GOAL SETTING IN SPORT AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

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GOAL SETTING IN SPORT AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

• Damon Burton, Ph.D.
• University of Idaho

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WHAT ARE GOALS?

• Goals are like magnets that attract us to
  higher ground and new horizons. They give our
  eyes a focus, our mind an aim, and our strength a
  purpose. Without their pull, we would remain
  forever stationary, incapable of moving forward .
  . . A goal is a possibility that fulfills a dream
  (Lessin, 1999)

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COMPONENTS OF GOALS

• direction athletes choice about how to direct
  or focus their behavior.
• comparison standard a minimal quality and/or
  quantity of behavior that must be attained to
  achieve success.

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HOW GOALS WORK

• Focus attention on specific tasks
• Increase effort and intensity
• Encourage persistence
• Promote the development of new task strategies
  (e.g., problem-solving strategies)

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DO GOALS WORK?

• Goal setting is the most popular and effective
  performance-enhancement technique used in sport
  psychology
• Over 90 of all business studies and almost 80
  of all sport studies demonstrate goal setting
  effects, normally in 6 weeks or less.

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WHAT TYPES OF GOALS ARE MOST EFFECTIVE?

• process, performance and/or outcome goals,
• specific and/or general goals,
• easy, moderate and/or difficult goals,
• positive and/or negative goals,
• practice and/or competitive goals,
• short-term and/or long-term goals, and
• individual and/or team goals.

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GOAL FOCUS PROCESS, PERFORMANCE OUTCOME GOALS

• Process goals focus on improving form, technique
  and strategies.
• Performance goals emphasize improving personal
  performance or attaining a particular performance
  standard.
• Outcome goals concentrate on winning and
  outperforming others.

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GOAL FOCUS PROCESS, PERFORMANCE OUTCOME GOALS

• Process/performance goals promote better
  performance than outcome goals because they are
  flexible controllable.
• Controllability athletes should control as much
  of their own success or goal attainment as
  possible.
• Flexibility goals should be easy to raise and
  lower to ensure optimal goal difficulty in every
  situation.

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GOAL DIFFICULTY DIFFICULT, MODERATE OR EASY
GOALS

• Research confirms that most athletes prefer
  moderately difficult goals that are 5-15 above
  current performance capabilities,
• Orlick recommends 3 goal difficulty levels,
• Dream Goals level of performance possible if
  athletes experience Flow.
• Realistic Goals moderately difficult level of
  performance possible if the athlete performs
  well-- up to expectations.
• Growth Goals lowest level of performance that a
  competitor can achieve and still feel successful.
  

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GOAL VALENCE

• Positively-worded goals are believed to be better
  than negative goals
• Want you to see image of success
• Skill level may impact valence
• Low Skilled-------------------Moderately
  Skilled--------------------Highly Skilled
• POSITIVE
  NEGATIVE
• Generally, positive goals are encouraged

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GOAL PROXIMITY SHORT-TERM VERSUS LONG-TERM GOALS

• Long-term goals provide direction to help
  identify where you are going.
• Short-term goals are the stepping stones to reach
  long-term goals . They promote the motivation
  and self-confidence increments necessary to
  pursue those long-term objectives.
• A combination of short- and long-term goals is
  recommended.

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STAIRCASE APPROACH TO ACHIEVING LONG-TERM GOALS

• Long-term goal
• Week 4 goal
• Week 3 goal
• Week 2 goal
• Week 1 goal
• Baseline

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PRACTICE VERSUS COMPETITIVE GOALS

• Practice Goals
• focus - developing skills
• concentration and motivation
• outcome, process performance goals
• push comfort zone

• Competitive Goals
• focus - performing optimally
• poise, confidence stress management
• process performance goals
• difficulty realistic for CPC

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GOAL COLLECTIVITY TEAM VERSUS INDIVIDUAL GOALS

• Team goals focus
• on boosting
• cohesion and
• collective performance.
• Individual goals are role-specific in order to
  maximize team success.

