Roadmap To Your Goals
It's hard to believe that 2019 has ended and we are starting off a new decade in 2020! This new decade is a perfect opportunity to reflect on the past in order to plan and focus on what you want to accomplish or change moving forward. With the start of 2020 comes everyone’s New Year's resolutions and goals, but we all know that many people tend to lose motivation and give up on them come the end of January. Setting a goal is only half the battle, the real work is in creating an actionable plan and building a support system to help hold you accountable and turn your new behaviors into habits.
It is very common that most athletes and musicians have clear goals about what success they want to achieve in the long term, whether it is to make a living doing what you love, make it to the pros, play in the Olympics, or compete at the university level. However, when it comes to training and practice sessions many do not have a plan of how to get there. Here are a few tips of how you can be effective with your goal setting and set yourself up for success.
Writing down your goals helps make them more real and tangible. You have no excuse for forgetting about them. Post your goal in a visible place to remind yourself everyday of what it is you intend to accomplish.
Everyone remembers the golden rule for setting goals is to follow the SMART guideline. For goals to be powerful they must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound.
Creating a roadmap of smaller, tiered short-term goals is just as important as having a dream or long-term goal. Many people get so focused on the outcome that they forget to plan all the steps that are needed along the way. These milestones are what guide you in the right direction and keep you on track, almost like a to-do list. This well-defined strategic roadmap should include technical skills, quantifiable statistics as well as physical and mental aspects of your game or craft that you can improve, all of which will help guide you to achieve your long-term goal. These goals should be within your control and things that you can improve on or achieve each day while training or during a gig/game or over the course of a month or season. The benefit of having short-term goals is that there is almost always an objective within sight. By writing out the individual steps, and then crossing each one off as you complete it, you'll realize that you are making progress towards your long-term goal.
Another important aspect of goal setting that is often overlooked is having a mentor. Although our parents and teachers can give us great advice, sometimes it is difficult to swallow coming from them. Having someone with experience that has been in your shoes, has made it to that next level and understands what it takes to get there and sustain that success is much easier to listen to. A good mentor will be able to show you the ropes, give you the hard truth, steer you in the right direction or help keep you motivated.
Understand that goal setting is an ongoing activity. Build in reminders to keep yourself on track and review your goals individually or with your mentor. Your end destination may remain the same over the long-term, but the roadmap you set for yourself along the way can change and adapt based on the progress you are making.