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SPORT GOAL SETTING
TRAINING PROGRAM
WORKBOOK
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MENTAL TRAINING FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE
When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to
 understand what goals are and the benefits obtained from setting them,
 describe the experiential and scientific evidence that goals work,
 recount how goals work, both to develop motivation on a short-term basis and selfconfidence on a more long-term basis,
 highlight the importance of the fundamental goal setting concept that emphasizes making
process and performance goals a higher priority than outcome goals,
 explain how to select the right type of goals that are specific, moderately difficult, positive,
short- and long-term, and individual and team goals,
 identify how to develop and implement an effective Sport Goal-Setting Training program.
 understand the six steps of selecting optimal personal goals,
 describe the five steps of implementing goals effectively, including: setting goals,
developing commitment, identify obstacles and develop action plans, obtain feedback and
evaluate goal attainment, and reinforce goal achievement,
 recount some advanced goal setting skills such as adjusting goals, accommodating task
complexity, developing social support systems, and building goals into practice.
Understanding Goal Setting
Recent goal setting research confirms that almost all athletes set goals, yet most performers
rated their goals as only moderately successful. Although these results are consistent with our
experience teaching goal setting to athletes, we believe that goals can be a powerful performance
enhancement strategy if athletes set the right type of goals and use the right goal implementation
strategies. In this section, we’ll first introduce you to this important mental training tool by
helping you understand what goals are and describing some of the benefits of setting goals.
What Are Goals?
Goal setting is one of the most commonly used performance enhancement strategies in sport
and coaches, athletes and researchers assume that goals have a straightforward meaning. Ed
Locke, America’s most prolific goal-setting researcher, defines a goal simply as “what an
individual is trying to accomplish; it is the object or aim of an action.” Understanding goal setting
also requires distinguishing goals from objectives. An objective is not so much a standard as a
quest for continuous improvement; it is a continuum along which one can progress systematically.
A goal is a point on that continuum; it is a specific target behavior to be achieved. An objective
for an athlete is to develop his or her athletic ability to the fullest. The Olympic creed, "citius,
altius, fortius" (faster, higher, stronger), is an objective; running a 10.2-second 100-meter dash,
high jumping 7'6", and squatting 425 pounds are goals. Goals are concrete and specific as well as
being more immediate than objectives because they take into account the situation and the
athlete's mental state and/or current capabilities. Objectives are vague because they look much
further into the future and therefore cannot consider specific situational factors.
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Goal setting assumes that behavior is purposeful and human beings are rational creatures who
have survived by using their intellect to guide their behavior. Every goal includes two basic
components: (a) direction and (b) comparison standard. Direction implies choice, specifically the
choice about how to direct or focus your behavior, whereas a comparison standard suggests a
minimal quality and/or quantity of behavior that must be attained. For example, when a high
school athlete sets a goal to make the varsity wrestling team, a choice is involved to pursue
wrestling instead of competing winter sports or other extracurricular activities. Moreover, the
goal defines a commitment on the part of the athlete to work on developing wrestling skills to a
high enough level to be selected for the team and wrestle in the competitive lineup. Thus, goals
are cognitive mechanisms that describe what an individual is trying to accomplish. They enter or
recede from consciousness at different times depending on the demands of the situation, serving
to direct attention to certain standards that define success for a particular task.
Setting goals is not new to coaches and athletes; since the first contests of ancient times
athletes have set goals for themselves. Sports readily lend themselves to setting goals, whether
they be individual or team sports, objectively- or subjectively-scored ones. Goal setting is a
versatile mental training tool that can be used in a variety of different ways to enhance enjoyment
and performance. Goals are often thought of as primarily motivational tools to help individuals be
more motivated to practice or perform. However, goals have a variety of other benefits, and here
are some examples of the most beneficial aspects of goal setting (see Table 6-1). Goals help to
enhance focus and concentration and boost self-confidence. Keeping goals realistic is an
important strategy to prevent or manage stress, create a positive mental attitude and remain
optimistic in the face of failure and adversity. Finally, goals can be a big help in enhancing
playing skills, techniques and strategies.
Review Questions 1
1.
What two components should all goals include? Explain each of these components.
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2.
What are some of the benefits of goal setting? Please be specific and list as many as
possible.
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Does Goal Setting Work?
Perhaps the most critical question about goal setting for most practitioners is “does it work?”
Happily, the answer is a resounding yes. Both experiential evidence from successful coaches,
athletes and other practitioners and scientific evidence from sport psychology researchers strongly
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confirm that goal setting does enhance performance, increase enjoyment and foster positive self
perceptions. In fact, the evidence is so overwhelming that goal setting may be the most effective
performance enhancement strategy in sport. Let’s look at the evidence.
Experiential Evidence
Not only do goals work for Dick Vermeil, but they also work for a number of top
athletes and coaches. Here are a couple of personal examples of how goals benefited
athletes we worked with to manage stress and create a more positive mental attitude.
As a high school basketball coach, my first team shot only 51% from the free throw line,
realistically costing us 6-8 ball games. The next season I attempted to combat our free throw
woes by developing a goal-setting program. Two or three days a week we would conclude
practice with a goal-setting drill called Pressure Cooker to help teach players how to make a high
percentage of their pressure free throws. To beat the Pressure Cooker, each player was given a
one-and-one free throw, with the team having to make 70% of all possible free throws to end the
drill. Pressure was increased three ways. First, players conditioned for 3-5 minutes before
shooting. Second, if a player missed his first shot, his score was recorded as 0 for 2. Finally,
failure to attain our team goal prompted the drill to be repeated. Players were taught to develop
specific free throw routines, focus on process cues and manage their stress, and goals set to
accomplish these process goals. The results of this goal-setting program were dramatic. As the
team gradually attained more of their process goals and learned to handle the pressure cooker, the
team’s competitive free throw percentage jumped 16% to over 67%. Moreover, the team won
three ball games with clutch free throw shooting in the last few minutes of contests.
Several years ago one of my former students began coaching a women’s collegiate crosscountry team. After the first week of practice, she called for advice about how to deal with the
extreme negativity and constant complaining that was occurring each practice. The runners
complained about everything, the type and length of workouts, the quality of training, and the lack
of support from teammates and coaches. When the team didn’t run well in its first meet, everyone
was finger pointing and looking for scapegoats. To counteract these problems a goal-setting
program was implemented, and almost immediately the atmosphere changed. The coach
emphasized how each workout would fit into the season training plan and help the runners attain
individual and team goals, giving workouts a positive focus. As runners became engrossed in
attaining their goals, the griping, negativity and finger-pointing no longer had fertile soil for
growth, and everyone enjoyed running more which enhanced the quality of workouts and
improved long-term performance. In fact, this more positive focus prompted runners to provide
greater encouragement and support for each other in the quest to reach practice and competitive
goals.
Scientific Evidence
Goal setting research in both business (Locke & Latham, 1990) and sport settings (Burton,
Naylor & Holliday, 2001; Kyllo & Landers, 1995) has shown goals to be a highly effective
performance enhancement strategy. Results from over 600 studies have confirmed that in over
90% of those investigations specific, difficult goals prompted better performance than did vague,
do-your-best, or no goals, and on average, productivity increased from 8% to 16%. These results
held true regardless of the tasks used, the types of situations or settings where goals were set, the
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way performance was measured, or the age, ability or motivation of participants. Goal-setting
effects have been documented across nearly 100 tasks, ranging from simple laboratory
experiments to complex management simulations, and with many diverse types of participants
that varied in gender, age, race, socioeconomic status and type of employment (e.g., loggers
versus college professors). Finally, goal-setting benefits have been documented for time spans as
short as one minute and as long as 36 months. Clearly, these results confirm that goal setting is a
highly consistent and effective performance enhancement strategy that works for most people, on
a wide variety of tasks, and in most situations.
Sport-specific goal research (Burton et al., 2001) has confirmed that goals work almost as
well in sport as they do in business. In fact, Burton and his colleagues (2001) reported that out of
56 published goal setting studies in sport and physical activity, 44 demonstrated moderate or
strong goal-setting effects, for a 79% effectiveness rate. Goal practices research (Weinberg et al.,
1993, 2000; Burton et al., 1998) has also demonstrated that performers who reported goals were
more-effective for them set most types of goals and used most goal implementation strategies
more frequently and with greater effectiveness than did their counterparts who rated themselves as
less-effective goal setters. Additionally, more-effective goal-setters rated themselves as more
committed to their goals and reported encountering fewer barriers to their attainment than did
their less-effective teammates.
Review Questions 2
1.
2.
3.
Name a professional player in your sport who uses goal setting to enhance performance.
What types of goals does/did this player set?
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Based on the scientific research identified above, how much improvement should
athletes
expect to make by using goal setting? ________________________________________
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Why does goal setting appear to be less effective in sport compared to business settings?
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Now that you’re hopefully convinced that goals work, let’s examine how they work.
How Goal Setting Works
Goals have been hypothesized to work two ways: (a) as a motivational strategy through
four direct functions of goals, and (b) as a self-confidence strategy that works more long-term
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over a number of goal-setting cycles to change performers’ self-perceptions. Goal setting guru,
Ed Locke, and his colleagues have focused on goals enhancing performance primarily by
increasing motivation. Locke emphasizes four direct ways that goals influence behavior
motivationally, including:
 directing action by focusing attention on specific task(s),
 increasing effort and intensity,
 encouraging persistence in the face of failure or adversity, and
 promoting the development of new task or problem-solving strategies.
