Goal Setting For Tactical And Combat Athletes

So far in this mini-series of mental strength strategies for combat, operational and tactical athletes I’ve covered state control, self-talk and mental rehearsal.

Today I’m going to go over goal-setting.

Let’s get this straight, when I say goal-setting I don’t mean “what are you going to do with your life”. I mean, “How are you going to get through the next half hour”?

This kind of mental strength, close-focused goal-setting is a key to peak performance anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether a person is on a stage, in an athletic competition, or in the middle of a fire-fight.

It is simple, and proven.

One major way to combat stress is to NARROW YOUR FOCUS to the immediate future.  I’ll cover other ways in future posts.  I will say that how you address stress is content specific.  You narrow your focus while you’re engaged in a severe situation and use your peripheral vision at other times.

When you’re involved with extremely intense situations it’s critical for survival to set extremely short chunks of goals, I call these micro-goals. For instance, during training you may set a goal to make it lunch and then to dinner.

In addition to these micro-goals, shorter-term and long-term goals can be a great help as well.  The longer-term goals can be thought of a culmination of the successful completion of the micro-goals and short-term goals.  Some suggestions are:

• Set long-term athletic or tactical related goals and then use short-term achievable goals to direct intensity.

• Set micro-goals for maximal effort to be given, when required, and shape the training environment in terms of space and equipment organization.

• Apply progressive physical and mental challenges to be completed under pressure always remembering that you, the tactical athlete, are personally responsible for your own success.

Now I’d like to get into the format of goals.  I’m sure most of you have heard of SMART goals right?

Well I’ve found that as good as SMART goals are they still lacked a couple of important steps.  That’s why I suggest the use of SMARTER goals.

Let’s take closer look at SMARTER goals and other 11 aspects of effective goal-setting:

1. Make Goals SMARTER

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time Bound
• Evaluate
• Regroup

Specific: Setting general goals such as “improving” your shots to bulls-eye percentage is easy. But it becomes hard to determine exactly how to go about doing this without specific criteria or directives. Specifying how and when to do things can help to this end.

Measurable: A measurable goal is one you can quantify, in the sense that you know exactly how close you are to achieving that goal. Rather than saying “I have a good shooting percentage” recording the exact percentage will give you quantifiable feedback

Achievable: Has someone else in your field achieved this goal?  If so, what one can do anyone can do.  All you have to do is find one person who has achieved this goal and now you can do it as well.

Realistic: Given all the physical and tactical specific training is this realistic goal for you, one that will stretch you a bit?

NOTE: Use moderately difficult goals – Moderate difficult goals are better than easy or very difficult goals because it pushes you to work hard and extend yourself in order to meet the goals. They are also more satisfying when attained.

Shoot for the eagle, hit the pheasant and you won’t eat crow.

Time Bound: Setting a goal to improve your shooting average will be ineffective unless you have a specified date or event to work towards. Is this goal to be accomplished by the end of practice? The end of the week? By next qualifying? Well stated goals should be timely.

Evaluate: Keep a training journal to document what you do and is it working.  If you don’t know what you’re doing and the results, how can you adjust or change it

Regroup: If what you are doing isn’t working, regroup and do something else.

2. Know the Difference: Outcome, Performance and Process goals and when to use them.

You want to set goals that are in your control.  The more in your control the goal is, the better the chances of you achieving them.  Remember goals are set to be achieved to build confidence and momentum for improvement.

• Outcome Goal – This goal by far is the toughest to control, hence this should NOT be your main personal goal, team goal, absolutely! This is the specific encounter, event or practice scenario. This is tough one to get a hold of because this is what you’re called out to do.  Think about this…how much of the outcome of the event is based solely on you and your skills vs. how much of the outcome is based on you AND your team AND the individual(s) involved in the event.  Think about it, really how much is in your direct control?

