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Goal
Setting
The following articles will
help you set goals. I think it is important for each of you to set
your own goals and discuss them with parents and coaches. Swimming
is a tough sport if you don’t know which direction you are
heading. While setting goals, make sure you give yourself ample
time in which to complete them. Making this year’s olypmic
team may be a bit far fetched for many of us, but not necessarily
in 2008 or 2012.
If coaches start to set goals for athletes, favoritism and failure
are often the results. Nobody wants to see other people getting
more or less attention than the next person. And nobody wants to
fail in their dreams. However, swimmers that approach the coaches
with clear cut goals can often be directed down the right path more
effeciently than swimmers with vague or unknown goals. If you
approach the coaching staff with your goals, we will be happy to go
over them and set-up the path upon which we will aim. If your goal
is to ride your bike from coast to coast, you will never complete
it if you think about it as 3000+ miles. You have to divide it into
parts that are more managable. The coaching staff will help you
find the smaller and more subtle ways for your dreams to come true,
whatever they may be. Help us help you! Share your goals
today!
Goal Setting
Russ Sampson
Setting Goals should be fun. Not only is it a guide for you to
follow, it is a perceptible way for you to make your dreams
concrete. To make sure your goals are attainable, you must do three
things.
·BE
PERSISTENT·
·MAKE THEM
ABSOLUTE·
·BE
REALISTIC·
Being persistent – Don’t allow anyone to slow you down.
You must internalize your goal and ensure its importance. Great
goals are ones that take precedence over other aspects in your
life. For instance, should you want to get an A in your Physics
class, you will have to study hard and give up on some social
aspects to do so. While you are working towards your goal, do not
let others derail you. If your best friend comes by during your
allotted study time, ask this person to respect the fact that you
are trying to do well and come back later. Don’t let peer
pressure overwhelm you. Know that achieving a goal is more
satisfying than whatever the temporary pleasures would be along the
way.
Make them absolute – Set goals that you have control over.
Don’t say “I want to beat Betty in the conference
meet,” as a goal. Instead, figure out an absolute time that,
should you achieve it, you believe it would be fast enough to win.
And when you achieve it and do not beat “Betty” do not
focus on losing the race, but winning in terms of achieving your
goals. For instance…“For the last four years the
fastest time it took to win the conference meet has been 45.89 in
the 100 Free. My fastest time is a 47.34. My goal is a 45.88 for
the season, as that should be good enough to win. I also know that
I will have to work very hard to drop my time 1.5 seconds. In the
past I have allowed myself to sleep-in on occasion, get lazy during
sets and swim through the drill work. To accomplish my goal and
make it attainable, I must get better at these three things.”
This is a very realistic goal. Not only did this person use
introspection on how to make himself better; he used an absolute
time for which to shoot! If this person does what they intend to do
along the way to achieving this goal, I believe the goal will be
realized.
Be realistic – Some people say you can set goals to high.
This is partially true. You should have both long-term and
short-term goals. Long-term goals can include graduating with a
4.0, being a good parent, making the Olympics and being a
millionaire. To achieve long term goals (which to some may sound
unrealistic) you must divide them up into smaller short-term goals.
An easy way to remain focused on the long-term goal and feel like
you can do it is to make positive steps in the right direction.
Often short-term goals are the more unrealistic goals that people
set for themselves. They try to do too much too soon. When this
takes place failure is inevitable. Discouragement and deflated self
worth are results. If I were trying to be a millionaire some day, I
would want to set up a plan to get there. Along the way, I would
first have to accumulate 100,000…200,000 and so on. To parse
up my long-term goal into manageable short-term goals, I would do
as follows: by the end of this year, I want to have $2000 in my
savings account. By the end of next $5,000. And by the year 2012, I
want to have $15,000 saved. Every three years, I want another
$20,000 saved after that. Also note, that this type of plan would
be interest bearing. For every $1000 in one year, I would make $60
in interest. And by the time I retire, I would have a nest egg of
$1,000,000 in the bank. Notice that I don’t
expect to achieve this goal anytime soon. But I also don’t
set this goal on foolish uncontrollable factors, such as winning
the lottery or gambling. Granted that I would have to make more
than I do now, for this to become a possibility, but I am taking
the steps now to ensure my success. It would be hard, but realistic
for me to save $2000. That is why it is a goal. It has to be hard;
it must take some sacrifices.
Take the time to set these goals for yourself. Have a peer evaluate
them honestly. And NEVER GIVE UP!! Falling short of a goal is not a
bad thing, not going after it is!
Goal Contract
Name:_________________________________
Goals – Nutritional, Scholastic, Fitness
1) ___________________________________________________
a. ________________________________
b. ________________________________
c. ________________________________
2) _________________________________________________________
a. ________________________________
b. ________________________________
c. ________________________________
3) _________________________________________________________
a. ________________________________
b. ________________________________
c. ________________________________
Personal goals do not need reward or punishment. Whether you
achieve these goals or not is a reflection of your strength of
character. Please refer to the goal setting article for guidelines.
Provide three ways to make each of your goals more achievable with
the space provided.
Share your goals with the coaching staff, parents and friends.
Everyone can help you on your path.
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