A clear goal is vital to being able to set a clear path to success. You have to be able to see clearly that end goal. Without this, it is nearly impossible to believe in and visualize what you are setting out to do. If you have no clear, specific goal, how can you see yourself doing it?
These goals need to be quantifiable, and should be predicated on your own abilities/performance, not that of someone else. Saying you just want to win X, Y, Z would factor in the abilities/performance of your competitors. You cannot control what they do. You can only control what you do. Your goals would be in the form of amount of weight lifted, speed of your race, number of points scored, height/distance of your jump, etc. You want to focus solely on what you need to do to lift that weight, run that fast, hit that many shots, jump that high/far. A goal that factors in a competitor’s performance is distracting, and can take away from your own self-belief.
Athletes should discuss these goals with their coaches, make them clear, and devise a plan to accomplish them. Coaches should offer insight and guidance, but the goal should be something the athlete can believe in for themselves. Believing it WILL be done is paramount to success.
Once the goal has been established, begin convincing yourself that you can do it. Something that works for me is that I also start by telling people that I am going to do it, whatever it may be. This starts to put my mind into a “failure is not an option” default setting. If I say I am going to do something, then I must. There is no Plan “B”. There is no option but to succeed. Psychologists would probably say this is not a good mindset to have, as it can lead to negative self-talk, which is detrimental. However, try to compartmentalize that, and only hold that viewpoint for a short term. Failure would absolutely be the worst thing in the world, but if failure happens, immediately forget the failure by starting to work on a solution to not allow it to happen again. So, while I will refuse to fail, in the very back of my mind I know that at some point I will fail, but I will not allow a failure to define me.
How do we now convince ourselves that the goal is achievable? Something that can help is by simplifying the goal in your head.
I tell myself, for example, “in 13 weeks, you need to be 30kg higher than you are right now”. Then, I start to break that down. 30kg can sound like a big number, so I just think “that is only 15kg on each side of the bar”. A 15kg plate is not very heavy, and so it is easily doable. Don’t think about the other side of the bar. Just that 1 plate. We understand it is actually 2 plates, but focusing only on the 1 plate, will help convince yourself that it will be easy. Then, in a few weeks, you are only 20kg away. That is just a 10kg plate on each side of the bar. A 10kg plate is extremely light, and easy to do. Forget about how anything has felt until now, and only focus on how easy that 10kg will be. Yes, in reality it is 2-10kg plates, but focusing on just 1 creates the belief.
Tell yourself all day, every day, just how light that 10kg plate feels, how easy it will be to do, and the more you say it, the more you start to believe it. Whatever your goal is, break it down, simplify it, and truly believe that you will make it happen.
As we are simplifying it, we need to start visualizing it actually happening.
What I like to do is watch a highlight reel of myself accomplishing the goal, in my head. This is something that WILL happen in the future, but I am seeing it in my head as if it has ALREADY happened. I am watching it not AS myself, but OF myself, from the viewpoint of a coach or spectator. I am watching someone actually do this thing, but that someone just happens to be me. It normally starts out like a faded memory, but I watch this over and over in my head, until it is no longer just a blurry video, but a crystal clear memory of what is GOING to happen. It can take a while for that image to become clear, but once it does, game on. I know it is going to happen.
It was a clear goal, I said it out loud to create accountability, I simplified it so I could believe it would happen, all of which allowed me to visualize it actually happening.
Once you see it actually happening in your head, a new sense of confidence is unlocked, which is vital to actual success.
Now you can stop saying “I will try”, and simply say “I will”.