The direct, short-term motivational function of goals are most readily apparent with the first
three goal mechanisms, whereas development of new task strategies is often a longer
motivational process that may be necessary with complex tasks or when confronting failure or
adversity. That is, as long as the task is relatively simple and straightforward and athletes can
perform the skill effectively, the short-term motivational benefits of goals should prompt
relatively rapid improvement in the quantity and/or quality of performance. However, for highly
complex tasks or when confronted with problems during the learning or execution of proper skill
mechanics, direct motivational mechanisms may not be enough to ensure athletes attain their
goals. Developing new task strategies involves working smarter as well as longer and harder,
although it normally takes longer to demonstrate goal setting effects.
For example, a basketball coach whose team is shooting free throws poorly may choose to set
a team goal to increase their competitive free throw percentage and develop an action plan that
calls for players to shoot 100 free throws each day in practice. Regrettably, the motivational
benefits of such a goal will probably be minimal if the players have major flaws in their free throw
mechanics, do not utilize the same routine shooting free throws in practice that they use in
competition, or become distracted during stressful competitive free throw situations. Thus,
developing new task strategies would first focus on making desirable changes in shooting form,
developing a consistent routine that is used in both practice and competition, and/or remaining
focused on positive performance cues during pressure-packed free throw situations before the
motivational benefits of goals can take over and automate the new shooting fundamentals.
The second way goals impact behavior is more indirect to boost athletes’ self-confidence over
time through the accumulation of goal-setting experiences that prompt changes in athletes’ selfperceptions. Goals in this context are more like personality traits, that describe predispositions for
participation based on underlying motives for what individuals want to attain or accomplish.
Motivation theorists often label these more long-term goals as goal orientations. Goal orientations
are based on the premise that success and failure are subjective perceptions, not objective events.
Thus, “success” can be attained in any situation in which individuals are able to either infer
personally desirable characteristics, qualities, or attributes about themselves or attain personally
meaningful goals. Goal orientations impact the specific goals athletes set and the process they
employ to attain these goals. Goal attainment then impacts athletes’ self-perceptions such as
anxiety, self-confidence and intrinsic motivation (see Chapter 10 for a more detailed explanation).
Even though the motivational and self-confidence development functions of goals seem somewhat
different, they really are highly complementary, with the motivation function of goals serving as
the tools for achieving self-confidence development.
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Review Questions 3
1.
According to Edwin Locke, what four direct ways does goal setting improve performance?
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2.
Give an example of a goal athletes in your sport often set, and develop two to three task
strategies which would help these athletes reach their goal. ________________________
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What Type of Goals Should Athletes Set?
One of the first practical questions athletes must deal with is what type of goals to set. Most
of the nearly 600 studies on goal setting have focused on two basic questions: (a) Do goals work?
and (b) What type of goals are most effective? We’ve already provided considerable evidence
that goals work, and in this section, we’ll discuss what types of goals athletes should set. The first
part of this section will highlight a category of goals somewhat unique to sport, process,
performance and outcome goals. Section 2 will discuss five other types of goals including: goal
specificity, goal difficulty, goal valance, goal proximity, and goal collectivity, and make specific
recommendations for which types of goals you should set (see Table 6.2).
The Fundamental Goal Concept in Sport—Process, Performance and Outcome Goals
We believe that focusing on process and performance rather than outcome goals is the
fundamental goal setting concept in sport, perhaps the most important concept in all of sport
psychology. When I decided to focus my dissertation research on the “fundamental goal concept”
in the early 1980’s, I concentrated on investigating the effectiveness of performance versus
outcome goals. Subsequently, Kingston and Hardy (1994, 1997) further refined this
categorization by separating performance goals into two subcategories, process and performance
goals (see Figure 6. ). Let’s look at what we’ve learned about process/performance versus
outcome goals.
Process goals refer to improving form, technique, and strategy, performance goals focus on
improving overall performance (e.g., running a faster time, throwing farther, or shooting a lower
score), while outcome goals emphasize social comparison and objective outcome (i.e., placing
high, winning). Thus, outcome goals such as winning or placing high in a golf tournament or
100-meter dash require the attainment of performance goals such as (e.g., shooting a 74 in a round
of golf, running the 100 meters in 10.22). To attain these performance goals, performers must
achieve a series of process goals that focus on improving form, technique and/or strategy such as
improving your putting, hitting more greens in regulation, or getting a good start out of the blocks.
Further, these three types of goals might best be conceptualized along a continuum, with outcome
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goals on the product end of the continuum, process goals on the opposite end, and performance
goals in between.
Why are process, performance and outcome goals so important? Well, we believe that
process and performance goals prompt much more beneficial outcomes in sport compared to
outcome goals. Specifically, outcome goals often create stress while decreasing motivation,
confidence and performance, whereas process and performance goals promote much more
positive mental skills performance. As we’ll discuss in Chapter 10, the value of performance
goals can best be explained by motivation theory which predicts that athletes are most intrinsically
motivated when they feel competent and self-determining. In order to maximize intrinsic
motivation, goals should meet two important criteria:
 flexibility – so goals can be raised and lowered in order to allow athletes to achieve
consistent success on challenging tasks, and
 controllability – so athletes who attain goals will take credit for their success as indicative
of high(er) perceived competence.
Let’s look at how process and performance goals can help us achieve these two guidelines
more successfully than can outcome goals.
• My goal is for our team to win this game.
• My goal is to make twenty points in the game.
• My goal is to take high percentage, open shots within twenty feet of the basket 90% of the
time.
Which goal offers greatest control? Obviously, the last. As we have discussed, winning is
influenced by many things. Athletes certainly have more control over how many points they make
than over whether or not the team wins. Yet how many points a player makes is still determined,
in part, by chance opportunities and the opponent's defense. Athletes have greater control over
process variables such as taking good shots because these goals are less influenced by what the
opponents and the player's teammates do. The point here is that no goal is 100 percent personally
controllable, but performance goals are more controllable than are outcome goals. As
controllability increases, it offers an important side benefit. That is, the more personally
controllable the goal, the more readily athletes take credit for their successes as indicative of high
or increased ability, prerequisites for raising self-confidence. Thus, attaining a goal such as taking
good shots 90% of the time should make a basketball player a more confident shooter. Check out
Activity 2 below that provides you with the opportunity to learn how to make your goals more
personally controllable.
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Activity 1
For the three goals below, rate how controllable these goals are from 1-10, with 1 = “I have no
control over achieving this goal” and 10 = “I have total control over achieving this goal.” If
you rate a goal as 7 or lower, rewrite the goal, making it more personally controllable.
1.
My goal is to place in the top five in my event at the Conference Track and Field
Championships this spring.
Controllability Rating:
, If 7 or below, rewrite the goal. ___________________
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2.
My goal is for my tee shot to land in the fairway 10 times (not including par 3’s)
during today’s tournament round.
Controllability Rating:
, If 7 or below, rewrite the goal. ___________________
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3.
My goal is to increase the height and depth of my forehand and backhand
groundstrokes, so that 75% of my balls land behind my opponent’s service line.
Controllability Rating:
, If 7 or below, rewrite the goal. ___________________
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Maximizing Control Over Personal Success
Process and performance goals are superior to outcome goals because athletes have greater
control over success, both their personal athletic development (i.e., refining skill mechanics) and
how they perform, than they do the outcome of a contest. It makes little sense for athletes to
evaluate their success based on attaining goals that they don’t fully control. Process and
performance goals identify specific behaviors to be achieved, and their attainment is not highly
dependent on the actions of others. Outcome goals, especially winning, are only partially
controllable. The outcome of a competitive event is dependent not only on how you perform, but
also on the performance of your teammates, other competitors, officials and coaches. Outcomes
are also determined by many situational factors such as the condition of the equipment and
playing fields, weather, and luck. It’s amazing how many coaches and athletes discount the
importance of luck in determining the outcome of a sports contest, but it is often a major factor in
many competitions.
For example, in a study on batting performance in Little League baseball, Randy Lowe (1971)
measured both the performance and the outcome of each batted ball. Performance was assessed
based on how solidly the ball was contacted, while the outcome of the hit was determined by how
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many bases the batter advanced. A very solid line drive that was snared by a diving third baseman
received a high performance score, even though the outcome score was low—they did not reach
base. When a little dribbler was hit in front of the plate but the catcher overthrew first base with
the hitter advancing to third, a low performance score was given but a high outcome total.
Interestingly, when the relationship between performance and outcome were assessed statistically,
the relationship was near zero. At the Little League level, the winner of baseball games is
determined mostly by luck, not by the skill of the players. Although that relationship gets much
stronger at higher competitive levels, it is probably moderate at best. Luck plays a factor in every
competition regardless of competitive level.
Ideally athletes should set goals that are 100 percent under their personal control, but typically
even skill development goals cannot be totally controllable. Hence athletes should set goals that
are as personally controllable as possible. The goal that a gymnast will run through her floor
exercise routine at least six times daily for the next week to prepare for the upcoming contest is
certainly much more under her control than scoring a 9.4 on floor exercise which is more
controllable that the outcome a goal of winning the meet in the floor exercise. Think of all the
variables that will determine this athlete's goal of winning the competition compared to attaining
process or performance goals. Yet even the training goal is not 100% personally controllable
either. She could become sick during the week, sprain an ankle, or get hit by a car. But this
process-oriented training goal is more controllable for the athlete than winning.
Compare the following trio of goals.
• My goal is for our team to win this game.
• My goal is to score twenty points in this contest.
• My goal is to take high percentage, open shots within twenty feet of the basket 90% of the
time.
