Thursday 16 August 2012

Setting goals

Everyone sets goals in their lives every day and yet few of us consider how we construct that goal in our minds. How we see ourselves completing these goals greatly affects our ability to achieve them. I was shocked recently when one of our Olympic athletes announced on television that her mantra for her Olympic dream was "no net"! Imagine her repeating this over and over again in the days and weeks leading to her event and then on the day of the event finding herself struggling to stay with the leaders in her race. She was a favourite to win and I believe had recently won the world championships in her event but placed off the podium. I don't know what her ultimate goal was but I do know that her "mantra" or how she visualized herself accomplishing her goal was negative and gave her nothing positive to build on. I'm also pretty sure that as other women passed her one by one, her mind could only focus on her mantra of "no net" and created panic and fear until it ultimately took up all her energy and desire to win.
 Personal, professional and athletic goals should always be worded positively and be supported by positive affirmations guided by how you want to "be" and how you see yourself actually performing what needs to be done to achieve your goal. In this athlete's case I might have favoured something like "all the way" or "the medal is mine" or how about "I am strong, I am ready".......well, you get the idea. If her goal was to be her best and finish on the podium at the 2012 Olympics (and not - not finish worse than 3rd in the Olympics - note the difference) then positive self talk, when the going gets tough, will more likely be generated by positive mantras or affirmations decided on before the race that will allow you to be more conscious of yourself and stay focused on your performance.
 I personally like to choose 3 words before each race that represent how I want to "be" on that day, based on the race, my goals and the overall context of the race. They keep me focused inward on how I am being in the moment and therefore stay focused on my performance. In my last race I chose "Courageous, trusting and Now" to overcome my fear of loosing control of my breathing (I have asthma), remember to trust my training and my body (I had a foot injury as well), and remember to live in the moment and enjoy each moment of the race as it unfolded - good or bad. I use the words by repeating "I am courageous, I am trusting, I am now" over and over when I need them. In this race even though I had problems breathing early in the swim and ran with pain every step of the way I finished with a personal best  by 7 minutes over last years time.
 So remember, visualize what you want to achieve, create goals that are positively stated and support them with affirmations that are positive and address how you intend to "be" as you move towards your desired outcome.