Hello and welcome back to Brain in the Game. Brain in the Game is a podcast that's been specifically designed for athletes, coaches and parents who are looking to do their sport just that little bit smarter. And I'm your host, Dave Diggle.
In this episode 88, we're going to look at why setting goals works and how you should be setting goals as an athlete. Goal setting is a big business. There's squillions of programmes for long courses to short courses, to video courses, to live courses on setting goals. Every motivational YouTuber will express the importance of setting goals, accompanied by some deep moving music and stock imagery. So if they're doing it, it must be really important. We are even encouraged to set New Year's resolutions, which is a form of annual goal setting hidden inside global society's pressure and a trigger. But does goal setting actually work? Or is it just guilt tripping us and we're destined to fail and feel crap about doing it? Hence New Year's Resolutions 101 for most people, right? And if it does work, why does it work and how can we do it smarter and how do we use it as athletes? Well, that's what we're going to talk about today.
So let's start with does it work? Because there's no point in going on with this podcast if it doesn't work. And you're probably now looking at how long does this podcast go for and making the assumption that it does work. You're right, it does work. Goal setting does actually work, but why does it work? What does it give us beyond the New Year's resolution, the social pressure of trying to set a goal? What does actual goal setting do for us? Well, it gives us direction, so there's guidance and a path to follow, a process to stick to. There's motivation, there's an endpoint, there's a reason, there's a purpose for doing certain things. Things above and beyond what we don't necessarily want to do, or don't feel like doing. There's social, so we get the opportunity to share not only our journey, but our outcome with people. So there's a social aspect to setting achieving goals. There's an accountability. When it's done right there's a number of checks and points along the way that we can hold ourselves on track. So there's that accountability and self worth that comes with that. And more importantly, and most importantly, probably, there's replicability because there's no point in doing something once, getting a really good outcome and then going well, I can never do that again. So having a blueprint to follow is super important. So if nothing else, there's aspects to setting goals that increases our success rate, our ability to have replicability, our ability to feel good about it and to share it.
So let's understand as an athlete what goal setting looks like for us in the sporting sphere and what we should and shouldn't be doing. So the first question is do you goal set? And that's quite a broad question if you're listening to this. There's a multitude of different level stages and styles of athletes listening to this. But asking the broad question do you goal set? It's a tough question because if you goal set versus does your coach goal set by setting out a plan to, is there competitions throughout the year or events that you have to attend? Well, they're goals, right? So goal setting from a peripheral, an external perspective is not necessarily goal setting. That's just things that we have to turn up for and we're aiming towards. Actual goal setting is an internal process. It's something that you set down. It's a path that's unique to you. And that's important thing to understand, particularly as an athlete when you're looking at your season, your year, your career. If it's all plotted for you, then a lot of those earlier things we talked about, like direction. Yeah, it's probably got some direction, but it's not your direction. It certainly won't have much motivation only if you do well in those events and then there's a whole backstory to not focusing on winning an event, to know that you're doing well. We'll get into it in another podcast. The social thing to that, if it's external thing and somebody else is doing it, then it's their journey, not yours. So there's not necessarily your social to share, it's somebody else's social for you to be part of. That's not your accountability, it's somebody else's accountability and it's not your replicability, it's somebody else's replicability. So the external aspect to setting goals, when somebody else sets them for you or it's an organisational, these are the event days or competition days, that's not necessarily goal setting. So goal setting is internal.