Which goal is the most controllable? Obviously, the last. As we have discussed, winning is
influenced by many things. Athletes certainly have more control over how many points they make
than over whether or not the team wins. Yet how many points a player makes is still determined,
in part, by chance opportunities and the opponent's defense. Athletes have greater control over
process variables such as taking good shots because these goals are less influenced by what
opponents and teammates do. The point is that no goal is totally under your personal control, but
performance goals are more controllable than are outcome goals, and process goals more
controllable than performance goals. As controllability increases, it offers an important side
benefit that athletes more readily take credit for their successes as indicative of high or increased
ability, prerequisites for raising self-confidence. Thus, attaining a process goal such as taking
good shots 90% of the time should help make a basketball player a more confident shooter.
Creating Optimally Challenging Goals
The more challenging the goal, the more motivation and self-confidence benefits accrue from
successful goal attainment. Generally the more difficult the challenge, the higher the motivation.
However, if goals become unrealistic, athletes will no longer be confident of attaining them, and
the resulting stress may actually lower motivation. Therefore, level of goal difficulty is always a
compromise between creating the highest possible level of challenge to enhance motivation and
maintaining a realistic opportunity to attain success necessary to maintain confidence and reduce
stress. Thus, ideal goals offer flexibility so goal difficulty can be raised or lowered in order to
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create optimal challenge. Outcome goals offer little flexibility. Opponents are normally
determined by competition schedules, sometimes years in advance, making it virtually impossible
to adjust goal difficulty to create optimal challenge. At the other end of the continuum, process
goals make it much easier to adjust goals. If our basketball player finds that taking good, open
shots 90% of the time is too challenging, they can drop goal difficulty to 85%. Conversely, if
90% is too easy, goal difficulty can be raised to 95%. Ideal goals have the flexibility to create
optimal challenge, which, in turn, enhances motivation and self-confidence while boosting
performance.
Activity 2
For the three goals below, rate how flexible these goals are from 1-10, with 1 being ”not at all
flexible” and 10 being “totally flexible.” Next, rewrite each of these goals to make them
optimally challenging for you.
1.
My goal is to increase my bench press 40 pounds in four weeks.
Flexibility Rating:
Rewrite the goal below, making it optimally challenging for you. _______________
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2.
My goal is to win the Conference Championships this year.
Flexibility Rating:
Rewrite the goal below, making it optimally challenging for you. ________________
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3.
My goal is to wake up early enough to eat breakfast everyday.
Flexibility Rating:
Rewrite the goal below, making it optimally challenging for you. ________________
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Why Emphasize Process and Performance Goals?
In our society those who achieve more are considered to be more worthy. In sports,
achievement is usually measured by one simple criterion--winning. Winning is seen as success,
and losing as failure. Even the youngest athletes quickly learn to adopt this achievement standard.
When athletes make the mistake of basing their self-confidence on winning rather than on
attaining process and performance goals, self-confidence is likely to be highly unstable.
You probably have seen athletes who quickly become overconfident after a win or two, only
to lose and then become desperately diffident. The instability of self-confidence for such athletes
becomes a source of uncertainty, anxiety, and frustration. Athletes who base their self-confidence
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on winning, and who are among the vast majority who do not win all the time, usually feel
helpless to do anything about their unstable self-confidence. They have become so convinced that
the only criterion for evaluating their worth is whether or not they win that they are unable to
separate their performance from their outcome.
So how do you help athletes achieve stable self-confidence and feel worthy regardless of
whether they win or lose? The answer is to replace the pervasive goal of winning with realistic
process and performance goals. Success must be redefined to mean athletes attaining process
standards and exceeding their own performance goals rather than surpassing the
performance of others. Phil Niekro, the ageless knuckle-baller, understood this concept as is
evident from his explanation of those days when he is "on" versus when he’s "off."
“I don't try to explain it. Some days I feel like I have great stuff and I get knocked out in the
third inning. Other days I have lousy stuff before the game and when I'm pitching, I will throw the
ball right into the batter's power zone, but the batter pops it up rather than hits a home run. I don't
try to work out the problems of winning and losing. I don't have any control over it.”
To implement an effective goal-setting program, you must understand the insanity of athletes
basing their self worth on factors beyond their control. It makes no sense to have athletes perform
well, to reach realistic process and performance goals, but to consider themselves failures because
they lost the contest; nor does it make sense for them to perform poorly, win because of a weak
opponent or luck, and still consider themselves successful. Great athletes inevitably avoid getting
caught up in constantly evaluating themselves on the basis of every win or loss. (We believe this
is prerequisite to becoming a great athlete.) They set long-term objectives for themselves, and
measure their progress toward those objectives by evaluating their own performances in light of
the quality of the competition, without regard to whether they win or lose. Carl Lewis, the great
sprinter, states:
“I'm the type of athlete who doesn't worry about winning or losing. I only worry about being
on a level where I can perform. I won't step on a track unless I can perform on a quality level ...
I'm running a preset race, dealing with a preset meet situation, and I know exactly how I want to
do it, and I just do it that particular way. I'm not worried about winning or losing, because as long
as I compete at the level I know I can, that's going to take care of itself.” (Runner's World, 1984,
p. 22).
The fundamental goal concept has a powerful long-term impact on athletes careers. In an
effort to document the value of process and performance goals, my dissertation research (Burton,
1989) evaluated the impact of an intervention program designed to teach these basic goal concepts
to swimmers. To maximize the impact of my treatment, I took the position of assistant coach with
the University of Illinois swim team for an entire season. From the first day of practice in the Fall
to the last day of competition five months later, I systematically taught both swimmers and
coaches the principles of goal setting, particularly setting process and performance goals.
My study made two basic comparisons. First, I compared Illinois swim team members who
became good at setting accurate goals (defined as a small discrepancy between the swimmer's
prerace goal and their performance) with teammates who were less-accurate goal setters. Second,
I compared the Illinois team with the Indiana University swim team, a perennial power in the Big
Ten and nationally, which did not receive the GST program.
For both comparisons, the results showed that those GST swimmers who were skilled at
setting realistic goals
 were less anxious,
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 concentrated better,
 were more self-confident,
 performed better, and
 were more satisfied with their participation.
These findings are the most impressive scientific results documenting the value of the
fundamental goal concept, although several of my former students Barb Pierce (Pierce & Burton,
1998) and Patsy Sharples (1994) have provided some additional support for the value of process
and performance goals.
Activity 3
For the ten goals below, determine whether the goal is process-, performance-, or outcomebased, and circle the appropriate answer.
1. I want to complete 80% of my passes during
today’s football scrimmage.
2. I want to lose 10 pounds before preseason.
3. I want to reach the semifinals in this weekend's tournament.
4. I want to perform 20 approach jumps using
proper footwork following volleyball practice.
5. I want to score below 75 by the end of golf season.
6. I want to win five more games than last season.
7. I want to improve my elbow alignment on my
jump shot.
8. I want to squat more than the other offensive linemen.
9. I want to improve my topspin serve so that I can win
more matches at the first singles position.
Outcome
10. I want to be selected to the All-Conference Team.
Process Performance Outcome
Process Performance Outcome
Process Performance Outcome
Process Performance Outcome
Process Performance Outcome
Process Performance Outcome
Process Performance Outcome
Process Performance Outcome
Process Performance
Process Performance Outcome
The Fundamental Goal Concept in Elite Sport
Lew Hardy (1997) has recently contended that outcome goals have an important motivational
function in high level sport, primarily during practice when they remind athletes why they are
investing so much time and energy to improve their performance. He also has reported research
in which elite performers place high value on both performance and outcome, casting doubt on the
validity of the fundamental goal concept for elite performers.
Have we been too harsh in our criticism of outcome goals? We don’t think so, but we must
emphasize that in the past there has been a tendency to oversimplify this concept. All athletes
want to both perform well and win, even if doing both is not always feasible. The major issue of
concern is how athletes prioritize these goals at different points during practice and competition.
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As shown in Figure 6.1, the role of outcome goals seems to be most prominent in practice when
they help athletes to enhance commitment and increase motivation by reminding them of the longterms rewards or benefits available for success. However, athletes seem to develop their skills
more quickly and maximize their success in competition more fully when they focus on process
and performance goals.
Thus, process and performance goals should be your first priority in most situations, during
practice when you’re trying to maximize learning and during competition when you’re trying to
perform your best. Outcome goals will remain important, but they must be relegated to a
secondary priority. For example, you may buy a car because of its appearance and how stylish
you look driving it or because of your interest in its performance capabilities and how well it
accelerates or corners. Nevertheless, how well it meets your needs will probably be determined
by the less glamorous features such as safety, dependability, and economy. In the middle of a
blizzard on a icy mountain road, most of us just want a car that can get us where we’re going
safely and dependably. Many athletes may get into a sport, and even stay in sport, for outcome
reasons. Watching your favorite athlete emerge victorious in the Olympics, World Series, Super
Bowl or Wimbleton is exciting and may convince you to pursue a particular sport. The big
victories we have in our careers are also critical for developing our confidence and boosting our
motivation. Yet the dependability factor in goal setting is still process and performance goals.
When Reggie Miller sinks a key three-pointer with the game on the line and defenders in his face,
he’s not thinking “I have to make this shot to win the game.” He’s thinking in much more of a
process way, “Stay relaxed, square up, good rhythm, strong followthrough." Those are the
process goals that normally produce victory.
