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Sport Psychology (PSY407)

LESSON 09

PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE GOAL SETTING

Goal setting improves performance by directing attention, increasing effort and persistence, and

motivating athletes to learn new strategies. Goal setting must be well planned and effective if it is to

result in desirable performance results. The following principles should be followed by coaches and

athletes in setting effective goals.

Make goals specific, measurable, and observable.

Clearly identify time constraints.

Use moderately difficult goals; they are superior to either easy or very difficult goals.

Write goals down and regularly monitor progress.

Use a mix of process, performance, and outcome goals.

Use short-range goals to achieve long-range goals.

Set team as well as individual performance goals.

Set practice as well as competition goals.

Make sure goals are internalized by the athlete.

10.

Consider personality and individual differences in goal setting.

1. Make goals specific, measurable, and observable

The terms specific, measurable, and observable are all related to one another. A specific goal is one

that focuses exactly on the goal to be achieved. For example: "shooting 80% accuracy in free-throwing

shooting" is specific, but "becoming a better basketball player" is not. Whereas a measurable goal is

one that you can quantify, in the sense that you know exactly how close you are to achieving the goal.

The general goal "to become a better server in tennis" is not measurable because you don't know when

you have achieved the goal. Similarly an observable goal is one that you can measure, because you can

observe it. For example, the goal "to hit 80% of my free throws" is observable as well as measurable,

because if I shoot with 75% accuracy, I know I have fallen short. Observable performance goals are

also referred to as behavioral or action oriented goals.

2. Clearly identify time constraints

Setting time constraint goals that are too short can make a goal seem unreachable and discourage the

athlete. Setting time constraint goals that are too distant can also have negative ramifications. Research

shows that if an athlete can realistically accomplish a goal in thirty days, don't set a goal to accomplish it

in sixty days, because the athlete will use all sixty days to realize the task.

A well-stated goal should be timely in the sense that it specifies time constraints associated with the

goal, but also timely in the sense that it reflects an appropriate amount of time to accomplish the goal.

If the time constraints is too long, the athlete may procrastinate over the achievement of the goal, while

if it is too short, the athlete will view it as unrealistic.

3. Use moderately difficult goals; they are superior to either easy or very difficult goals

Goals should be moderately difficult, so that athletes must work hard and extend themselves in order to

meet them. At the same time, however a goal must be realistic, in the sense that the athlete must believe

that the goal is achievable. If a goal is perceived by an athlete as not being realistic or achievable, she

may become discouraged and not try to achieve the goal.

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Sport Psychology (PSY407)

Recently, 52 percent of Olympic athletes indicated a performance for moderately difficult goals, whereas only 25

percent preferred very difficult goals (Weinberg, Burton, Yukelson & Weigand, 2000)

The acronym SMART has been used by sport psychologists to help athletes remember five important

characteristics of well-stated goals.

According to Weinberg and Gould (1999) goals should be:

Specific

Measurable

Action-oriented

Realistic

Timely

4. Write goals down and regularly monitor progress

An effective goal is one that you write down and monitor regularly to determine if you are making progress.

You must take care to avoid making this a laborious and tedious task. If you want to achieve a goal then writing

it down and knowing how you are doing relative to achieving the goal is of critical importance.

An effective goal is not one that you think about and then forget. An effective goal also not one that you write

down , place in a time capsule, and then open up a year later to see if you have accomplished it. For example,

Weight trainers generally are asked to keep a daily log of the amount of weight lifted and the number of

repetitions accomplished for each exercise. By recording her goal weight and repetitions for each exercise, the

athlete is able to monitor her progress on a daily or weekly basis. Without this kind of recording system, it is

unlikely that the athlete could make any sustained progress towards achieving her goals.

Use a mix of process, performance and outcome goals

A multiple goal strategy will yield the best performance and psychological results. One should never use an

outcome goal strategy by itself. Outcome goals (success/failure) serve as a useful purpose when used in

conjunction with process and performance goal, but by themselves they can lead to a loss of motivation. an

athlete has a great deal of personal control over process and performance goals, but not so much in outcome

goals.

Use short-range goals to achieve long-range goals.

When you set out to climb to the top of a mountain peak, your long-range goal to be on top of the mountain

looking down within a certain time frame. As you begin the steep climb, however, you almost immediately start

making short range goals. For example, you might see a plateau about one hundred yards up and set a goal to

get to that point before stopping for a rest. His process continues until you make your last one hundred yard

short range goal to reach the top of the mountain before stopping to rest.

Set team as well as individual performance goals

Performance goals can be set for a group or a team just as they can be set for an individual. Research shows that

the group that set goals as a team performed better than the individual-goal group.

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Sport Psychology (PSY407)

Set Practice As Well As Competition Goals

Successful Olympic athletes also value the importance of goal setting for practice as well as competition

(Orlick & Partington 1988)

There are number of ways in which practice goals could help an athlete achieve competitive

performance goals. For example if a basketball player has a competition performance goal to hit 45% of

her field goal attempts, then she should have the same goal for practice. It makes no sense to practice

with no goal in mind relative to individual performance and then expect to achieve competitive

performance goals. If I am going to be a good shooter during competition, then I had to be a good

shooter in practice as well. Setting practice goals is the way to accomplish competition goal.

9. Make sure goals are internalized by the athlete

One of the most important ingredients of good goal setting is that goals are accepted and internalized

by the athlete (Locke, 1991). If an athlete sets her own goals, it is relatively certain that she will

internalize them. Conversely, if goals are assigned to the athlete by the coaching staff, it is possible that

the athlete will not feel ownership for the goals. It only means that the athlete must accept and

internalize the goals she either sets herself or is assigned by the coach. Expecting athletes to set their

goals is not always the best strategy, because they may not be aware of effective goal setting principles.

Based on their meta-analysis, Kyllo and Landers (1995) concluded that in sport it is best to let athletes

either set their own goals or participate in the goal-setting process.

Researchers say that there is no advantage to participative or self-set goals over assigned goals in terms

of goal attributes. Athletes must accept and internalize their goals regardless of who initially wrote the

goals down. Athletes must feel as though they are in control (self-determination), but it is not necessary

for athletes to set their own goals in order to feel this way.

10. Consider personality and individual differences in goal setting

When coaches are involved in the goal setting process, they should take into consideration personality

differences. Research shows that gymnasts who exhibited an internal locus of causality disposition

performed best when they used a "set you own goals" strategy; in contrast, gymnasts who exhibited an

external locus of causality performed best when they used a "coach-set goals" strategy.

The failure of a particular goal-setting plan to work with a particular athlete may be due to the

personality and psychological characteristics of the athlete, and not the goal-setting strategies employed.

References

Cox, H. Richard. (2002). Sport Psychology: Concepts and Applications. (Fifth Edition). New York:

McGraw-Hill Companies

Lavallec. D., Kremer, J., Moran, A., & Williams. M. (2004) Sports Psychology: Contemporary Themes.

New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishers