Goal Setting
Goal setting is an important part of being a student-athlete. The goal setting process takes your dreams and aspirations and helps you turn them into a plan you can act on. As a student-athlete our team is going to challenge you to create academic, athletic, and personal goals and to use the SMART Goals process to work towards them. Refer to this page each time you begin working towards a new goal to refresh your knowledge. At the bottom of this page is the link to the SMART Goals worksheet.
Defining Success
The goal setting process is an amazing tool because you get to define how you achieve success. Our definition of success is the following - Success is knowing that you gave your best effort to become the best version of yourself that you are capable of becoming at this moment.
We will always be tempted to compare ourselves to other people but that distracts us from the power we have to make positive changes in ourselves. We can't control other people but we can control our own thoughts and behaviors - that is the power of goal setting! Goal setting tells us to sit down and define what success means for us and then challenges us to create our very own plan on how to work closer towards our success.
We will always be tempted to compare ourselves to other people but that distracts us from the power we have to make positive changes in ourselves. We can't control other people but we can control our own thoughts and behaviors - that is the power of goal setting! Goal setting tells us to sit down and define what success means for us and then challenges us to create our very own plan on how to work closer towards our success.
SMART Goals
The SMART Goal process uses the five letters in the word "smart" to guide us in creating our own goals and action plan.
S - Specific. Our goal must be specific and include each element of "smart" in them when written out. Our goal is our plan. If it is too vague we won't know what to do in order to achieve it.
M - Measurable. Our goal must have a way for us to track our progress. In running, we can usually use our training log as a way to record our progress. For instance, if your goal was to try and run for 3 miles straight without walking, you can use your comments in your training log to write down how you did each day and week.
A - Action Oriented. Our goal needs to include steps or an "action plan" that you create that will help you towards meeting your goal. You cannot set a goal without also creating at least three action steps. Action steps are things you can do each day or week that prepare you and move you closer towards your goal. Each action step should be something you can track in a journal or training log. Tracking your steps is your "proof" that you did what you said you would do but it also lets you review your progress at the end of your time frame and look for areas of improvement.
R - Realistic & Relevant. Our goal should be realistic for us to attain within our time frame. This doesn't mean our goal needs to be easy. Goals are meant to be challenging but not so out of reach that we give up right away. If you have really big goals that might take some time before you are ready to achieve them create smaller intermediate goals first. In addition, our goal needs to be important to us. The number one reason people stop working on their goals is because the one they chose wasn't that important to them. Pick a goal that will make you feel proud and good about yourself after you get close to it or achieve it.
T - Time Frame. Our goal always needs to have a realistic time frame where we stop and evaluate our progress. As student-athletes our built in time frames are usually our semester or school year. Three to four months is the longest you should go before evaluating your progress. If you have a big goal, like transferring to your dream university or making top-10 in conference, you can still set many 3-4 month SMART Goals as you work towards your final goal.
An example of a SMART Goal using the process would be:
"I will earn a 3.0 GPA or better in the fall and spring semester by visiting the tutoring centers on campus for all my written assignments (English Center), math homework (Math Center), and any classes I take that have tutoring available in the General Tutoring Center. I will track my progress by recording my tutoring center hours in my training log. This goal motivates me because if I can earn a 3.0 GPA or better I can improve my chances of transferring to SDSU."
In this example my goal is specific because I outline a need a 3.0 GPA or better (I might have said 'get better grades' but that is too vague). My goal has a time frame of fall and spring semesters where I can evaluate how I did when my grades come in. My goal relevant for me because I know a better GPA means I have a better chance of getting into the university that I want. My goal is achievable because my current GPA is 2.89 and I know I haven't used the tutoring center very well yet as a student.
S - Specific. Our goal must be specific and include each element of "smart" in them when written out. Our goal is our plan. If it is too vague we won't know what to do in order to achieve it.
M - Measurable. Our goal must have a way for us to track our progress. In running, we can usually use our training log as a way to record our progress. For instance, if your goal was to try and run for 3 miles straight without walking, you can use your comments in your training log to write down how you did each day and week.
