Goal Setting - The Process.

Goal setting is something we hear about a lot. Many of us already set goals,
some of us are told that we should. A few wonder what all the fuss is about.
The following is intended to act as a primer and rough guide for those
interested in using the goal setting process to facilitate consistent and
achievable performance. Little of this material is new, none of it earth
shattering or complex. I'm hoping to present a few easy to use, easy to
grasp, tools you can choose to use, adapt, build upon or ignore as is your
want.
What is a goal?
Goals are a specific tool. They're not an end point, they're not wishes,
they're not a magic wand to wave. Goals are simply a symbol. They represent a
plan of action and are best used in a series like sign posts between are we
there yet's.
It's important to remember that simply stating a goal, while a good first
step, isn't going to get one any closer to a destination than, say, reading
a sign post (Beijing 8241km) and expecting to make an Olympic final. We can
use goals as part of a system of maps and directions and road signs but just
having them isn't enough - eventually we'll need to get up and go!
Why do we set goals?
If goal setting doesn't auto-magically make us taller, smarter or better looking
why do we
bother? Well like the aforementioned sign posts, or collecting maps before a
trip, goal setting can help us decided where we want to go and lay out the
steps involved. With that in mind it's important to note that our map is
only as good as it is detailed and accurate. Setting many goals, of varying
duration, type and difficulty gives us many data points to judge our
progress. This is especially important if we want to set some of those big
fat hairy goals. It's really tough to keep slogging at it day in and day out
if we can't see lots of little accomplishments along the way. So we set
goals to help direct our efforts and we set goals to break the journey into
manageable chunks.
When do we set goals?
Setting goals isn't something we do once. We don't start out perusing a map and
never look at it again. It's important to remember that goal setting is a
process and, perhaps, better labeled goals setting. Our goals should
be regarded as living things: they're conceived, they live and grow and
develop, they reach maturity and beget a new generation of goals.
As pursue our various long term goals we may find that we encounter various
obvious waypoints, subgoals, and can sight others down the road. These
subgoals should also be observed and noted - how else do we mark empirical
improvement and development, the proximity to our destination, without
noting the landmarks along the way? We don't simply jump from 1:50 100
breaststroker to world record holder, or D student to A student. Goals are
not quantum states. We should be constantly and consistently, setting goals,
evaluating previous goals, and finding new ways to break down existing goals
into bite sized chunks.
How do we set goals?
Here's where things get interesting. Talk to 10 successful goal setters and
you'll get 11 different descriptions of how they do it. The important note
here is that goal setting is a highly individual process and you'll have to
find what works for you.. After all they're your goals, it's your life, and you'
re the only one who can bring them to
fruition. That's not to say that your skills and abilities are the only
tools at hand, there will always be those eager to help one clearing
striving, but no one else can accept responsibility for your success or the
goals you've got showing the way.
So if everyone approaches the task at hand differently and everyone has a
different toolbox to work with why are we bothering with this section? Well
those questions have some bearing on why it's the longest of the bunch. In
the end while it is up to each of us, as individuals, to work through our own go
als
but I'd like to offer the following as a kind of starter kit. It's small,
tightly packaged and it goes everywhere. Feel free to pick and choose,
expand or prune, polish or reshape.

Set the goal.

