What is the relationship between

motivation and goals-setting in

sport? - Chapter 2

Motivation and Goal Setting

Visualize Success

Motivation

You are your own best motivator. Your motivation must come from within yourself. Others may try to
encourage you, but you are the only one who can attain what you desire. You must convince yourself -
you can!

Success comes in cans!

Throughout your college years you will have to make many choices; view these choices as opportunities.
Don't allow yourself to be burden with problems; they are really only challenges. Train yourself from the
start to put your time and energy into finding solutions to your challenges, not in complaining. You must
adjust your attitude and retrain your thought process.

Start with surrounding yourself with positive people. They will encourage and nurture you. Stay away
from negative people because they will discourage you and sabotage your dreams and goals.

You need to hold yourself accountable. Write a letter of intent to yourself, date it, and sign it. Put this
letter some place where you will see it every day. Go to a friend or fellow student and make a
commitment to each other. It helps to be accountable to someone else.

If you develop your dreams into goals, and your goals into realities, then your realities will become your
successes!

Goal Setting

Goals provide direction in your life and nurture your motivation

Goals are like road maps; they get you from one point to another. Goals provide the direction you need
to reach your destination, the motivation to sustain you on your trip, and a way to measure your
progress. The best way to get results is to plan for the future, but live one day at a time.

Think about the future. How do you define success? What makes you happy? What drives you? What
makes you get out of bed in the morning? Does success mean family, money, security, prestige, to help
others, improve the environment, to solve problems, a career or a degree? Whatever you decide, the
key is to strengthen your will to succeed. To succeed, strengthen your will - to strengthen your will,
succeed. This sounds circular, and it is - it is a positive feedback loop .

To get this positive feedback loop started, develop a long-term plan. Where do you want to be 3-5 years
from now? What do you want to be doing? Where do you want to live? What kind of vacations do you
want to take? What is your house going to look like? What kind of car will you be driving? What color
will the car be? Get very specific with your dreams and your plans. If your dreams are specific, your
goals will be specific. Never ask yourself the questions - "What if", or "What would happen if". Make the
questions a positive affirmation of what you will do! Prioritize your goals - what is the most important
goal for you and what is the first thing you need to do to start towards that goal? Then plan backwards
in time and outline the major steps it will take for you to arrive at that future destination.

Once you have the big picture, break your outline into individual, short-term goals. Short -term goals
should range from daily goals to one-year goals, midterm goals should range from 2-3 years, and
long term goals are up to 5 years & beyond. Make your list very specific and realistic. You want to be
successful in reaching your goals, but at the same time, these goals should challenge you. At the end of
each day reward yourself and strengthen your resolve for tomorrow.

Some Suggested Goals:

 Be a Life Long Learner - We live in exciting and interesting times. We live at the crossroads of
revolutions in electronic technology, genetic engineering, and international economics. The only
certainty in life is change, opportunity for some, and future shock for others. Education is the door
to opportunity. Your most valuable asset and skill in life as well as in the market place is your
ability to learn and to apply this knowledge.

 Clarify Educational Plans - If you have declared a major, great! If not, do not worry - it is okay.
Many students are unsure of their major until they are about halfway through college. If you don't
know what you want to major in, then research various careers, talk to counselors, visit businesses,
and/or interview people already working in the fields you are interested in.

 Become an Efficient, Successful Student - No matter what your goals are, work at maximum
efficiency. Be a student who works smarter as well as harder.

No one can teach you how to think,

you must motivate yourself to learn how to learn!

The Importance of Goal Setting for Athletes

When it comes to the fine margins between success and failure at elite sport level, it is
acknowledged that psychology has a huge part to play. The mental side of sport is now seen
as being just as important as the physical side and research has illustrated that goal setting is
one of the most effective tools when it comes to providing athletes with a psychological edge.
The value of goal setting is encapsulated by David Harrison when he wrote:
“Goal setting is an extremely powerful technique for enhancing performance so it is one of
the most important strategies you can implement for success in any environment. Goal
setting helps to focus attention and it is critical to maintain and enhance motivation. Goal
setting gives direction both in the short term and the long term and you can see success as
you achieve your short term goals.”

What is goal setting?