A - Action Oriented. Our goal needs to include steps or an "action plan" that you create that will help you towards meeting your goal. You cannot set a goal without also creating at least three action steps. Action steps are things you can do each day or week that prepare you and move you closer towards your goal. Each action step should be something you can track in a journal or training log. Tracking your steps is your "proof" that you did what you said you would do but it also lets you review your progress at the end of your time frame and look for areas of improvement.
R - Realistic & Relevant. Our goal should be realistic for us to attain within our time frame. This doesn't mean our goal needs to be easy. Goals are meant to be challenging but not so out of reach that we give up right away. If you have really big goals that might take some time before you are ready to achieve them create smaller intermediate goals first. In addition, our goal needs to be important to us. The number one reason people stop working on their goals is because the one they chose wasn't that important to them. Pick a goal that will make you feel proud and good about yourself after you get close to it or achieve it.
T - Time Frame. Our goal always needs to have a realistic time frame where we stop and evaluate our progress. As student-athletes our built in time frames are usually our semester or school year. Three to four months is the longest you should go before evaluating your progress. If you have a big goal, like transferring to your dream university or making top-10 in conference, you can still set many 3-4 month SMART Goals as you work towards your final goal.
An example of a SMART Goal using the process would be:
"I will earn a 3.0 GPA or better in the fall and spring semester by visiting the tutoring centers on campus for all my written assignments (English Center), math homework (Math Center), and any classes I take that have tutoring available in the General Tutoring Center. I will track my progress by recording my tutoring center hours in my training log. This goal motivates me because if I can earn a 3.0 GPA or better I can improve my chances of transferring to SDSU."
In this example my goal is specific because I outline a need a 3.0 GPA or better (I might have said 'get better grades' but that is too vague). My goal has a time frame of fall and spring semesters where I can evaluate how I did when my grades come in. My goal relevant for me because I know a better GPA means I have a better chance of getting into the university that I want. My goal is achievable because my current GPA is 2.89 and I know I haven't used the tutoring center very well yet as a student.
Your Action Plan
Once you have established a goal you need to also create an action plan that outlines exactly what you will do that will help you achieve your goal. I recommend two to three action plan items that you can do for each day and each week. In my example above my action plan items were visiting the tutoring centers on campus for review and help in my classes. I even described when I would go (for all written assignments, math homework, and all courses that have a tutoring section in general tutoring). I could stop there but other action plan items could also be scheduling dedicated study time 2-3 days a week to review class notes or visit office hours.
There are no wrong ways to create your action plan but you should be confident you can follow through. These action items are ways you are going to change your behavior in a positive way that will make you more confident in your abilities.
There are no wrong ways to create your action plan but you should be confident you can follow through. These action items are ways you are going to change your behavior in a positive way that will make you more confident in your abilities.
Goal Review
When it is time to review your goal setting process how do you begin? The first step is pull out your original goal statement and see how you defined success for yourself. But what happens if you didn't achieve your goal? Are you a failure? The answer is emphatically - no! The goal setting process is just that - it is a process - which means it is always evolving as you learn new skills. Even if you didn't reach your ultimate goal at the end of your time frame I guarantee that through your action plan items you made tremendous progress.
Evaluate yourself against how you changed your behavior to work towards your goal. Because the goal setting process is ongoing you can now use the review process to tweak your goal, change your action items, and correct any mistakes/barriers you encountered. If you participated 100% in your goal setting you should feel proud of the changes you made mentally, emotionally, and/or physically. Goal setting is a tool to help you build self-efficacy, self-esteem, and perseverance. This is an ongoing process throughout your life. So, begin flexing your goal setting muscles by setting a SMART Goal today!
Evaluate yourself against how you changed your behavior to work towards your goal. Because the goal setting process is ongoing you can now use the review process to tweak your goal, change your action items, and correct any mistakes/barriers you encountered. If you participated 100% in your goal setting you should feel proud of the changes you made mentally, emotionally, and/or physically. Goal setting is a tool to help you build self-efficacy, self-esteem, and perseverance. This is an ongoing process throughout your life. So, begin flexing your goal setting muscles by setting a SMART Goal today!
