Goal Setting Exercise 1

Goal Setting Exercise 1

Moving Beyond Outcome Goals to Task Goal Setting. If you only have outcome

goals, you won’t change your behavior.

1. Start with an Outcome Goal: Choose an upcoming competition, and pick a

challenging but not impossible goal (win, place, get a certain score or time, etc.)

Write that goal down in detail here:

______

______

______

2. Moving from Outcome Goals to Task Goals: How do you maximize your

chances of achieving this goal? Write down three behaviors you can do at this

competition to increase the odds of you achieving the outcome you wrote down in

step one.

For example; an athlete might write: 1) I will make sure that I am well rested

before the event – a minimum of three nights of 8+ hours of sleep, 2) I will hold

my prescribed pace, my own race pace, even if the pack goes out fast, 3) I will

maintain very good technique in the second ½ of the race.

a. I will: ______

b. I will: ______

c. I will: ______

3. Practice this task in training: What can you do in training between now and

your competition to maximize your chances of achieving your three competition

tasks? Write down two things to focus on in training that will set you up to

behave the way you want in competition.

For example, if your task competition is to take a risk and confidently try a new

move or pace in competition, you might focus on competition simulation in

training, in which you give yourself only one chance to try the move or new pace,

with no second chances.

a. In training, I will: ______

______

b. In training, I will: ______

______

Goal Setting Exercise 2

Setting Short Term Goals: Long-Term Goals don’t work unless they lead to the

production of short-term goals that impact how you behave NOW. Try this exercise to

see if your big goals lead you to day-to-day goals.

1. What is your “Dream Goal” for this season? ______

______

______

2. What are the abilities of athletes in your sport who could achieve that dream

goal? (i.e. perfect technique, great strength, great confidence) ______

______

______

3. Do you have all those abilities fully developed? Yes ______No ______

4. If no, which abilities do you most need to work on? ______

______

______

5. What will you do between now and the end of the season to develop these

abilities? ______

______

______

6. What will you do This Week to develop those abilities? ______

______

______

7. What can you do Next Practice to develop those abilities? ______

______

______

Goal Setting Exercise 3

Setting Different Goal Levels: Research indicates that tough goals push athletes

further, but we also know that athlete’s will not embrace goals that they view as

unrealistic. As well, sometimes our goals are impacted by circumstances that are beyond

our control. By setting three different goal levels: Humble, Challenging and Peak.

Athletes can always strive toward a goal.

1. Selecting a Humble Goal: Many people make the mistake of setting goals that exceed their reach. The idea of setting a “humble” goal is to ensure that

at least one of your goals falls well within the realm of possibility. There is

nothing wrong with setting a moderate goal, especially when it helps you to

advance toward the achievement of a loftier goal. As well, this goal may

become more significant if an athlete encounters many obstacles in her

training. An athlete should be 99% confident that they can achieve this goal.

My “Humble” goal is:

______

______

______

______

2. Selecting a Challenging Goal: This goal should be hard but possible, taking

into account all of the external factors weighing on your training (i.e. sickness,

injury, training plateaus, etc.). An athlete should be 80% confident that they

can achieve this goal. My Challenging Goal is:

______

______

______

______

3. Selecting a Peak Goal: A “Peak” goal is one’s best-case scenario goal.

Achievement should only be possible if “everything goes right”. An athlete

should only be %50 confident that they can achieve this goal. This goal

ensures that an athlete will still have something to shoot for, if she obtains her

“challenging goal” ahead of schedule. My Peak Goal is: ______

______

______

______

______

Name:______Date:______

Please fill out the following sheet on directions on how to swim the perfect race. Understand that everyone is different so understand that there are different strategies for different people based on their talents and their weaknesses. You should include things to work, stroke corrections, breathing patterns, turn suggestions or hints and racing and pacing strategies. Include anything that will trigger a positive response in your racing. Each should be simple enough to remember easily and also include all aspects that will help you race better. You should revisit this a couple of times during the season. Your strokes, fitness and racing strategies will change over time and need to be kept up to date. This is for you. You need to take responsibility for improving your chances to race successfully.

50Free______

100free______

200free______

500free______

1000free______

1650free______

SprintBk______Dist.Bk______

SprintBrst______

DistBrst______

SprintFly______

DistFly______

SprintIM______

DistIM______

Include any thing that you need to do to make these suggestions/ strategies succeed. List the things that you need to work on at practice and include positive notes about the things that you feel that you have worked on successfully in practice to make your swimming better. If you have specific goals include those as targets. If you have specific paces that you want to hold include those. Know what it is that you are trying to achieve.

Remember to revisit these races a couple of times a season.