In sport, where skills are highly complex and take lengthy practice intervals to master,
process goals should function as the stepping stones to achieving required performance levels that
will ultimately lead to desired outcomes. Moreover, process goals could also provide the
framework for developing new or improved task strategies that over time can be automated in
order to raise performance to the levels necessary to win championships.
Recent goal practices research has confirmed that athletes do use a combination of process,
performance and outcome goals. Collegiate athletes and youth tennis players (Burton et al., 1998;
Weinberg et al., 1997; Weinberg et al., 1993) reported setting performance and outcome goals
with virtually equal frequency and effectiveness, whereas elite performers (Weinberg et al., 2000)
set performance goals slightly more often and with slightly greater effectiveness compared to
outcome goals. Interestingly, elite performers reported more frequently making outcome goals
more important than performance goals in competition (we assume before rather than during
competition). Thus, these findings suggest that athletes still value outcome goals, but they also
have become more sophisticated about using process and performance goals as means to achieve
these product-oriented ends.
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Review Questions 4
1.
Generally, why are performance goals believed to be more beneficial than outcome goals?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2.
Explain the relationship between self-confidence, outcome goals, and performance goals?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3.
Explain, in your own words, how the phrase “prioritization of goals” relates to setting
process, performance, and outcome goals.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4.
Briefly summarize the “fundamental goal concept.”
______________________________________________________________________________
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Now that you have a better understanding of the fundamental goal concept, let’s look at how
to choose the right types of goals from five other goal categories.
Choosing the Right Types of Goals
In addition to making process and performance goals a higher priority than outcome goals, you
will need to understand what other types of goals to set. This section will highlight five categories
of goals and identify which types of goals from each category will promote the greatest
performance gains. These five categories include:
 goal specificity (i.e., specific-measurable versus general or do-your-best goals);
 goal difficulty (i.e., easy, moderate or difficult goals);
 goal valence (i.e., positive versus negative goals);
 goal proximity (i.e., short-term versus long-term goals); and
 goal collectivity (i.e., team versus individual goals; see Table 6.2).
Goal Specificity
Goal specificity refers to how measurable goals are, with specificity ranging from vague,
general goals such as “do-your-best” to highly specific, measurable goals such as running the 100
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meters in 10.8 seconds or scoring 15 points in a game. Most athletes typically prefer “do-yourbest” goals because they can’t exceed them--no one ever knows exactly what their best is—and
the goal is safe. Athletes need not fail because they can always say they did their best, and
because they are difficult to define, they should be difficult to deny. But it is precisely this
vagueness that is its shortcoming. Actually, it is not a goal at all, but an objective--something
athletes continuously strive to attain. Specific-measurable goals are more effective because they
direct behavior precisely by specifying the criterion that defines success. Consequently, they
communicate clear expectations to athletes. Specific-measurable goals should be quantifiable and
specify a specific performance standard (see Table 6.3 for examples of specific, measurable goals
for various sports).
Early reviews of the general goal specificity literature concluded that specific goals
enhanced performance more than did general goals. More recently, Locke and Latham (1990)
have documented that goal specificity is a less important goal attribute than goal difficulty and
will contribute primarily to enhance performance consistency rather than performance quality.
Making difficult goals specific further enhances performance because specific goals make it more
difficult to feel successful with performance that fails to reach goal levels. When goals are vague
it is easier for individuals to give themselves the “benefit of the doubt” in evaluating performance
and rate a relatively lower level of performance as acceptable. Research that separates the effects
of goal difficulty and goal specificity has demonstrated that the more specific the goal, the lower
performance variability. Therefore, goal specificity seems to be an important attribute of effective
goals, but its impact is most prominent when combined with goal difficulty in order to maintain
more stringent standards for success, thereby enhancing performance consistency.
Activity 4
For the three goals below, rewrite each goal making it more specific and measurable.
Following each goal, write down how you plan to measure it. Be creative.
1.
My goal is to get in better shape.
2.
How will you measure this?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Rewrite Goal:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
My goal is to improve my nutrition and eating habits.
How will you measure this?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Rewrite Goal:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Goal Difficulty
Goal difficulty is defined as the level of challenge created by a goal. Based on the rationale
that hard goals prompt greater effort and persistence than do easy goals, Locke and Latham’s
(1990) goal-setting theory predicts a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and
performance, so that the harder the goal you set the better your performance. The consensus of
nearly 200 general goal-setting studies has strongly supported the linear relationship between goal
difficulty and performance, with 91% of the studies demonstrating that difficult goals promote
better performance than do easy goals. Moreover, four major reviews of goal difficulty research
revealed that goal difficulty enhanced performance by 10% to 16%, thus suggesting that goals
should be made as difficult as possible.
Surprisingly, sport research generally contradicts these goal difficulty findings,
recommending moderately-difficult rather than difficult goals. A recent review of sport goal
difficulty research (Burton, Naylor & Holliday, 2001) found only 7 of 16 studies (i.e., 44%)
supported goal difficulty predictions, and most sport research suggested that excessively difficult
goals were less effective than more realistic ones. More importantly, researchers surveying goal
practices in sport (Weinberg et al., 1993, 2000) have demonstrated that moderately difficult, rather
than very difficult, goals are preferred by the majority of collegiate and Olympic athletes, and
more effective goal setters (Burton et al., 1998) set moderately difficult goals more frequently
than they did difficult ones. Thus, we recommend you set moderately difficult goals.
Creating optimal challenge.
It seems obvious that athletes should set challenging goals rather than easy ones, just not
too challenging. But it is not easy to determine how challenging to set goals. Goals should not be
so difficult that athletes will fail to take them seriously, or fail to reach them after repeated effort,
because they will lose their motivation. Goals that are too difficult lead athletes to conclude they
are failures and threaten athletes' self-worth. The relationship between goal difficulty and
motivation is shown in Figure 6.2. Like the rabbit in a dog race, goals should be kept just outside
the reach of athletes' grasp, even though now and then the rabbit must be caught. The reward of
attaining a goal will reinforce athletes to pursue the next, slightly more difficult goal. One of the
arts of goal setting is to set difficult goals that elicit maximum motivation without being so
difficult that they prompt athletes to give up.
How do you know how challenging goals should be? I have found it best to use athletes' most
recent performances, preferably within the past week or two, as a baseline. We term this the
athletes’ “current performance capabilities” or CPC. Longer baseline periods allow too many
factors to interfere, making it more difficult to set accurate goals. It is not uncommon to find
athletes who set their goals based on an outstanding performance one, two, or three years ago.
Athletes often resist adjusting goals to take into account changes in their health or the conditions
under which they must play. Failure to make adjustments in goals based on situational and
personal factors is often the cause of goals being too challenging, and athletes concluding they are
failures when their goals are not achieved.
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To keep goals challenging, but not too difficult, we highly recommend the staircase approach
to goal setting (see Figure 6.3). The immediate goal is set only slightly above (e.g., 5-10%)
athletes’ previous performances or average of the past several performances (the present baseline).
Then a series of steps are planned, each progressively more difficult than the previous. This
staircase approach to goal setting provides athletes with frequent opportunities to reward
achievement, enhance motivation and boost self-confidence. However, few athletes progress
directly up the staircase. Sometimes they will take a step back, but with continued commitment
they will most likely succeed eventually. It is also wise to avoid projecting goals too far into the
future. Three or four steps, covering a time span of no more than six weeks, are recommended.
Lack of commitment is not an uncommon problem when goals are exceptionally high.
Athletes lacking confidence will see difficult goals as threatening while optimally confident
athletes will see them as challenging. Thus, it is important for you to build different staircases,
depending on your level of self-confidence. The staircase for highly confident athletes can be
considerably steeper than the staircase for less confident athletes. When an athlete has difficulty
achieving the next step in a staircase, you should consider two possibilities. The first is that the
step is too big and thus should be divided into two or more smaller steps. The second is that
perhaps a technical or tactical problem is blocking the attainment of the next step. If this is the
case, then you need to develop those fundamentals more fully.
Goals may also be unrealistic because athletes lack sufficient information about their abilities,
those of their fellow competitors, or the conditions under which the contest will be played.
Athletes who experience initial success may begin to believe the overzealous expectations that
emerge from the media or fans. One of the most insidious problems is when athletes are
compared to other performers, particularly greats of the game. "He'll be another Barry Sanders.”
She plays with the same tenacity as Chris Evert." "This kid will be the next Mark McGuire." All
too often these comparisons become a "kiss of death" because the athlete aspires for too much too
soon.
Athletes may have one great performance, their own version of Bob Beamon’s 29-foot long
jump, and then expect themselves to perform at the same level or better every time. Excessive
personal expectations have destroyed many athletes. When goals are unrealistically high, athletes
may attempt to play beyond their capabilities, impairing their performance by pushing too hard,
suffering injury, or burning out. The key to setting realistic goals is for athletes to know who they
are, and not confuse who they are with who they wish to become. Veteran athletes frequently
comment on how important it was to learn to know themselves. Athletes can easily live under
delusions, especially when experiencing early success. I have seen high school state champions or
all-stars come to college and be shattered when they realize that every other athlete on the team
holds similar credentials.
While it is not easy to set realistic goals, it is easier to set them realistically at the outset than to
adjust them based on changing circumstances or personal slumps. For many athletes, once they
focus on a goal, it is difficult to let go. This is another one of those values that we inculcate into
athletes, so they learn to believe that adjusting goals downward is one step short of admitting
defeat. Yet goals need to be adjusted if they are to remain realistic. Consider the story of Bill
Koch who, in 1976, was the only American ever to win a medal in Olympic cross-country skiing.