So how do we goal set? What's the difference between goals and objectives? And those of you who have been on this journey with me and listen to my podcast or come to some of my trainings will know I talk a lot about the difference between goal setting and setting objectives. So when we think about the difference, we could be playing semantics with words here, but it's more than that. If we set an objective, an objective is an outcome, it's a final destination and when we're talking about following a process and having a final destination, then that final destination needs to be emotive. When I'm teaching people about how to use efficient and effective language and manage emotions, I'll always say to them: we set a process, we follow that process and we retrain our emotions to be at the end of that process. Because what we want to do is reward the process with positive emotion rather than judge the process with negative emotion. But I'm getting beyond myself here. What we want to do is set an objective. And an objective is an emotional outcome. So that is always at the end step. So you might say, I want to compete in all the competitions this year and rank in the top five. That's your objective. I want to complete all my skills, my skill acquisition this year. That's an objective. There's a process in doing that, and we'll get to that in a second. But the actual outcome is an objective. And because it's an objective and it's an outcome and it can be emotional, why do you want it? So it's not only about what is that objective, why is that important to you? What's the buy in? So why is that important to us? If we've got this emotional outcome that we're really after, and we know that there's a value associated to that, we really, really do want it, then we're more likely to push through those tough times to get something that we emotively want. If it's a clinical goal, if it's just, yeah, I just got to hit that. I've got to hit this, and there's no emotion associated to that, then when things are tough, when things are hard, when you've got to push through those challenging times, there's not the impetus to do that. There's not the drive to do that. There's not the, yeah, but I really want that. I really do want to do that. So this is when we start talking about the difference between needs and wants. The objective, the end outcome, that end step that we're looking to achieve that means so much to us is a want. I want that. I want to do whatever I possibly can to get that. There's an internal drive that comes with that. There's an internal aspect to who we are, our characteristics and our character to be able to push through tough times to get that because we want it so badly. So when we're talking about an end step and I ask an athlete, what's the objective here? What are we looking and we aiming to achieve? What I'm listening for is specificity. I want them to be able to tell me exactly what that looks like. But more importantly, what I'm looking for is the emotional buy in. When that emotional buy in is at its peak, then I know that we can push through almost anything to get that outcome. And that's important. We want to know that we can do that. So that's what an objective is. That's why an objective is so critical to us and so important, because it supplies the force to get through the tough times.
Think about a moth to the light. There's probably his mate saying there don't fly towards a light, but he's going to keep going because it's emotional, once you get to the end step, that's what we're trying to create.
So if that's what we're talking about, isn't that a goal? Well, no, because when we score a goal, when we achieve something, we recognise and reward. So we want to use that, we want to use that motivation, we want to use that celebration, that recognition and reward, way smarter than waiting for that end outcome in order to celebrate.
So then I hear you say, why don't we just create more and more and more and more goals? Because it gets diluted. So having an objective that's highly emotive and as a recognition and particularly a reward associated to that, whether that be a physical achievement of getting X, Y and Z, or it's a springboard into something else, or say, a selection criteria to be selected to do something else, there's an emotional buy in to that. So that's an objective. And what we want to do is because that's a want, what we want to do is create goals, which are needs. What do I need to do to get that outcome? If I need to set ten things between now and then to achieve that, they're the goals. Because every single time you achieve one you recognise, you reward, you create momentum. The more momentum you create, the better that process becomes. So goal setting is about the doing, but the goal setting process is not as efficient and effective unless you've got an objective. Having that objective, knowing what it looks like, knowing what it feels like, knowing what it's going to give you, is critical. That is the process, in essence, of how it works.
Let's go a little bit deeper here. So if we know what the objective is and the emotional buy in to that, and we know that the setting of the goals becomes a critical component to the success of that, what do I need to do to get what I want? Then it's important that we understand and are very specific and targeted with how we use the goals. Because they're not emotive, they're pragmatic processes. I need to hit A-B-C and D to get what I want. What we end up doing then is we're creating replicability, we're creating a blueprint so that we know how to achieve. And this has multiple layers of benefits to us. If we know how to achieve, if we know how to set an objective, we know how to build a process to get there, which are our goals, our doing aspect, then we can set those objectives, those parameters, those processes in place for absolutely anything. So when we started this conversation around goal setting, you probably weren't aware of how important a goal is, probably weren't aware of where a goal sits in the process. So if we know this now, when do we goal set? If we have got an annual objective, is that it? Is that the one thing? Is that the big end step, the big driving force that we're aiming for and we just set a squill in and seven goals in between that? No, we might have a year objective; we might have a season objective; we might have a monthly objective; we might have a weekly objective; we might have a session objective. And you look at each one of those and we followed exactly the same format. So if we've got as a year objective is to reach a certain standard and be selected for maybe a tour or represent our country, then we've got to work backwards from that and go right, if that's in twelve months time, where do I need to be in eleven months? Where do I need to be in ten months, nine months, eight months, all the way back to where do I need to be next month? Then you've got these scaled back objectives. And then what we build is goals in between that. And if we've got this scaled back set of objectives, the reason we work backwards is to reduce the emotional anxiety that comes with wow, that's a big objective, I've got to hit that at the end of the year. That's huge. How am I going to do that? When we work backwards, we work more pragmatic. When we work forward, we work more accumulative and that's an important part of the process. But we've got to set the framework first. So we've got this month by month set of objectives all the way down to where do I need to be next month? However, we can unpack it even more. Where do I need to be each week in that month. Where do I need to be at the end of this session? So then we can look at what's my session objective, what do I need to do between now and the end of today? And if I'm hitting all of those goals along the way, then when I'm doing my journaling tonight I can recognise and reward those. So I'm going to feel really, really good about all the components, all the parts that I put together today to get that outcome. This process allows us to be way more pragmatic in how we build replicability and sustainability as an athlete, as a performer.
