Goals are objectives that you strive to accomplish because their achievement means something positive for you. Goals allow you to direct your energy so that it is better placed to achieve tasks that are important to improving performance.
Why Do We Set Goals?
Helps to focus your energy
Gets you motivated
Improves your self-confidence
Helps you to manage your time
Buffers against feelings of being overwhelmed
Types of Goals
Process goals focus on particular behaviour or procedures to perform well. E.g:- "I want to get my body position right for critical moments."
Performance Goals focus on achieving standards or performance outcomes and is often concerned with comparing your performance against previous performances. E.g:- "I want to improve my timing my 0.2s."
Outcome Goals focus on the end result and is often concerned with comparing your performances against others. E.g:- "I want to win the SEA Games gold medal!"
Setting S.M.A.R.T goals
The best goals you can set are S.M.A.R.T goals.
Specific - Exactly what are you trying to do? Measurable - How can it be measured? Action-based - How do you do it? Realistic - Is the goal challenging, but achievable? Timely - When are you going to achieve this goal?
Review Your Goals
At the end of each training session and performance you should answer these questions:
1) What did I achieve? 2) What do I need to improve on (your next goal)? 3) How will I improve on this?
