The Art of Goal Setting

As we begin the new year it is a great time to reflect back over this past year and evaluate what we did well and what we can do better. This is a great exercise and it is smart to take some time and be honest with yourself.  I try to do this every year. The information we gather can help to formulate a vision for what we want to accomplish in the years to come.  Vision give us direction and purpose and without it we are lost.  In fact, one of the most commonly quoted Bible verses is from Proverbs and it reads “Where there is no vision, the people will perish”.  There is no doubt we need vision to help us grow and move forward in our lives.  Without vision we will certainly flounder because we don’t really have a good idea of where we are going.  Vision ultimately forms the basis for all of our goals.  As I work on my vision and goals for the year, I thought it would be a great time to write about the art of setting goals and creating a vision. 

I am quite certain that being skilled at creating a vision and setting goals has helped me in all areas of my life. As a young kid, I dreamed of being in the Olympic Games.  This became my vision and my dream. Through the years, I kept this vision alive by setting goals to reach it.  I must say that when I started I never thought that my Olympic dream would still be alive today.  However, I am have never experienced anything else in life that is so amazing and challenging. The Olympic Games are also a great test of self.  They continually challenge me to be the best I can.  Over time, I have continued to try to refine this all important skill and even to this day I still spend a good amount of time on my goals.

Here are some of the things that I have learned to be important in this process of setting goals and reaching them. 

Create a vision that is exciting and difficult to reach.   It is better to reach for the stars and fall a little short then to set your goals too low and not feel challenged or excited about what your are trying to achieve.  If your friends and family don’t say “wow” when you tell them what your goal is than it might be too low.  As I have mentioned earlier in an article.  My vision and our team vision in to climb Mount Everest this year.  It is not enough for us to just make the Olympic Games (we have already done that by winning Pan Ams).  We have set our goal high  - we want to come home with the gold medal - that is our Mt. Everest.  It is a huge challenge but it is also very exciting and a goal that everyone can surely get behind. 

Write your goals down and keep them in a place where you can read them regularly. Each January, I sit down and write my goals out for the next year.  I also write out my goals for the next 5 years, 10 years and 20 years.  By doing this I create a life plan if you will.  My one year goal needs to be in alignment with my 20 year goal. This helps me to stay on track and realize my goals are really all connected.  For example, by climbing Mount Everest and winning the gold medal - I will be in a better position to become a sought after motivational speaker which is one of my 5 year goals.  As you write down your goals try to be as specific as possible.  Put a time line on each goal. I want to do what by when... It is also a good idea to tell your closest friends and family about your goals.  Writing down your goals and telling your friends helps to keep you accountable to these goals.  It also makes the goals more real. 

Don’t listen to the naysayers.  Most people don’t understand your vision.  Throughout my career so many people have tried to tell me I could not do it.  Some would say “making it to the Olympic Games is too difficult or do you know how few people ever make that dream come true”.  I never once listened to them. In fact, hearing others tell me I could not do it just motivated me that much more to make it happen. I was very fortunate to have three very important people in my life, my dad and my high school coach and my college coach tell me over and over again that “I could accomplish anything that I put my mind to”.  That is what I chose to believe.  I tried to constantly play that message in my head.  This positive affirmation became one of my biggest tools.  To this day, I fully believe that I can do anything I put my mind to.  By keeping this positive message in my head, I was able to keep doubt out of the picture.  Fear and doubt are enemies of success.  Don’t listen to them.  Find the positive people in your life.  The ones that believe in you and want to support your dream and hang out with them.  Find some positive words and affirmations that you believe to be 100% true about yourself and write them them and play those words over and over in your own mind.

Once your vision and goals are set than you need to develop action steps to reach those goals.  For example - if you set a goal to make the Junior National Team or maybe to become a stater on your high school team.  What are the steps that you have to take to make this goal come to fruition?  What is it going to take for you to reach this goal?  Let’s first examine what you feel you have to do to reach this goal. What parts of your game do you need to improve on?  Swimming speed?  Strength or shooting? Now, what are you willing to do to make this goal a reality?  Every worthwhile goal takes time and energy and usually a sacrifice of kind.  Are you willing to sacrifice some lazy time to spend a little more time making your goal come to be?