We want really specific goals right? So let's start with
the duration. A goal with no timeline is an invitation to never, ever,
finish or accomplish it. So we want to know when we're starting, how and
when this goal applies and a distinct place and time at which we'll go back
to evaluate or success.
What kind of goal are we settings? We need to know what
tools we're going to employ and classifying the goal can help identify who
and what we need to help us. Plus it can become very easy to set just one
kind of goal. Categorizing our goals can help ensure that we're setting well
rounded goals and engaging all of our facilities on a regular basis.With
that in mind it should be clear that there are all kinds of goals we can
set. I'm going to give some examples but the list is in no way
comprehensive.
A grasshopper might be interested in jumping
higher to reach nicer grass over the fence, punctuality (grazing should be
consistently concluded by dusk to avoid bats), and sportsmanship (in an
overcrowded field a good tip for uneaten grass might be returned). Then
again, maybe not. We don't see many grasshoppers taking steps towards world
domination.
A student might choose to set performance goals
(what grades?) or goals pertaining to breadth of study, consistency of
preparation, or comprehensiveness of understanding.
A swimmer might choose to set goals relating to perform
ance (how
fast, what place?), ability (how strong, how fit?), technique,
sportsmanship, preparation, personal development, or athletic lifestyle. The las
t is a little complicated to describe but
relates to the things we do to make our sport an active part of our life and
not just something we do at the pool. How do we become the '24 hour athlete'
without letting sport dictate and define our life?
Identify the level of difficulty.Goals come in all
shapes and sizes - it might be a good idea to take a peek at what you've got
and make sure it's what you think it is. Be true to yourself, be honest. I
like to think of the spectrum of useful goals as falling between two
points. On one end we've got the 'pie in the sky' goals. In a perfect world,
no limits, to borrow a quote, "what would you attempt if you knew you could
not fail". At the other end we have 'minimal acceptance' goals. At the very
minimum what is it going to take to walk away from the experience happy. Not
content, not fulfilled, but happy. What on the whole is it going to take to
make the whole thing worthwhile? The trick here is to know that, should you
achieve you minimal acceptance goal, you're going to have to walk
away happy. When you've done well don't beat yourself up for not having done
better. Just set harder more audacious goals next time.
Describe the goal. Be specific, be exact. We're going to
come back to the goal at a latter dater right? We'll want to have a clear
measure of what we were trying to accomplish so we can accurately assess our
success. This becomes important later. So we decided exactly what we were
going to do and, now this is important, we write it down. Hold yourself
accountable and exercise self discipline. A goal that doesn't get written
down, or shared, is mutable. Be fair to yourself and don't offer the
temptation to adjust a goal later simply to fit future circumstances.
Identify resources at hand. Having set the goal do we have all
the tools, materials and tools necessary to tackle it? If not where can we
get them? Is borrowing good enough? Who do we know that can help us
through?
Live the goal - keep it in mind and regularly evaluate
progress. As we go forth it's important to take note of all the minor, and
not so minor, accomplishments along the way. If we seem to get stalled it
might be that the goal needs to be restated as a set of smaller goals. If
this can't be done then it might just be time to buckle down and exercise
some patience.
Set 'child' and parallel goals. If you're working on something
important to you it's likely that you won't be able to sum up everything you
want to do in that field with one clear, precise, specific goal. So don't.
As you go along you'll find that there are new goals you'll need to think
about and plan for. If these aren't clearly and wholly minor steps on the
way to an existing goal be sure to set them up the same way. Respect your
goals. Don't lump them together, mushing them up simply because it's easier
or because you don't have time to do better. Don't fall prey to any of the
easy excuses. Respect your goals.
Evaluate your goals. Every goal has an expiration date, right?
At that time it's imperative that the goal is evaluated and assessed for
completeness and success. It's important to acknowledge things you've done
well, skills you've mastered, and identify them as solved problems. They, of
course, won't stay solved - you'll eventually work on a goal that requires
yet a higher level of skill and ability - but it's important not to get
ahead of yourself. A student needs to become only so good at sharpening the
pencil to successfully complete an exam. Know what you've done well and
identify that which could use some polishing. be efficient and economical
with your stress and worry. There's more than enough to go around.
Set new goals. Having successfully accomplished the goal you've
got all kinds of material (sub goals, experience, new skills and abilities,
polished performances and achievements) to extrapolate and identify new
goals.
Five steps and three of them call for setting goals, goals and more goals.
The idea should by now be clear - set many specific goals. All kinds of
goals. Hard ones, easy ones, ones that squiggle and squirm. Be precise and
specific. When you've got a task that can't be summed up in one goal set
many. When a goal involves an assortment of component steps be sure to
identify those and set goals for each of them.
Set goals, live goals, evaluate goals, set more goals. Easy enough mmm?
Example
Joel is 12. He likes to swim, play soccer and his guitar. Joel enjoys
science and art and sometimes, not so quietly, wishes the rest of school was
gym and lunch. Joel has an older sister and a younger brother and travel
approximately half an hour to get both to school and workout. Some goals
Joel might set are listed below:
Goal Setting:

I come prepared to workouts.

