“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” — Tony Robbins
Why set goals?
This conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland reminds us of the importance of goal setting:
Alice: I was just wondering if you could help me find my way.
Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to.
Alice: Oh, it really doesn’t matter, as long as…
Cheshire Cat: Then it really doesn’t matter which way you go.
Goals are important, as they provide a source of motivation and purposeful direction in both training and racing.
Webster’s Dictionary defines a goal as “the end toward which effort is directed.” Without that end effort — i.e. a goal — then how do you know where you’re going?
You don’t and you wander aimlessly like Alice.
But, does goal setting really work?
Yes, goal setting works. In a comprehensive review of more than a hundred studies on goal setting, researchers concluded “the beneficial effect of goal setting on task performance is one of the most robust and replicable findings in the psychological literature. Ninety percent of the studies showed positive or partially positive effects.”1
In this short video, I review the three different goal types – outcome, performance and process goals – then walk through an example. I then share tips for goal setting and the importance of writing your goals down to make them real.
As Goethe once said, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
Good luck and happy training,
David Glover, MSE, MS, CSCS
1. Locke, E.A., Shaw, K.N., Saari, L.M., & Latham, G.P. (1981). Goal setting and task performance. Psychological Bulletin, 90, 125-152.