After a disappointing 1980 Olympics, Bill bounced back to win the 1982 Nordic World Cup
Championship, a more coveted title among skiers because it is earned by points based on finishes
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in a series of races throughout the season. Because Bill was back, there were great expectations
for him to win another medal, maybe even a gold medal, in the 1984 Winter Olympic Games.
But Bill was ill much of the 1984 season, which had limited his training. Weeks before the
games he seemed to be getting back into form, only to be hit with another heavy cold during the
Games. Also, the heavy snowfalls in Sarajevo created track conditions not well suited to Bill's
style of skiing. America did not alter its expectations of Bill Koch, but Bill did.
Bill tied for twenty-first; the nation was disappointed and television coverage was diverted
elsewhere. When Bill was asked about his performance, he responded by saying, "I feel like a
winner. I know a lot of people will be disappointed I didn't get a medal. But the effort is really
what counts. I gave it all I had. To me, that's what makes a winner." Bill had adjusted his goals
based on his previous training and his current health. Bill was succcessful that day, but it took
extraordinary perspective for him to keep his goals realistic in face of the tremendous pressure to
win a medal.
A caution about adjusting goals downward, though: It is tempting for athletes, especially
less confident athletes, to look at every little circumstance or condition as a possible excuse for
failing to reach a goal. Effective goal setting requires making adjustments to goals only when
circumstances warrant and not to cover up a lack of motivation or poor performance.
Goal Valence
Goal valence focuses on whether goals emphasize positive behaviors you desire to increase
(e.g., your first serve percentage in tennis) or negative behaviors you want to decrease (e.g.,
reduce your double fault percentage). Research on goal valence is quite sparse, but the consensus
of that limited research concluded that positively-focused goals are generally most effective,
particularly for new or difficult skills, but negatively-focused goals that emphasize minimizing
mistakes may occasionally be more effective for some well-learned skills. We recommend setting
goals in positive terms, focusing on what you want to accomplish (e.g., two hits in four at-bats)
rather than what you hope to avoid (e.g., striking out or going 0 for 4). Positive goals create
mental pictures of correct performance that should help the brain’s performance center or
Integrator to execute performance successfully
Goal Proximity
Goal proximity refers to the timeframe for goal attainment and whether goals focus on shortterm or long-term objectives. Locke and Latham’s (1990) goal theory makes no specific
predictions for goal proximity and reviews of goal proximity research (Locke & Latham, 1990;
Burton et al., 2001) have revealed mixed results for short-term versus long-term goals. Some
researchers argue that short-term (ST) goals are more effective because they provide more
frequent evaluation of success that stimulates development of self-confidence when goals are
attained and motivation regardless of the outcome, thus preventing procrastination and premature
discouragement. Burton and his colleagues (2001) concur, emphasizing that ST goals are also
more flexible and controllable. Because ST goals are more flexible, they can be readily raised or
lowered to keep the level of challenge optimal, whereas the higher controllability of ST goals
makes it easier for performers to take credit for their success as indicative of high ability and
effort.
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Long-term (LT) goal proponents believe that LT goals facilitate greater performance
improvement than ST goals because too frequent goal assessment may prompt excessive
evaluation, making it difficult to remain focused on performance because social comparison
concerns become more important. LT goals allow short-term flexibility that prevents
discouragement if individuals should fail to attain daily process and performance goals.
Most goal proximity researchers agree that if goals are set too often they may become
intrusive, distracting, and annoying, thus prompting their rejection. Conversely, goals set too
infrequently may be viewed as unreal and not worthy of attention, thus failing to prompt athletes
to put forth the effort and persistence necessary to enhance performance. Thus, long-term goals
are important because they provide athletes with direction for where they are headed, while shortterm goals promote the motivation and self-confidence increments that keep performers working
towards these long-term objectives.
The consensus of sport goal proximity research also demonstrates that long-term goals
enhance performance most effectively when short-term goals are used to mark progress. Kyllo
and Landers’ (1995) review has demonstrated that the combination of long- and short-term goals
have a significantly greater impact on sport performance than either type of goal individually.
Using a periodization approach to varying volume and intensity of training (see Chapter 14),
athletes should identify the structure of long-term training as well as individual short-term
workouts necessary to achieve long-term objectives. Long-term objectives represent the top of the
staircase, and short-term goals are depicted as specific individual steps that are important for
developing component skills as
well as to encourage athletes to progress systematically towards their long-term competitive
objectives.
We recommend a combination of short- and long-term goals. However, we want to hedge
our bets a bit by suggesting that long-term standards be thought of more in terms of objectives
rather than goals. However, through a series of short-term goals, long-term objectives can be
pursued. While it is valuable for athletes to have long-term objectives that may extend one, two,
or more years into the future, short-term goals should not be set more than six weeks ahead.
Goals that are projected much longer than this tend to be unrealistic, vague, and either too
challenging or too easy. Illness, injury, life crises, rates of learning, availability of facilities and
equipment, weather, and many other factors result in long-term objectives being vague and
ineffective.
Short-term goals are effective because they provide immediate guidance for what the athlete
should do and help motivate them to achieve success. Long-term objectives are likely to be too
distant in time to have much motivational effect, especially when athletes have many other factors
competing for their time. Short-term goals provide greater opportunity for you to reward success
in moving toward long-term objectives.
Goal Collectivity
Goal collectivity focuses on whether goals should be set to improve individual or team
performance. Team goals are standards established to promote better collective performance,
whereas individual goals are designed to maximize performance of individual performers. Locke
and Latham’s (1990) goal-setting theory makes no predictions about the effectiveness of team
versus individual goals, but available reviews of team goal-setting research reveal that group goals
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enhance performance as effectively as individual goals. Locke and Latham reported that 38 out of
41 team goal-setting studies (93%) demonstrated positive performance enhancement effects,
virtually the same success rate as for individual goals.
Although the value of team goals has been confirmed, direct comparisons of the effectiveness
of team versus individual goals have been relatively limited. A lone goal collectivity study in
sport (Johnson, Ostrow, Perna, & Etzel, 1997) examined the impact of do-your-best, individual,
and team goal-setting conditions on bowling performance and found that team goals increased
bowling performance more than did either do-your-best or individual goals, in part because they
were significantly more difficult.
Goal collectivity is probably not an either/or proposition because both team and individual
goals undoubtedly make a valuable contribution to success. Team goals offer direction for team
performance, which is then broken down into individual goals that are then responsible for the
specific motivational benefits to individual performers. In fact, social loafing research (e.g.,
Hardy & Latane, 1988) predicts that team goals, without accompanying individual goals, may
reduce performance by prompting athletes to engage in “social loafing.” Social loafing is a
performance problem that plagues teams because individuals working together on a task tend to
exert less individual effort and perform at a lower level than when they perform the same task
alone. Interestingly, researchers have confirmed that social loafing is reduced or eliminated when
(a) individual performance is identifiable, and (b) individuals perceive that they have made a
unique contribution to the group effort or performed difficult tasks. Thus, social loafing research
suggests that in order to prevent team members from loafing and performing below their
capabilities, individual goals must be set that hold each team member accountable for attaining a
specific level of performance, and these individual goals are perceived as indispensable for team
success. Teams need to use the “role” concept for setting individual goals, basing goals on the
role that each player needs to play in order to maximize team effectiveness. For example, Karl
Malone and John Stockton of the Utah Jazz are the greatest scoring-assist duo in NBA history.
Although both players have many faceted roles, Malone’s main roles are to score and rebound,
whereas Stockton’s role is to run the offense, handle the ball skillfully, and get the ball to the open
shooter (generally Malone) at a time and in a place where he could score. Thus, individual goals
for Malone would revolve around scoring and rebounding and be very different from Stockton
whose personal performance goals would concentrate on assist-to-turnover ratio and overall
assists.
It is not useful to set a team goal to bat .300 in the next tournament without having each
player set a realistic but challenging goal for his or her own hitting performance. Setting a goal to
keep the opposing team from scoring no more than two touchdowns is of little value without
developing specific individual goals for how well each defender must execute his assignment.
This type of team goal is also poor because it is an outcome goal not fully under the control of
your team. The scoring of points is partly influenced by the opposing team, and in football the
ball can take some crazy bounces that can best be attributed to luck. In setting team goals you
must watch so that individual and team goals do not conflict with each other. For example, you
might have a team goal to always pass to the open player, but if your star has a goal to score 30
points, passing to a teammate with a better shot may jeopardize achieving that individual goal.
Overall, team goals can help motivate athletes to work more effectively together, but they must be
accompanied by individual goals that hold athletes accountable for a specific performance
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contribution. You should also try to prevent conflict between individual and team goals by basing
individual goals on the role that athletes must fulfill to maximize team success.
In summary, we have reviewed the five types of goals and identified the types of goals that
athletes should set to maximize performance. Goals should be specific, measurable, and
moderately-difficult to promote improvement in both performance quality and consistency. Goals
should also be positive and focus on desired behavioral outcomes rather than emphasizing
performance problems or pitfalls to be avoided. Finally, practitioners should use a combination of
short-term goals and long-term objectives and individual and team goals to foster maximal
performance enhancement effects. Now that you’ve learned what types of goals to set, let’s find
out how to set them most effectively using the Sport Goal Setting Training Program that we’ve
developed to maximize your development and implementation of goal setting.
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Review Questions 5
1.
Setting specific and measurable goals will
a. Improve performance above your current performance capabilities (CPC)
b. Improve performance consistency, so that you perform well more frequently
c. Both a. and b.
2.
Generally, there is positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and performance.
What does this mean, and what exceptions should be noted?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3.
