Focusing On Performance Goals For Athletic Performance

I’ve written several posts and article on the mental strength skill of goal setting, so this topic should be familiar to you…right?  Goal setting has long been promoted and used as a tool to enhance personal performance – performance in athletics, business, academics, and other areas of your life.

In fact, research provides overwhelming support for the effectiveness of goals that it’s a wonder how anybody can succeed without it.  Goal setting directly correlates to improved personal performance.  But…and this is really critical…there is a specific process of goal setting that works every time!

There are precise guidelines that must be followed to make sure that your goals are going to positively impact your athletic performance.  These include creating a ‘goal map’, focusing on the process, and ‘inking it’. Let’s look at how you can start using these goal setting processes to enhance your athletic performance.

Create a Goal Map

Suppose you live in San Jose, CA and some friends invite you out to their home in Memphis, TN.  Memphis, TN is now your goal and you’ve decided that you are going to drive there.

What do you need to get their?

How are you going to achieve your goal of getting to Memphis?

Let’s say that you don’t have GPS, well, first, you need a map.  With a map you can figure out the roads to take, determine progress indicators and markers along the way, i.e. passing through Phoenix, AZ and the distances between indicators and your total distance. Basically, you’ll be able to plan your exact route to your goal….Memphis.

Now, let’s apply this same concept to sports and athletic training as it relates to goal focused training.  Most athletes, competitive and recreational, have “destination” goals indicating where they want to be, i.e., 20 pounds lighter, bench 240 pounds, run a 10K under 40 minutes, etc.

Effectively, these are long-term goals or outcome goals.  Equally, if not more important, is determining how you’re going to get there – what are you going to do?  These short-term goals serve as your ‘roadmap’ to meet your long-term goal.  Short-term goals tell you what you need to do or skills you need to develop along the way to achieve your long-term goal.  You can think of these as the tactics.  These short-term goals can then be broken down to daily goals that tell you what you need to work on, on a daily basis, to improve as an athlete.

Focus On The Process

Outcome goals related to the end results you want to achieve such as running time, finishing position or weight lifted.  When setting goals, most athletes set only outcome goals.  But it is critical to set process goals-goals as well.  Process goals relate how you prepare for your athletic performance.  For example, with the outcome goal of running a 10K under 40 minutes, a process goal could be in practice to achieve a negative split.  Process goals are important because they help you stay focused on the process of your athletic performance.  Also, process goals are more under your control than outcome goals.  With a process goal you can focus on the correct techniques as opposed to how much weight you are lifting or focusing on a fluid back swinging golf as opposed to hitting par.  In addition, by setting appropriate process goals you put yourself on the path to achieving your desired outcome goal.

Ink It

‘Don’t just think it think it.’  In other words, write it down! Written goals have effectiveness in enhancing your personal performance.  By writing down your process and outcome goals you can now check your progress (remember SMARTER goals?  This is the “E” in that formula).  Evaluation is a crucial aspect of effective goal setting.

I feel a mandatory tool is a keeping a training log.  Write your long-term goal at the top of each page to keep you focused on where you want to be.  Then write down the short-term (process) goals you have for each session.  Then by addressing these process goals during each training session you will systematically progress towards your destination – your outcome goal.

Evaluate your process towards each goal.  Once you have reached 90% of your short-term goals, set another one and then achieve the first short-term goal.  This will keep momentum going.  Setting a new short-term goal BEFORE you reach an established is essential in the achievement of your long-term goal.  Without such a process is easy to get sidetracked to get stuck along the way, or to lose sight of where you’re going.

If you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there.

Find out more about specific athletic goal setting in the program “Mental Strength for Athletic Performance.”

If you’d like to take your training (mental and physical) we offer a 3 day “Mental Strength for Athletic Performance Intensive.” This is a two on one (the one being you) intensive that looks at your functional movement, training, nutrition, mental discipline and thinking about your athletic and sport performance.   If you are interested in this please Contact Me for more information.

OK…your thoughts in this subject? Please let me know in your comments below.

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