My present condition finds me heading south on an Amtrak
train bound for Washington, D.C. with the same thought running through my mind over
and over again: What do I hope to accomplish in the coming year personally,
professionally and athletically?
As the previous sentence suggests, goal-setting remains an
important part of my life, a lasting relic of my athletic career past. "Back in the day" as a competitive
swimmer, I wrote my goal times on an index card prior to the start of each
off-season. My goals were specific
listing: (1) the event; (2) the time, calculated down to the tenth of a second
and (3) the 50-yard splits needed to achieve each cumulative time. Once finalized, the index card was slid inconspicuously
under my alarm clock. However, the
exercise was complete only after I hung a calendar counting down the days to
the next year's championship meet. I
never shared my goals with anyone outside my immediate coaching staff.
What I hope to achieve by sharing this example is that
goal-setting constitutes more than merely scribbling numbers on a piece of
paper. When carried out with purpose,
the goals set the tone mentally and provide direction for the next block of
training. Annual or semi-annual goals
are important for any athlete, but so too are longer, multi-year goals,
especially for adolescents or developing athletes. Specificity is key, as is honesty.
I prefer quantitative goals because they lend themselves
better to statistical analysis and progress tracking. In the sport of weightlifting, for example,
an athlete might reach the conclusion that improving "denominator"
strength, i.e. their squatting and
pulling numbers, will result in a higher competition total. But instead of writing, "Improve front
squat and clean pull", an athlete should note, "Front squat 'x',
Clean Pull 'y'”, etc.
Goals must exciting, because as the training becomes
increasingly difficult – and it always does – it is these dreams that help the
athlete push through the Dark Times.