Should athletes set short-term goals only, long-term goals (objectives), or a combination
of both types of goals? Provide support for your answer (e.g., why?).
_________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
What is social loafing? Why does it occur, and how can it’s effects be minimized?
________________________________________________________________________
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4.
Sport Goal-Setting Training Program
The Sport Goal-Setting Training (SGST) Program we are introducing here represents our
best efforts to combine scientific findings with practical experience from our own consulting and
the experiences of other coaches, athletes and consultants into a comprehensive goal setting
program. Because goal setting is a skill, the better developed athletes’ fundamental goal setting
skills, the more they will benefit from using goals to develop and perform key physical and mental
skills. Athletes bring diverse levels of goal setting skill to their sport, but regardless of ability
level, athletes can improve their goal setting skill through practice. And like most skills, the more
systematic the practice routine, the more effective goals will be.
The objective of SGST is to improve athletes’ goal setting skills through a three-phase
process (Figure 6.4).
 Phase 1: Selecting Optimal Personal Goals,
 Phase 2: Maximizing the Goal Implementation Process, and
 Phase 3: Advanced Goal Setting Skills.
The first step in initiating SGST is to assess athletes’ goal setting practices and skills using a
simple goal-setting questionnaire (see Appendix 6.1). The purpose of this survey is to help
athletes increase their self-awareness about (a) the frequency and effectiveness that they employ
different types of goals and goal implementation strategies, (b) barriers that they frequently
encounter to attaining their goals, and (c) factors that influence their commitment to goal
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attainment. This goal-setting survey will be helpful in determining the type and quality of goalsetting training that may be required for specific athletes.
Phase 1: Selecting Optimal Personal Goals
Selecting optimal personal goals is a crucial process with six steps (see Figure 6.5). Step 1 is
to create a vision for where you want to go as an athlete so you can develop long-term objectives.
The second step is to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to provide a systematic means
for selecting goals, while Step 3 is to determine how to measure your goals. The fourth step is
determining optimal difficulty for each goal, whereas Step 5 involves adjusting goals from
practice to competition. Finally, Step 6 involves prioritizing and coordinating goals to maximize
their performance enhancement effects.
Step 1—Creating a Vision
Although many athletes set goals rather haphazardly, seemingly setting goals as a knee jerk
reaction to current problems or performance deficiencies, the best goals are developed
systematically with the “big picture” in mind. For most athletes, the big picture represents their
“vision” of where they would like their career to go and what long-term achievements they are
most interested in attaining. A vision focuses on what is possible and desirable without actually
knowing if it is realistic. In our Mental Training class, we actually have athletes draw their vision
for their sport career using crayons and butcher paper. Not only does this help athletes focus
creatively on what they really want from their sport, but the drawings are often put up in athletes’
bedrooms as a reminder of their long-term objectives. We encourage athletes to translate their
vision into no more than five long-term objectives that spell out in specific-measurable terms how
they are going to improve their performance so they can make their vision a reality.
Activity 5
Using a piece of blank paper, crayons, colored pencils, and/or markers, draw how you envision
your future as an athlete if everything goes perfectly from this point forward. Once you have
illustrated your vision or dream goal, identify four long-term objectives that will help your
vision become reality. Draw these long-term objectives in each of the four corners of the
paper. Many athletes have found this activity to be even more enjoyable when they illustrated
using their non-dominant hand. Doing so increases the challenge of the activity, reduces social
comparison in group settings, and emphasizes process (the brainstorming of ideas) over
outcome (drawing a picture perfect illustration). Be creative, be specific, and have fun with
this activity!
Step 2—Conducting a Comprehensive Needs Assessment
At the same time athletes are creating their vision, they must also develop greater selfawareness of what it takes to reach their long-term objectives. A comprehensive needs
assessment such as Performance Profiling that will be described more fully in Chapter 15 is an
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excellent way to identify concrete areas for which athletes can set goals. Performance Profiling is
a three- stage process. In the Stage 1, athletes identify 10-20 physical and/or mental skills or
attributes (e.g., strength, quickness, concentration, mental toughness, and poise under pressure)
that are essential for success in their sport. Stage 2 is designed for athletes to rate how important
each attribute is to their overall success as an athlete. In the final stage, performers rank their
current skill levels on each of these skills/attributes as a percentage of their long-term
performance potential (e.g., my mental toughness is 80% of my long-term capabilities). Based on
this comprehensive needs assessment, performers can select 3-5 areas to address by setting goals,
either because they are areas needing improvement, and/or the skills/attributes are so important to
success that additional improvement is desirable regardless of current skill level.
A comprehensive needs assessment for a sport such as football requires considerable time
initially, yet it is an essential part of successful performance, even if it is not used for goal setting.
So if you haven't done such a needs assessment to help enhance your own self-awareness, you
should. Moreover, you may find it useful to consult some books on your sport to better
understand the skills needed for success.
Step 3—Determine How to Measure Goals
Two major issues influence how we measure goals. First, are goals going to emphasize
performance quantity, quality or both? Second, are we going to use objective or subjective
performance criteria? Goals can emphasize increasing performance quantity (e.g., number of
shots taken, reps completed, etc), quality (e.g., percentage of first serves, greens hit in regulation,
etc), or both. Unfortunately, there is often a quantity/quality tradeoff. A goal to increase the
number of shots a basketball player takes may actually prompt her to take more bad shots,
whereas conversely goals that focus on improving shot quality may actually decrease the number
of shots taken. Thus, in most cases, effective goals need to emphasize both quantity and quality
of performance (i.e., improve the number of good shots taken by 10%) to maximize performance
benefits.
In order for goals to be specific and measurable, they must be based on quantifiable behavior.
Normally, objective measures of goal attainment are employed such as a basketball player’s free
throw percentage, the number of tackles made by a linebacker, or the 100-meter dash time of a
sprinter. Any of the statistics routinely kept in different sports provide good objective measures of
goal attainment. However, many critical sport skills, particularly process-related skills, don’t
necessarily lend themselves to objective assessment. For example, one area of emphasis for
athletes in many sports is improving footwork, but footwork is not highly measurable and
footwork statistics are not commonly recorded by statisticians. Even if we wanted to, objective
measures of footwork would be hard to quantify.
What are the alternatives then if you want to set goals to improve your footwork? First,
many athletes would avoid setting footwork goals because they don’t know how to measure them
objectively, an unfortunate decision if this is a process skill that is critical to athletes’ long-term
development. The alternative is to use a subjective performance criteria. For example, based on
footwork drills you’ve been working on in practice, you could rate your current footwork skill on
a 10-point scale, from 1 (horrible footwork), to 5 (average footwork), to 10 (exceptional
footwork). If you believe your current footwork skill is a “4,” your goal for this week might be to
improve your footwork to a “5” during a specific part of practice, practice overall or competition.
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With practice, we’ve found that both athletes and coaches can quickly learn to accurately assess
goals using subjective criteria. Videotape analysis is initially helpful to aid assessment of
subjective goal criteria, although with relatively minimal practice, assessment skill develops so
subjective criteria can be accurately evaluated without video assistance. As you construct goals,
use objective measurement techniques such as time, distance, or weight if possible, as long as
these measures reflect process or performance goals you need to work on.
By their very nature, interactive and team sports are forced to rely on more subjective
performance measures, although some objective methods can also be employed. Football coaches
normally quantify the performance of every position by reviewing videotapes of games while
subjectively rating the performance of each player on each play. Wrestling coaches can use
similar subjective rating systems to analyze offensive and defensive skills of their wrestlers in
match situations. Because of the nature of the sport, gymnastics has developed a highly refined
subjective method of measuring performance. Creativity and innovation are the keys to making
subjective criteria work as goal criteria.
Step 4--Develop Optimal Goal Difficulty
Regardless of whether you’re measuring goal attainment objectively or subjectively,
determining optimal goal difficulty is critical to effective goal setting. As the goal difficulty
research reviewed earlier in this chapter confirms, identifying the optimal goal difficulty levels for
athletes is a challenging process. Research designed to identify goal difficulty levels that will
promote best performance has been noticeably absent. In one of the few studies to look at goal
difficulty preferences, Burton, Daw, Williams-Rice, and Phillips (1989) found that highperceived-ability performers set more difficult goals across four basketball skills (Ms = 102-111%
of previous performance) than did low-perceived-ability classmates (Ms = 94-103% of previous
performance).
What goal difficulty level should athletes choose? Self-change research suggests that the best
and most lasting behavioral change occurs with small, gradual, and systematic changes in
underlying behavior patterns rather than large, quick, or haphazard behavioral adjustments. Thus,
self-change models normally advocate moderately-difficult goal levels (5-10% above current
performance capabilities) rather than extremely difficult goals approaching athletes’ all-time best
performance levels. At elite levels, goal difficulty may need to be reduced even further (i.e., 2-3%
above CPC).
A more intriguing approach to goal difficulty selection pioneered by Orlick (1994) calls for
using multiple goal difficulty levels for each performance goal. Instead of setting a single goal
difficulty level to run the 400 meters in 50.0 seconds, that runner would actually set three goal
difficulty levels, including: (a) a “dream goal,” (b) a realistic goal, and (c) a “self-acceptance
goal.” A dream goal would have high goal difficulty and reflect a level of performance that is
achievable only if athletes perform at the top of their game (i.e., experience flow). A realistic
goal would be moderately difficult (i.e., lower than dream goals but higher than self-acceptance
goals) standard that performers could realistically expect with good, but not great, performance.