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WHY TEAM GOALS PROMOTE SOCIAL LOAFING?

• The larger the number of team members, the less
  effort each athlete expends.
• Social loafing declines when identifiability and
  accountability increase.
• Individual goals counter social loafing.
• A combination of team and individual goals is
  recommended.

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CRITIQUE SMART GOALS

• S pecific
• M easurable
• A ggressive
• A chievable
• R elevant
• T ime-bound

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GOAL SETTING PROCESS

• Goal Setting
• Process

• Goal setting is best understood and most
  effective when understood as a process
• Most coaches and athletes do a great job of
  setting goals and then forget or ignore the rest
  of the process

Set Goals
Reinforce Goal Attainment
i
Secure Commitment
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans
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GOAL SETTING PROCESS

• Set Goals

• follow goal type recommendations
• use Orlicks three levels of goal difficulty
• moderate goal difficulty thats 5-15 above
  current capabilities.

Set Goals
Reinforce Goal Attainment
i
Secure Commitment
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans
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GOAL SETTING PROCESS

• Secure Goal
• Commitment

• get athletes to participate in setting goals,
• rewards build commitment,
• post goals and goal progress to promote social
  support and accountability.

Set Goals
Reinforce Goal Attainment
i
Secure Commitment
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans
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GOAL SETTING PROCESS

• Identify Barriers
• Construct Action Plans

• Identify skill and knowledge barriers to goal
  attainment,
• Develop a systematic plan for how youll overcome
  barriers and attain goals.

Set Goals
Reinforce Goal Attainment
i
Secure Commitment
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans
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GOAL SETTING PROCESS

• Obtain Feedback and
• Evaluate Goal Attainment

• Feedback is critical to goal success.
• Schedule times daily and weekly to monitor goals.
• Evaluation is the most overlooked step in making
  goals work.

Set Goals
Reinforce Goal Attainment
i
Secure Commitment
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans
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GOAL SETTING PROCESS

• Reinforce Goal
• Attainment

• reward goal achievement,
• use appropriate shaping procedures for
  reinforcement,
• intermittent reinforcement enhances retention,
• self-reward or develop a team reward system

Set Goals
Reinforce Goal Attainment
i
Secure Commitment
Obtain Feedback and Evaluate Goal Attainment
Identify Barriers and Construct Action Plans
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COORDINATING GOALS

• Step 1 establish a culminating goal (e.g.,
  outcome goal - win conference)
• Step 2 develop a series of intermediate
  performance goals (e.g., stroke mechanics,
  conditioning, tactics, attacking skills and
  mental skills) to win conference
• Step 3 set a series of short-term process goals
  that are needed to reach performance goals (i.e.,
  timing, footwork, horizontal movement and
  vertical swing enhance stroke mechanics)

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GOAL ROADMAPS
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DEVELOPING A GOAL MENTALITY

• Goal Mentality is the mindset to love setting
  goals and set them spontaneously and
  systematically in everything you do.
• Setting goals become self-fueling and increases
  intrinsic motivation and steadily enhances
  self-confidence.
• A minimum of 8-12 weeks is necessary to create a
  GM because performers must set goals

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GOAL MENTALITY REQUIREMENTS

• A minimum of 8-12 weeks is necessary to create a
  goal mentality (GM)
• The process requires setting daily goals and
  monitoring them closely while learning how to set
  goals effectively and building a history of
  success needed to optimize intrinsic motivation
  and self-confidence.

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COMMON GOAL PROBLEMS

• failure to sell practitioners on goal setting to
  ensure commitment,
• setting goals that are not measurable and
  realistic,
• unwillingness to raise and lower goals to
  maintain optimal difficulty,
• setting too many goals,
• focusing too much on outcome goals,
• forgetting to monitor and evaluate goals.
• Develop a goal roadmap to coordinate goals

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The End
The End