Here is an example of some of the action steps that you might consider to make this type of goal a reality. Work with a swimming coach to improve your swim stroke and spend and extra 2 hours a weeks in a swimming practice.  Get on a new weight program that helps you improve your strength.  Go to the gym 3-4 times per week whether your team is doing this or not.    Spend 20 - 30 minutes every day after practice working on your shot.  Make these action steps as specific as possible.   I would also write them down and hold yourself accountable to them.  Remember forming good habits is huge to being successful in whatever you do.  Self discipline is a big key.  There will be distractions and things that come up that might seem fun at the moment but when you want something bad enough you will stay on course and spend the necessary time to improve.

Keep track of your progress.  It is a good idea to re asses and tweak your goals every 4-6 weeks (at least the short term ones).  Look in the mirror and be honest with yourself.  Are you really doing what it takes to make this goal come true.  Is there more information that needs to be considered to change an action step or spend more time refining a skill.  This is also a good time to celebrate the small successes that you have had on the journey towards the bigger goal.  Make sure that you stay positive with yourself when deserved.  Having some fun is important to staying on track too.  So when you reward yourself by celebrating successes along the way your heart and brain stay more centered on reaching the goal.  The reward might be buying yourself something that you have wanted for awhile or taking a Saturday morning off to spend some time with friends.  The important part here is that you are honest with yourself and that the rewards are equal to the success.  The bigger the accomplishment the bigger the reward.  

Don’t get discouraged if the path to your goal is not straight and easy.  No one said it was going to be easy.  The more challenging the goal the more likely is that people get discouraged and quit before they make it happen.  There are thousands of great stories about people who lost their way when they were so close to making it all happen.  Failures are a huge part of success.  Stay the course.  Learn from your mistakes and reassess but stay positive with yourself.

It is always good to have a team mate, mentor, coach or friend that you can speak honestly and openly with.  Someone from the outside can also help give you a different perspective and often times see change or results that you may not notice yourself.  I like to consult or visit with a few friends that help to keep me on track at least once every two to three weeks.  I often times remind them that I don’t want them to just tell me what I want to hear.  I want them to be positive but honest with me. Am I doing what I need to do?  Where am I doing good?  Where do I need to do better?   This is an important component of reaching your goals so choose these mentors wisely.  It should be someone that you know well and someone that totally supports your goal.

Life is all about growing, learning and continually getting better. Obviously, setting goals and creating a vision are not just for water polo but can be used in all aspects to shape your life and help you find success in whatever it is that you love to do. 

I encourage you to create a meaningful vision in your life and then set goals to make it happen.  Your vision can be centered around family, work and sport.  If you are married then hopefully you will work together with your spouse and perhaps even family to create a shared vision that you all feel passionate and excited about.  One of the goals that my wife and I talk about is creating more quality time as a family each month.  We have talked about trying to spend the majority of one weekend each month together as a family.  This excites me too.  I love my family and want to work to make this happen.  It will obviously be a huge challenge as we go into this next 7 months with the Olympic Games coming in July.  While it is a challenge it is also a high priority and I will work hard to find the balance between my work and home life.

Since our sport is a team game it is also important to think about how your goals align with the team goals.  Usually, if you are trying to become better as an individual you will be helping the team at the same time.  However, make sure that you do think about the team and how your goals will impact it.  Ultimately, for our Men’s Olympic Team the vision and goals of the team  - winning that gold medal in London -  will be a driving force that needs to coincide and align with all of our other individual goals.

Thanks for spending the time to read my article this month.  If anyone has questions or comments about goal setting or vision I would love to hear from you.  As always feel free to email me at tschroeder@usawaterpolo.org.   I look forward to hearing from you.

See you at the pool.

Coach Schroeder