It's not just about setting goals. Goals are a part of the process, they're the framework that we follow and the more diligent we are in framing up those goals to get the outcome, get that objective, the more replicability consistency and motivation and momentum we can create. All the puzzle pieces that go together to create sustainability. So goal setting is critical, but it's got a partner and that partner is objectives. Between the two of them, the coupling of these two objectives and goals creates the most sustainable framework as a performer. So goal setting in itself traditional set a goal, where do you want to be in a month? What's the three, five and ten year plans? That goal setting inevitably fails because we don't necessarily build the framework to achieve that. Having a framework around the objective that's fed, not just at the end when you do or don't hit it, or you push that timeline out and keep pushing and keep pushing and keep pushing the timeline out. It allows you to have a way more controlled journey, a way smoother journey, one that's not full with potholes and bumps and lumps along the way. And the reason it's not is because if we've got this pragmatic process of setting an objective for a session and goals along the way, when we're doing our journaling at the end of the night and we look at that and go, well, I've only achieved a third of what I thought I was going to achieve. We can then look at that whole plan and go, is that realistic or do I need to increase my output? Could I actually have hit all of those things in my session today, but I chose not to? Or did I just set the bar too high? So we can recalibrate daily. Which means we've got a way bigger control on the journey we're on, less likely to go off track and crash and less likely to hit the big potholes along the way.
So, goal setting, the difference between a goal and objective, a goal is a need. What do I need to do to get that? And when I hit it, I can reward it, recognise. Bang. Fantastic. An objective is emotive. It's the end step, it's the destination we're aiming for. We work backwards to ensure that what we're looking for is a process to follow rather than an emotional, am I good enough to do this? Can I do this? How far away from this am I? Am I going to hit my goals? Am I going to hit my outcome? So the analogy, the process that I always talk about, that's been tattooed on the back of my head, which is collect the data, build a plan, apply it, collect better data, build a better plan, execute. So that process is reliant on setting objectives, setting goals along the way, the process, the framework to get there, collecting the data and go, did that work? Yes, it did. Great, let's do it again. Or did that work? Yeah, it did, but we could have done it better. There's things in here we could improve. Awesome, let's improve. Let's collect better data, better plan and reapply. Or, you know what? I just set way, way too high.
So how many of you have gone out there and done the traditional goal setting and going, I want to be here by the end of the season. Halfway through the season, it looks just as far away as it did at the start of the season, but now what you're looking at going, I just got to get through this. I've just got to get through this season, I'll do it better next season. And that process that we push ourselves through is purely and simply because we're not collecting the right kind of data, we're not collecting pragmatic process data, we're collecting emotional data going, wow, that still looks like a really long way away.
So goal setting is critical, but like I said, it's got a life partner. And that life partner is an objective. If the two are together, they're formidable. If they're separated, they're weakened.
So do you set goals? And if you have set goals in the past, how have you done that? Have you followed this process? So the coupling of the goals and the objective and just the scalability of that process, what you do in a day should be done in a week. What you do in a week should be done in a month. What you do in a month should be done in a season. What you do in that season should be done in that year. Set the objective, build a plan to get it. Is that how you've done it? Or have you just set goals and then been really, really disappointed that you haven't hit them. Been really flat and gone, oh, there's something wrong with me, and start internally blaming yourself because you think, well, maybe I'm not good enough, maybe I can't achieve this, maybe the wrong goal. Ask yourself those questions and if the reality of what you've been doing isn't optimised, then have a think about maybe you've only got half of the puzzle.
So, goal setting, does it work? Absolutely. Is it as simple as everybody tells you? Absolutely not. Is there a process to efficiently, effectively build a goal process? Yes there is. It has to be built with its life partner, that's an objective and a goal come together, create an outcome.
Hope you got a lot from this goal setting podcast and realising that it's not just about setting a goal. There's a lot more that goes into this process than just setting a goal and it has to be built, designed and executed by you. Otherwise its external and its somebody else's. It's somebody else's direction, somebody else's motivation, somebody else's social acknowledgment, somebody else's accountability, or you might be held account to somebody else's plan and it is certainly not replicable for you. So build your own, understand it, own it, drive it, grow it, and it will serve you.
So I hope you got a lot from this podcast and enjoyed the conversation around goal setting and until the next episode of Brain In The Game, train smart and enjoy the ride. My name's Dave Diggle, I'm the mental performance specialist.