Description: This means I will have all my equipment, I'll be pu
nctual and I will ensure that I've properly scheduled
all my other commitments so I can focus on workout.
Timeline: This goal comes into effect on Monday and I will obser
ve
it through to the end of next month. At this point I may choose to renew the
goal or change my definition of prepared.
Classification: This goal relates both to my personal developmen
t and
discipline.
Difficulty: This goal is gonna be stinkin' hard. I know I really
need to work on getting to workout on time and I might have to find a new
way to get there from school to make this happen. I wouldn't say this goal is ve
ry easy but
it's very important to me.
Subgoals:
Description: Talk to Mom and see if we can car pool with
Andrea so I don't have to take the bus
everyday - it's not fast enough. Timeline: tonight, Difficulty: easy, Classifica
tion: personal responsibility].
Description: I need to study everyday so I don't
get caught at exam time. Timeline: 30 minutes weekdays, after and on top of
homework, until Christmas break. Classification: preparation, athletic
lifestyle, stress management, personal development. Difficulty: Ugh, yuck.
But I guess it's probably not too hard. After a couple weeks I'll probably
need to change that to minimal acceptance.
Description: Once arrangements have been made I need to
get
really tough about this. Lets say that after, oh, a week I'll really make
sure this happens. Timeline: next week through to the end of next month,
Difficulty: minimal acceptance, Classification: same as 'parent' goal.

I will make AAA's

Description: I don't just want to qualify I'm going to do it in
the 200im and I'm going to do it in time to go to scm champs.
Timeline: To be completed by the end of VIR championships
as it's the last meet before the entry deadline.
Classification: Performance.
Difficulty: Hard. Not unbelievably hard there's a lot of work to
do.
Subgoals:
Description: I really need some work 'coming home' in th
e freestyle. For the next month I'm going to make sure I
always push off the wall doing my explosive dolphin kicks, flutter kicks and pe
rfect (with a capital 'P'!) streamlines. Timeline: now through to the
end of next month. Classification: technical. Difficulty: physically easy, menta
lly tough. I can do this!
Description: I'm going to go watch
Commonwealth Trials. I want to see the best! Timeline: Nov 24-27.
Classification: preparation, maybe educational. Certainly motivational.
Difficulty: minimal acceptance. There's going to be at least one free
session when all the island swimming kids are going and I, for one, am not
rectangular in any way shape or form.
Description: Extra super bonus points for making
the cut at the Island club meet so I leave myself 2 months to work really
hard getting ready to win, not just compete, at AAA's! Timeline: completion
by Dec. 12th. Classification: performance. Difficulty: really really
hard. Not pie in the sky but it'd be a heck of an accomplishment.

Resource List:
Coming prepared:
Bus, taxi-mom, bike, car pool.
Equipment bag (keep everything together). Chamois in equipment b
ag instead of a towel and
I might be able to fit the equipment bag in my book bag. Use the bigger lunch ba
g so I can pack a post workout
snack.
I can use travel time to catch up on homework
reading.
AAA's:
Can I get a copy of the AA & AAA standards? I think I'll
need to know what I'm aiming for!
Andrea is pretty close to her AAA and she's older than I
am - we can race in workout!
I don't really know how to get that much faster, and I
don't think Mom's eggplant and liver casserole is going to make me grow 15
inches before Christmas. Looks like I'm going to have to check with coach -
there's got to be some way to do this better.
I should check that meet schedule too and make sure I
can go to all the meets and get all that race experience.