. gains in speed), tactical (i.e. develop a bout winning move), technical (i.e. more accurate point control) and mental (i.e. higher confidence).
Step 4) Formulate a daily improvement plan
This is the most important step of the goal setting process. For each area that you identified in step 3, write out at least three or four specific actions that you can take. You are more likely to follow that than, “I will get faster legs.”
Step 5) Work and make on short-term goals
The goal that you set in step 1 may take a long time to reach, perhaps months or even years. Achieving these goals will give you feedback on your progress towards your ultimate goal.
Step 6) You must commit!
It is easy to say you’re going to do something- actually doing it is another story. This is analogous to people who make a New Year’s resolutions to lose weight; seldom people actually go through with it.
Step 7) Continually monitor your progress
Is your goal plan actually working or does it need adjustment? In times when it seems like your goal is too far out of reach, you can look at your progress list and visually see how far you have come, and how much closer you are to your goal.
References
USMA Center for Enhanced Performance. (2006). Goal setting: The
pathway to success. Retrieved July 25, 2007 dean. usma.edu/cep/default.htm
Hillary, E. P. (n.d.). Retrieved on July 26,
2007 from www.goal-setting-guide.com/quote-goal.html
In Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. Retrieved July
26, 2007 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Holtz
Sir Edmund Hilary. (n.d.). In Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia.
Retrieved July 26, 2007 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Edmund_Hillary
If you are interested in setting some goals, or even reevaluating your current goals, follow these seven steps for proper goal setting.
Are you willing to do things you may not want to do in order to reach your goal? The goal that you set in step 1 may take a long time to reach, perhaps months or even years. Achieving these goals will give you feedback on your progress towards your ultimate goal. In times when it seems like your goal is too far out of reach, you can look at your progress list and visually see how far you have come, and how much closer you are to your goal.