Three Steps to Meet Your Goals for 2010

Dana Blackmer, Ph.D.

Sport Psychologist, The Extra Gear

Here's the good news: On January 1^st, many people set positive, healthy sport and exercise for the New Year. Here's the bad news: 50% of people who begin an exercise program will discontinue it within six months. It just goes to show you: Setting goals is easy; reaching goals is hard.

Setting goals can help you focus on what's most important, motivate you to stick with your plan and help you track your progress. There are, however, two big problems with goal-setting:

• Many people think goal-setting takes too much time, and
• Most people don't know how to set the right kind of goals.

Setting goals does take some time, at least in the beginning. Once you've put in the initial investment, however, goal-setting pays off and actually saves you time because it helps you stay focused and motivated. Additionally, many well-intentioned people mistakenly set the wrong kind of goals. Because they don't know how to set effective goals, they end up abandoning them in frustration.

Here are three steps that will help you set and keep your goals for the New Year:

1) Set the Right Kind of Goals

One of the most common mistakes in goal-setting is creating too many "outcome goals," that is, goals comparing how you perform against others. Instead, set goals for your personal performance independent of others. Obtaining a personal best in a particular race or taking 20 seconds off your best 40K time trial are examples of "progress goals." Additionally, set goals for what you have to do during a competition to perform your best. Bench-pressing 10% more weight, increasing your VO_2max by 5ml/kg/min, or decreasing your pre-race anxiety level from an 8 out of 10 to a 5 out of 10 are examples of "process goals." Setting a combination of outcome, progress, and process goals will help you stay focused, increase your motivation, and help you structure your training.

2) Create Intermediate Goals

Here's what you do: Take a pad of paper and draw a mountain or a staircase on the top half of the page. At the top of the mountain or staircase write the goal you wish to achieve for this year – your ultimate goal. Make the goal moderately difficult, but attainable. You should be 60% to 80% sure that you can reach this goal. After this, write some short-term goals that you need to reach on your climb toward your ultimate goal. Include progress and process goals described above. Structure these intermediate goals so that they can be reached in 2 to 4 weeks each. Write these intermediate goals up the mountain or staircase to your ultimate goal at the summit.

On the bottom half of the page write down each intermediate goal on the left side, then list what strategies you will use to attain it on the right. For example, if one of your intermediate goals is to improve your 10K runs by 10%, a strategy to attain this goal might be to practice speed drills three times a week or to put your alarm clock on the far side of the bedroom so you'll be forced to get out of bed and to those intervals at 5am.

3) Use Your "S.M.A.R.T.S."

Time-management consultant Hyrum W. Smith created this acronym to help people remember some of the most important aspects of effective goal-setting. Keep these things in mind as you create each of your goals:

S – Specific.

Run faster is too vague. Finishing the marathon in less than 4 hours is specific.

M – Measurable.

Quantify your goals. Use numbers to describe how often, how many, how much.

A – Action-Oriented.

Goals should imply actions that you need to take.

R – Realistic.

Make your goals moderately difficult, but reachable.

T – Timely.

Create goals that you can reach in a reasonable time.

S – Self-Determined.

Set your own goals, ones that are meaningful to you.

Goal-setting works best when you focus on one goal at a time. Many people get bogged down by working on too many goals at once. Also, remember to be flexible. Sometimes goals need to be modified, especially if you're new at goal-setting. Follow these principles of effective goal-setting and you won't become one of those people who just sets goals this year – you'll reach them!.

For more information on goal-setting and other mental training tips, visit www.TheExtraGear.com or www.Facebook.com/TheExtraGear.

Richmond sport psychologist Dana Blackmer, Ph.D. is founder and owner of The Extra Gear. He has trained amateur and elite athletes across the United States to increase their mental toughness for peak sport performance. He is a member of the American Psychological Association's division of exercise and sport psychology, the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and is an adjunct faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is an avid cyclist and a certified USA Cycling coach.