Keep Goals Alive, and Live the Dream

As I stated earlier, most coaches and athletes look at goals only a couple of times per season. This is not an effective use of goals. For goals to work, they must become a part of daily training. I said this to a Division I basketball coach, and he looked at me as though I was crazy. He asked me facetiously, “What are you talking about? Do you think we have time to take our personal goal sheets out to practice with us every day? Are we supposed to look at our goals before every drill, or would you prefer we chant these goals as we run sprints?” I responded with a straight face, “Yes, Coach, I think that is exactly what you should do, and then you could all hold hands and sing songs around the campfire.” Thankful that he laughed at my joke, I proceeded to ask him a few questions about how he was currently using goals. “When you are out there at practice,” I asked, “does every coach have a clear idea of exactly what you are trying to improve?” He answered dryly, “Yes, they do, or they won’t be on the staff for long.” I then asked, “How about every player?” Again he responded without emotion: “They better.” I knew I would get his attention with the next question: “What if I were to tell you that when I spoke with some of the players, very few could actually tell me what specifically they were trying to improve?” The coach looked at me as though he were about to make me run sprints. Their answers included, “We’re just trying to get better” and “We do the drills to make the coaches happy.” The real problem is that this posture is often the norm: most athletes don’t take full advantage of the power of goals. In fact, Stephen Covey¹ reported in his book The 8th Habit that only 37 percent of individuals have a clear understanding of what their team is trying to achieve and why they are trying to achieve it, and only 20 percent are enthusiastic about the organization’s goals. Covey’s findings indicate that only four of the eleven members of a basketball team know the team’s keys for success, and only two of the eleven really care about it (and those numbers include coaches). I don’t think athletes need to carry their goal sheets around during practice, but athletes and coaches alike will benefit considerably from spending a couple of minutes prior to practice identifying exactly what it is they want to improve that day. Goals must be utilized for them to work—and the more often, the better. Let’s try a little experiment: 1. Write down one specific thing that you as an athlete or coach would like to improve in your next practice or game. 2. Now write down one thing you can do differently in your next practice or game that could help you make the improvement you just named. If you devoted any amount of time and energy into answering those two questions, you have just put the power of goal setting to work for yourself. By thinking in terms of what you want and exactly how you can get what you want, you pull your goal closer within reach. Many of us get caught up in life, and we often go through the motions of practice without having specific and clear targets for what we want to improve. The goal-setting portion of 10-MT helps athletes bring their goals to life by setting and using goals every day in practice. I promise that it is simple and straightforward and will take only an additional three to four minutes per day. The 10-MT goal-setting plan is a three-step process: 1. Further on in this book, you will take a few minutes to write down your ultimate goals. Remember that ultimate goals are the summary accomplishments you want from your sport and how you want to be remembered as going about achieving those accomplishments. Additionally, you will set two product goals for the upcoming season, including three process goals needed to help achieve each of the product goals. 2. After practices and games, you will take about three to four minutes to fill out a Success Log. The Success Logs ask athletes to answer the following questions: ▶ What three things did I do well today? ▶ Based on today’s performance, what do I want to improve? ▶ What is one thing I can do differently that could lead to the desired improvement? 3. Just before doing your mental workout, you will take one minute to review your Success Log entries from the previous day. Looking over your log just before going through your mental work will steer you to emphasize your improvement goals in your mental workout. Hence, the power of goals will be more alive in each and every practice and competition. Remember, 10-MT takes only about ten minutes per day: four minutes to fill out the Success Log after a practice or game, one minute to review your log before the mental workout, and five minutes for your mental workout. That’s ten minutes total. Would you commit ten minutes per day—literally ten minutes—if it meant you would have a proven and concrete way to develop mental toughness and be more mentally prepared for training and competition? For goals to be kept alive, they need to be consistently used. The 10-MT approach to goal setting works because it helps keep you engaged in practices. Instead of just going through the motions or doing drills to placate coaches, you can become energized about working harder and making improvements.