Essentially goal setting is a mental training technique that can be used to increase an
individual’s commitment towards achieving a personal goal and this can be separated into
short, medium and long term goals. These goals can be broken down into three categories:-

 Outcome goals
 Performance goals
 Process goals

Outcome goals deal with specific results in competition, while performance goals deal with
helping an athlete make improvements over a period of time. Process goals are the aspects
a competitor should be concentrating on when carrying out a specific skill.

The SMART Goals approach

SMART is a well-established tool that you can use to plan and achieve your goals.

In order to get the best out of the goal setting strategy, many athletes and coaches follow the
SMART approach as outlined by Kelly Bourne in Why Goal Setting is Important. Using a
football example the article highlights how athletes can benefit from an approach that is

Specific,
Measurable,
Attainable,
Realistic and
Time based

This SMART acronym aims to break down five key aspects to achieving goals. This is to help
ensure all areas are focused on the individual making them effective.
  Specific – A defensive player to win over 90% of their challenges throughout a 90-
minute match. An attacking player to make 10-15 runs or attempts on goal throughout
a 90-minute match
 Measurable – How many goals/assists scored throughout the season, How many
saves or challenges a GK or defender has made
 Attainable – Ensuring the goal which is set for the athlete is attainable/achievable,
starting with small tasks which are achievable to help gain confidence in the process
and then start to make larger goals
 Realistic – This is key and very important to discuss with the athlete individually. Each
athlete is different and has varied strengths and weaknesses in different areas. The
athlete will need to decide which on these goals and agree that they are realistic
targets set for themselves to achieve
 Time based – Goals should be set for a time period of a season, but you can set
smaller time frames within that specific to the athlete. Again athletes are individual, so
some may prefer every month, or others could possibly do it over a three-month period

How goal setting improves performance

The advantage of goal setting is that it helps boost performance levels by achieving targets or
as Kelly Bourne points out:

“The main aim of goal setting focuses on increasing individuals’ motivational levels to
achieve success by directing attention and applying energy levels into achieving the overall
goal.”

However, a cautionary note, there can be drawbacks to goal setting and these should be
addressed as early as possible in the process. Athletes often don’t see the value in setting
goals, consider them boring and taking up too much time. They can also set themselves the
wrong types of goals and fail before they even start. Education is key to the process.
Ultimately, it is worth the effort to overcome these obstacles and coaches should highlight the
value of goal setting for athletes to help them achieve optimal performance.

Goal setting can be one of the most important skills to teach athletes in order to help them
optimize their performance. It can help them focus on what is important and give them a
sense of control and positive self-direction. SMART goals can help athletes gain confidence
and believe in their ability to succeed. Goal setting can improve performance, influence
motivation, and help athletes reach their potential.

What is Metrifit?

Metrifit helps coaches get to know their athletes, and helps athletes get ready to perform. It
is a simple, intuitive and effective approach to monitoring, looking at how the ‘small picture’ of
an athlete’s daily habits, shapes the ‘big picture’ of match day performance.
Metrifit’s athlete monitoring and well-being software is used world-wide in team environments
in Universities, High Schools, National Sports Associations and with professional and
amateur teams across many sports. Our new lifestyle profiling functionality is based on years
of experience in this area – we know the key factors that underlie optimal performance. This
is available for coaches and teams but also for individual athletes. It provides an essential
baseline to assess where you are, and set goals and objectives to improve in key areas that
ultimately will improve your performance.

What is Motivation?

Motivation is derived from the word 'motive', which denotes a person's needs, desires, wants,
or urges. It is the process of motivating individuals to take action in order to achieve a
goal. The psychological elements fueling people's behavior in the context of job goals might
include a desire for money.
Why motivation is important?

Motivation is important because it: provides you with goals to work towards, helps you
solve problems & helps you change old habits.

3 important words that make up motivation

The important words here are 'needs', 'values' and 'goals' and these are the building blocks
of motivation that lead to actions:

 Needs are basic requirements for survival and may be physical or

psychological; for example, hunger, thirst, love or friendship.
 Values are a person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is
important in life.
 Goals are the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.

What is motivation in learning?

From a psycho-educational perspective, 'motivation to learn' has been described as a
student's 'energy and drive to learn, work effectively and achieve to their potential', in
addition to the behaviors associated with this energy and drive.