Realistic goals should reflect an accurate appraisal of a number of factors such as current
performance capabilities, situational factors, and quality of physical and mental preparation,
giving performers a strong possibility of attainment if they perform well. Finally, self-acceptance
goals define the lowest level of performance that athletes can attain and still feel somewhat
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successful. These goals are designed to help athletes deal with those situations when they perform
poorly, helping them to take something positive away from a below average performance. We
recommend setting multiple goal difficulty levels, with realistic goals being 5-10% above current
performance capabilities.
Activity 6
Using the three-goal level approach advocated by Terry Orlick (see immediately above), Set a
dream goal, a realistic goal, and a self acceptance goal for your next upcoming event. If you
are out of season, choose a fitness-related objective or an academic objective and develop three
levels of goals accordingly. Remember to use proper goal setting principles.
EVENT OR OBJECTIVE:
DATE OF EVENT OR OBJECTIVE:
1. DREAM GOAL:
2. REALISTIC GOAL:
3. SELF ACCEPTANCE GOAL:
In your own words, do you find Terry Orlick’s three-goal level approach helpful and
beneficial? Why or why not?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Step 5—Adjust Goals from Practice to Competition
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Goals often have different functions in practice and competition. Because practices are
designed to enhance learning and promote skill development, evaluation pressure is normally low,
making the motivational function of goals more important in order to practice with purpose and
intensity. Conversely, competition is designed to facilitate social comparison and outcome
evaluation, so performance pressure is elevated, encouraging athletes to emphasize the stress
management function of goals in order to develop poise, maintain confidence, enhance mental
toughness, and perform optimally.
Setting goals in practice versus competitive situations differs in four primary ways,
including: (a) goal focus, (b) mental skills emphasized, (c) types of goals set, and (d) level of goal
difficulty adopted (see Table 6.4). First, the focus of practice goals is on developing skills,
whereas goals in competition must be oriented towards performing optimally. Second, the skill
development nature of practice emphasizes the importance of goals promoting the development of
such mental skills as focus/concentration and motivation needed to refine skills. The mental skills
targeted in competition include poise, confidence and stress management, thus emphasizing the
need to keep competitive goals realistic in order to enhance athletes’ confidence and minimize
stress about goal attainment. Third, practice goals need to be directed towards the development of
complex skills (e.g., shooting in basketball, volleying in tennis) in order to enhance the quantity
and/or quality of desired skill mechanics, whereas competitive goals which are more susceptible
to stress factors should focus on effort-based skills and improving the quantity of specific
behaviors (Riley, 1996). Finally, goal difficulty in practice should be kept challenging to push
athletes beyond their comfort zone in order to maximize skill development, with practice goals
ranging from moderately to very difficult to challenge performers to improve. Competitive goals
are often set too high because they are set at the level needed to win or socially compare well
rather than at realistic performance levels, prompting stress because athletes worry that they can
not attain these unrealistic standards. Competitive goals must be kept realistic to reduce stress
and promote self-confidence. Effective goal setting requires that goals be adjusted systematically
to remain compatible with the changing demands of practice versus competitive situations.
Step 6—Prioritizing and Coordinating Goals
Effective goal setting also requires that athletes prioritize goals effectively and coordinate
how goals work with each other. When there are multiple goals, athletes should rank order them
in order of importance. It may be necessary to put some goals on hold while you are concentrating
on others that are more important. More importantly, prioritization and coordination is required to
ensure that (a) short-term goal attainment promotes achievement of long-term objectives, (b)
individual goal achievement ensures team goal attainment, and (c) process goal attainment helps
prompt achievement of performance goals which, in turn, promotes positive outcomes.
Our earlier discussion focused on the staircase analogy, with short-term goals representing
specific steps taken towards reaching long-term objectives. Similarly, individual goals must
become the building blocks needed to reach team goals. For example, if free throw shooting has
been identified as an important team goal and a specific team goal of 70% chosen, individual
goals must be selected that will promote individual improvement in free throw shooting skill as
well as maximize the opportunity to attain the overall team goal. Thus, based on current
performance and the number of free throws each player is likely to shoot in games, individual free
Goal-Setting
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throw shooting goals might be quite different for each player (e.g., Bob = 65%, Adam = 80%,
Drew = 75%, Tim = 50% and Steve = 70%), yet goal attainment of the majority of individual
shooting goals will ensure that the team goal is also achieved.
Prioritizing and coordinating process, performance and outcome goals may be the most
difficult task of all. For example, a high school basketball team may select four outcome goals for
the season to: (a) win state, (b) make it to the state tournament, (c) win the conference
championship, and (d) win at least 15 games, as well as four team and individual performance
goals, including: (a) play good defense, (b) rebound well, (c) handle the ball well, minimizing
turnovers, and (d) get and take good shots. However, how each individual player prioritizes these
team outcome and performance goals as well as personal process goals probably will depend on
their “role” on the team. Drew, the team’s postman, prioritizes his goals to reflect his team role
that emphasizes rebounding, defense and low post scoring. Drew’s team needs strong
performances from him in these areas if the team is going to attain their team goals. Small
forward Nick’s goals prioritize shooting first, then defense, then ball handling and finally
rebounding. Nick’s poor shot selection often dramatically impacts offensive effectiveness,
whereas his stifling defense can often key the team’s press and shut down the other team’s star.
Players need to know their roles, know what goals will help them achieve those roles, and
understand how their personal goal attainment impacts the achievement of team goals. Players
who don’t know their role, who adopt goals that are inconsistent with their role, or who can’t see
how process goals impact team success will have great difficulty prioritizing and coordinating
their goals effectively.
Review Questions 6
1.
In your own words, explain why it is important to have a vision or dream goal?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
2.
Now that you’ve completed the Goal Setting Needs Assessment Form, what specific
areas of your game require further attention through goal setting?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
3.
What two general ways can goals be measured? Which way do you feel is more
beneficial and why?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4.
How difficult should you make your goals? Please include C.P.C. (current
performance capabilities) in your answer.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
How is setting goals for practice different than setting goals for competition?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
5.
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Phase 2: The Goal Implementation Process
Anecdotal and scientific evidence suggests that failure to systematically employ a number of
keys steps in the goal implementation process may be responsible for a good deal of the goal
effectiveness problems. One of the biggest misconceptions about making goals work is the belief
that you can “set’em and forget’em.” Goal setting is more than merely setting goals. It is a
comprehensive process comprised of a series of systematic steps. Many individuals mistakenly
believe that all they have to do is set a few goals, and they’ll miraculously be attained. Goals
work best when implemented systematically through a series of five key steps (see Figure 6.6).
These implementation steps require athletes to:
 set goals,
 develop goal commitment,
 evaluate barriers and construct action plans,
 obtain feedback and evaluate goal attainment, and
 reinforce goal achievement.
This section will describe the five steps of the goal implementation process, highlighting
ideas for enhancing the effectiveness of how you set goals. Because research evaluating each step
is limited, some recommendations represent “best practice” guidelines or ideas derived from
related theory and research.
Step 1: Set Goals
The first step in the goal implementation process is to set appropriate goals (see Figure 6.6).
Apply the principles reviewed on the types of goals to set and how to set optimal personal goals to
set measurable, challenging, realistic and positive process and performance goals. Goals should
be set anytime individuals want to enhance their performance and strive for excellence, either
formally to attain long-term objectives, or informally on-the-spot to foster immediate focus,
motivation, and performance improvement. Goals should be set both in practice and competition
and in most areas of your life including: sport, academics, job, and social relationships.
Step 2: Develop Goal Commitment
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For goals to have motivational value and enhance performance, individuals must be
committed to achieve their goals (see Figure 6.6). Goal commitment is an important component
of Locke’s (1968) goal-setting model, and he emphasizes that unless individuals are committed to
achieving their goals, they will probably not employ the necessary effort and/or use the right
implementation strategies to achieve them. Locke’s (1996) recent review have highlighted two
consistent findings for goal commitment. First, goal commitment is most important when goals
are specific and difficult. Second, goal commitment is enhanced when the goal is perceived to be
important yet attainable. Interestingly, research has revealed that participation in the goal setting
process has a negligible impact on enhancing goal effectiveness through increased commitment,
although participation seemingly increases enjoyment of setting goals.
Recent survey research with Olympic athletes indicates that commitment can be enhanced by
a variety of factors, particularly participation in setting goals, telling others, rewards,
sponsorship/endorsements, selection to national teams, winning international medals, support
from others and help shaping goals. Writing goals down and posting them were goal
implementation strategies that also fostered enhanced commitment. Moreover, more-effective
goal-setters could be distinguished from less-effective teammates based on their commitment in
two areas, namely social support from significant others and extrinsic rewards.
You can do a number of things to increase your commitment to your goals (see Table 6.5).
Most importantly, make sure that they are your goals, not someone else’s. Athletes should
participate actively in setting their own goals. Participation increases their feeling of responsiblity
for their own actions, which helps to develop perceptions of internal control. Athletes not only
commit greater effort to goals they set, they work harder to find methods to achieve these goals.
Another important tool for improving commitment to goals is the use of imagery. Maxwell
Maltz's (1969) psychocybernetics places great significance on individuals imaging their goals,
which he says will guide them automatically to attaining these goals. While we don't believe that
goals are automatically pursued just because they are imaged, we do believe imagery is very
helpful in achieving greater commitment to goals. Imagery permits athletes to try out goals in
their minds, and even adjust them to a realistic level. Imaging goals will also help performers
focus on the best strategy for achieving a goal. Imaging goals regularly, and visualizing their
attainment, keeps goals prominent in athletes' minds and develops anticipatory motivation for
their eventual attainment. Listed in Table 6.5 are some additional things you can do to increase
commitment to achieving goals.
