What Exactly is Goal Setting Anyway?

Goal setting is the process used to determine and define what an individual wants to be, do or have. It can also be defining an objective or target and these can give a sense of purpose, direction and drive in achieving these goals.

Goals can come in two forms being either subjective or objective. Subjective goals are neither measurable nor objective and are vague or general statements of intent without a timeframe, for instance ‘I want to surf better’ is one such example. Objective goals on the other hand, focus on attaining something specific, be it a specific skill, skill level or even weight in a specified time frame. Generally objective goals in their detail and specificity are the more successful of the two types of goal setting, however it is always good to set both objective and subjective goals in your program.

Bells at its finest photo: Caitlin Hughes

Types of goals

Outcome goals can be summarized as win focused and are generally preoccupied with the competitive result of the event, such as a heat in surfing. Outcome goals have less control as they also rely on the ability/performance of other competitors and so even though the subject could perform at their very best they may still face disappointment and lowered confidence in the case of aiming just to win against a superior, more experienced or even just a luckier opponent. In this case it

Performance goals relate to ones own performance aims and can be measured by past performance. Along with it performance goals being more precise than outcome goals they are less dependant on another’s performance, which lends to it being more within the student and coaches control. These goals can be useful before and during competition, for example before competition the surfer could make it their goal to increase their wave count during training and then translate this into increasing the amount of scoring waves during competition.

Process goals refer to specific technique based actions to which changes will improve performance and to perform well in both training and competition. These may include getting more speed and correct weight placement during bottom turns or compressing the legs more when transferring out of a re-entry to better enable linkage of moves. Or in Mark Occhilupo’s case speeding up his surfing to better aline with the fast paced style of younger surfers.

While each of the above has their uses, performance and process goals are generally the more useful and flexible of the three. They are multifaceted while outcome goals only focus on one thing, win or lose. This allows you as a coach to better control the outcome, which will then indirectly relate to winning rather than winning directly. However, having said this, outcome goals can be used in conjunction with the other two forms to maximize both long and short-term goals.
It is also important to prioritize your students various goals and not just the ones applying to surfing. There is a good chance that your athletes will have school, work or other commitments and they should be encouraged to set general subjective goals for each of these commitments. These should then be prioritized to then ensure proper time and attention is being payed to the more important goals overall and to avoid stress and general disorganization.

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Resources:

Prioritise General Life Goals

Also worth a look:

a.       http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html