Strategies for effective goal setting
Goals are a funny thing. Done effectively, they can propel us to levels we nearly didn’t think were possible. Done ineffectively, they can actually become sources of stress, pressure, and shame, and can even set ceilings to our ability to actualize our greatest potential. Studies have shown that approximately 80% of New Year’s resolutions - one popular type of goal setting - fail (Forbes, 2019; Inc. 2019). The question becomes why such a high failure rate? In my experience with nearly two decades of mental performance coaching with talented, driven, high performers, the answer is that most people simply haven’t learned how to do, and how to work, goal setting well. I often say that goal setting is like a dumbbell in the gym: a useful tool if 1) you know the many different ways to use it and 2) you pick it up regularly. Otherwise, it’s just a dumbbell collecting dust in the corner; just like your new year’s resolutions, good intentions on some paper in a drawer, or lost file on your laptop.
Goal setting: A decision-making skill
Goal setting is vital to our journeys of excellence be it in sports, arts, business, and life. Goal setting is a skill and a form of decision making that helps us gain clarity, identify priorities, and help us stay the course, even when uncertainty, the unexpected, detours, and delays present themselves. The secret is all in how we set and continue to “exercise” our goal-setting process over time. Perhaps one of the greatest errors I see when people set goals is that they fail to realize that this is their opportunity to carefully define with clarity what success means, looks, and feels like, on their terms.
I’ve known many athletes through the years who have set the goal of going to the Olympics, for example. Some achieved it, some did not, and most had to work towards this goal longer than they ever anticipated, revisiting their why, when, and how many times along the way. Important to address is that whether or not a goal gets achieved, does not diminish in any way, its inherent value to the person. This is an important lesson worthy of pause and consideration when discussing the value of goal setting as a process.
Personally, my original goal in dance was to make it on Broadway as a triple threat; dancing, singing, and acting on the greatest stages of the world. That dream eventually transformed and narrowed on ballet. Ultimately, I did make it to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School’s Professional Division but never did perform with that company. Instead, I ended up carving my own career as an independent dance artist, teaching dance and performing on stage, in film and television, and in sport and entertainment. I performed in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Pan Am Games as a featured dancer alongside a Broadway star, danced in music videos, and even danced in a few scenes in movies along with major Hollywood stars. My point? I never set those exact goals yet had numerous dream-come-true types of experiences all because I had set big, bold goals for myself and was willing to honour the process of excellence and hard work involved in trying to work in the direction of my goals.
With my nearly 20yrs experience now as a mental performance coach, I’ve not only learned about goal setting from sport psychology theory and research, and my own life’s experiences, but also from what countless clients’ experiences have repeatedly demonstrated. When done effectively, goal setting “reports benefits on psychological athlete sphere, cognitively and emotionally, with improvements in mood, motivation, focus, self-satisfaction and self-efficacy, and at a behavioural level, with greater adherence to treatment and improvements in performance” (Berengui, Castejon, Martinez-Alvarado, 2021, Vol 21, issue 6).
Effective Goal Setting
When you’ve set goals for yourself in the past, did you consider well the many different facets of your life, and the various skills, qualities, and behaviours you may wish to level up? For example, “according to the Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), there are eight areas that you can take action in to improve or preserve your health (2); emotional, intellectual, environmental, physical, spiritual, financial, occupational, and social” (DeSimone, 2022). Specifically to sport, Cronin and Allen (2017) Life skills for sport scale includes the skill of goal setting as one of its eight significant life skills applicable to sporting excellence: teamwork, goal setting, time management, emotional skills, communication, social skills, leadership, and problem-solving and decision making (as cited in Yusup, Subarjah, & Sudrazat, 2021). One recent study investigated the relationship between mental toughness, perceived motivational climate, and goal orientation among professional athletes. Results of their study recommended creating “a mastery climate and emphasis on athletes to base their perceptions of success on personal improvement and skill mastery” (Abedanzadeh, Mousavi, & Gandomani, 2021).
Bottom line? The longer I am in the business of helping athletes and high-performing clients achieve their goals, the more I see how limiting SMART goal setting is; which suggests that goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. SMART goal setting is anything but a smart strategy because it leads people to hyper-focus on the outcome and only on quantitative metrics of excellence instead of focusing on their growth, development, and ultimately performance excellence. So what should a sound strategy for goal setting include? To begin with, goal setting should first consider long-term and short-term goals. Secondly, goal setting should identify key outcomes and process goals in numerous areas. Last but not least, a well-thought-out strategy for goal setting should consider both quantitative and qualitative metrics. Now go ahead. Give it a try today!
“In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it” Robert Heinlein
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