• Performance Goal – This is where you come in.  During an event or training session set goals as to what you and you alone can control.  This can include communication to other team members, leading, as well as tactical aspects related to your specific position or function.  If you take care of everything that you directly control and your team members do the same, there is an increased likelihood that the outcome goal will be successful.

• Process Goal – These can be the micro and short-term goals set during training and practice sessions.  Again, these are goals or outcomes that are in your direct control.  This can also be things like attitude, mental rehearsal, state control and goal setting.

3. Write Goals Down and regularly monitor progress – Goals are ineffective if forgotten. Write them down being as specific as possible. Keeping a journal or goal monitoring chart can help you evaluate your progress.

4. Use Micro and Short-Term Goals to achieve long-range plans – Goal setting is much like mountain climbing. The long-range goal is accomplished by a series of micro, i.e. just take the next step and short-term goals, i.e. get to the next camp.

5. Set Practice as Well as Competition Goals – As described in Step 2 above “Know the Deference” It is important for you and your team members to recognize the critical importance of effective practices to prepare for competition. Practice (process) goals should match “competition” performance goals as often as possible.

Goals related to work ethic and attitude during practice are essential.  Showing up on time ready to practice, entering warm-up with enthusiasm and paying attention to the person in command and team leaders are examples.

Additionally, giving ‘ada-boys’ to one another on good effort can promote team cohesion and a supportive environment. Practice (process) goals should also involve using mental skills such as imagery which can help with skill learning, strategies, presentation and working through competitive anxiety.

6. Make Sure Goals are Internalized – It is important that you feel in control (self-determined) with your goals. Ensuring that you accept and internalize your goals is one of the most important features of goal setting. If you’re setting your own goals, you will most likely internalize them. Often, commanders, leaders will set personal goals without agreement and sometimes these personal goals aren’t taken seriously.

7. Consider Personality and Individual Differences (motivation) in Goal Setting – Keep in mind that your personality characteristics can also determine the effectiveness of your personal goal setting. Whether or not you are ego oriented (yea I know, that’s an understatement with combat and tactical athletes).  Ego oriented goals compares the personal/individuals performance to that of others.  Task oriented goals compare the personal/individuals performance against themselves. This difference plays a big role in determining the extent to which a person will be able to internalize goals.

When a tactical athlete defines their success as beating others, they have little control over the outcome. Ego oriented “athletes” also have a tendency to set unrealistically high or low goals so they can have an excuse if their goals are not attained.

Task oriented tactical athletes set goals about doing their best and making some improvement experience success more frequently, persist at tasks longer and are more confident.

8. Set Positive Goals as opposed to negative goals – Goals can be stated either positively, i.e. increase the number of times I’m on target.  Or they can be stated ‘negatively, i.e. reduce the number of times I miss the target.

Whenever possible, set goals in positive terms by focusing on behaviors that should be present rather than those that should be absent. This can help individuals focus on success rather than failure.

9. Identify Goal Achievement Strategies and Tactics – It is important to understand the difference between setting goals and identifying a strategy that will help you accomplish your goals. For example, general objective goals and outcome goals are often set without strategies.  Strategies are “what” and the tactics are the “how.”

10. Seek Support For Goals – Significant others in your life as well as a trusted team member or team leader can help ensure goals are achieved.

In addition to the team leader, this usually can include a coach, such as mental strength coach or a strength and conditioning coach if the goal is physically related.  Also, family, friends and teachers make for great support. Effort should be made in determining the types of goals that you are setting for yourself and the importance of your support in encouraging progress towards the goals.

11. Set Team as Well as Individual Performance Goals – Performance for the team can be set just as easily as for individuals. Commander and team leaders should also consider involving the team in setting some of the various types of goals. For example, consider involving team members in deciding weak performance areas and whether to focus on technique or strategies involved in those weak areas over the course of a practice.

OK, that about wasp up goal-setting.  It may seem a bit convoluted, but it is worth the time and effort to determine and focus on specific personal goals.  They will help you stay sharp, focused and ready for the inevitable.