Step 3: Evaluate Barriers and Construct Action Plans
Once individuals become committed to their goals, the next step is to evaluate what obstacles
and roadblocks might prevent goal attainment and construct action plans to overcome them and
achieve the goal (Burton et al., 2001; see Figure 6.6). Athletes encounter many obstacles and
roadblocks to goal attainment, but three of the most common are situational factors, knowledge
and/or skill. For example, in order for a team to attain their goal of improving their defensive
rebounding, they may need to evaluate the factors that are currently preventing them from being a
good rebounding team. A quick analysis may show that (a) little practice time is devoted to
developing rebounding skills, (b) players don’t have good knowledge of where they need to
position themselves to rebound shots missed from specific locations on the court, and (c) players
have insufficient upper body strength to block out opponents or pull down rebounds that they get
Goal-Setting
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their hands on. Thus, a series of process goals may need to be developed to help overcome each
of these barriers so the team can rebound more effectively.
Obstacles or barriers to goal attainment have not been extensively studied in the goal
literature, but recent research (Weinberg et al., 2000) found that elite athletes reported a number
of goal barriers they commonly encountered in sport, including such factors as lack of confidence,
deadlines too short, lack of physical skills, lack of feedback, vagueness of goals, unrealistically
difficult goals, too many or conflicting goals, lack of time to properly train, work commitments,
family and personal responsibilities, and lack of social support. Moreover, this research
confirmed that more-effective goal-setters could be discriminated from their less-effective
counterparts based on having fewer perceived goal barriers. You need to make time to assess the
major obstacles to achieving each of your goals. Self-awareness information developed through
Performance Profiling and self-monitoring may be helpful in this process as you attempt to
identify knowledge and skill deficits that may be impeding your goal-setting success. You need to
be honest with yourself as you identify these problem areas, because human nature often dictates
that most of us try to simply ignore these problems or obstacles.
Goals are more effective when a systematic plan is developed to guide their attainment
(Locke & Latham, 1990; see Figure 6.6). Once obstacles have been identified, action plans must
be outlined to overcome these barriers, enabling goals to be attained. However, even in the
absence of significant barriers, planning a systematic process for attaining your goals can speed up
the process and make it more efficient and effective.
The value of action plans and their impact on goal effectiveness has received little research
attention. In three studies investigating action plans, Heckhausen and Strang (1988) demonstrated
that performers who were more effective at developing action plans to modify exertion performed
better on a simulated basketball task, particularly under stressful conditions, than did less actionoriented performers. Additionally, Burton and his colleagues (1998) revealed that more-effective
goal-setters used action plans significantly more frequently and effectively than did less-effective
goal-setters.
However, constructing effective action plans clearly seems to require a systematic approach
to problem-solving, such as Mahoney and Mahoney’s (1976) “personal science” process described
in Chapter 13. For example, once the problem of improving a team’s defensive rebounding has
been identified, the second step would be to collect data on current rebounding performance,
perhaps through a detailed evaluation of previous game tapes. Next, patterns are identified from
the previous 10 games that both help or hurt rebounding effectiveness. For example, failure to
make contact with opponents and lack of strength may be patterns that hurt rebounding
performance, whereas strong jumping ability, good eye-hand coordination, and good anticipation
seem to be patterns that help rebounding effectiveness. Fourth, a number of options need to be
developed for solving the problem, emphasizing both practicality, creativity, and
individualization. Finally, a plan is developed using the best of these solutions to accomplish
your goals. Time must be devoted to working on goals. If insufficient practice time is available,
action plans may need to identify time outside of practice to get the necessary repetitions needed
to attain goals. Action plans must be as specific as possible, setting up schemes to practice skills
that will teach athletes how to simulate competitive conditions.
Step 4: Obtain Feedback and Evaluate Goal Attainment
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Locke and Latham’s (1990) goal theory contends that feedback is an essential part of the goalsetting process, and necessary if goals are going to enhance performance (see Figure 6.6). Locke
and Latham’s (1990) review of 33 studies comparing the effectiveness of goals plus feedback with
either goals or feedback individually revealed that (a) 17 of 18 studies showed that the
combination of goals and feedback were significantly better than goals alone, and (b) 21 of 22
studies revealed that the combination was superior to feedback alone. Moreover, another review
of goal-setting research documented that when feedback was added to goal-setting, productivity
increased an additional 17%. Thus, the consensus is that feedback is an important and necessary
component of the goal implementation process.
Feedback can be given only when performance is measured. We believe that far too many
coaches who know their sport well fail to help their athletes as much as they could because they
don't bother to measure their athletes' performances regularly or they fail to make feedback as
accurate as possible, basing feedback on guesswork, or on outcomes rather than process and
performance. For example, offensive linemen in football may have little opportunity to set
meaningful process or performance goals and accurately evaluate their progress unless their
coaches video practices and games and grade each player on assignment execution for each play.
One effective means of providing feedback is the use of logs to monitor goals and the
performance of athletes toward achieving those goals. This feedback provides three valuable
types of information: how well athletes are performing now, what progress they have made, and
how far away they are from reaching their goals and objectives (see Figure 6.7 for a sample goal
log). Logs can be kept privately or posted publicly in the locker room. Generally, we recommend
that goal logs be kept private so that those who are progressing more slowly are not threatened or
embarrassed. When the goal is a common one for all members of the team and you believe some
friendly competition would be helpful, then the posting of the feedback charts is recommended.
Evaluation may be the most critical step in the goal-setting process (Locke & Latham, 1990;
see Figure 6.6). Only when athletes evaluate goals do the motivational and self-confidence
benefits of goal setting become evident. The evaluation process involves a comparison of current
performance with the original goal. If performance equals or exceeds the goal, then that positive
discrepancy should be informational about competence, raising self-confidence and increasing
intrinsic motivation. If performance fails to reach goal levels, then individuals should be
motivated to work even harder to attain goals in the future. In either case, goal evaluation should
promote increased motivation, and goal attainment, or even significant progress toward achieving
a goal, should also foster increased self-confidence. Recent research revealed that more-effective
goal-setters use goal evaluation more frequently and effectively than do their less-effective
counterparts.
An additional benefit of evaluation is that it may prompt performers to adjust or improve task
strategies. If evaluation indicates a small goal-performance discrepancy, individuals usually are
satisfied with keeping the same goal and maintaining or increasing their effort levels. However, if
evaluation reveals a large goal-performance discrepancy that prompts dissatisfaction with goal
progress, different responses will be made depending on the performers’ level of self-esteem. For
high self-esteem competitors who set high goals, negative evaluation should prompt them to
substantially increase their effort and persistence levels and develop better task strategies, usually
improving performance. For low self-esteem performers who set low goals, negative evaluation
should impair performance because it prompts reductions in effort and persistence and
deterioration in task strategies.
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The frequency of goal evaluation also impacts goal-setting success, and problems often occur
if self-monitoring and evaluation are too frequent or too infrequent. Indeed, personal experience
confirms that maintaining the same goals for weekly intervals, but evaluating them both daily and
weekly, seems to facilitate improvement more than changing goals daily.
Activity 7
Using the ‘Dream Goal’ you identified when completing the Terry Orlick three-goal level
exercise earlier in this chapter, develop an action plan that consists of at least five specific
strategies which will help you achieve this dream goal. Place a star “*” next to the three you feel
would be most helpful.
DREAM GOAL: ________________________________________ DATE: ________
List 5 or more specific strategies that will help you achieve your dream goal. ______________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Step
5: Reinforce Goal Achievement
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Reinforcement principles emphasize that reinforcing goal achievement should increase the
________________________________________________________________________
quantity or quality of that behavior (Locke & Latham, 1990; Smith, 1998; see Figure 6.6). Thus,
**Be sure to review your strategies and place a star next to the three you feel will help most.
reinforcing goal achievement should further enhance motivation to set and reach new goals,
prompting the goal setting process to be repeated. Using a systematic approach, skill acquisition
is broken down into a series of realistic steps, each representing a specific goal. Athletes are
rewarded for attaining the goal, emphasizing immediate reinforcement on every attempt initially
and moving to occasional reinforcement on a more delayed basis. Once the initial goal is attained
consistently over a period of time, the next higher goal is set and the process is repeated until the
athlete finally performs the skill with the desired level of proficiency.
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In summary, the goal implementation process is a key component of any SGST program, and all
five steps of the goal implementation process are necessary to promote consistent goal-setting
effectiveness. You need to look for ways to build each of these implementation strategies into
your own SGST program. Now that you understand how to implement goals effectively, let’s
Review Questions 7
1.
Personally, what are three ways to enhance commitment to your goals that will work
for you?
1. __________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
2.
What barriers do you commonly face, or have you faced in the past, that prevent you
from successfully achieving your competitive goals? How can you combat these
barriers?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
3.
How frequently should you self-evaluate your short-term goals and your long-term
objectives? Identify three strategies you could use to self-evaluate your goals regularly
and be creative!! ______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
1. __________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
4.
What are some types of reinforcers that your coaches commonly use? What are some
ways that you can reinforce your own and your teammates’ good performances?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
conclude by discussing some advanced goal setting skills.
Phase 3: Advanced Goal Setting Skills
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Experience has taught us that athletes may follow SGST implementation strategies to a tee,
yet problems still develop. Many times these problems reflect advanced skills that are not
necessarily related to the types of goals you set or how they are implemented. This section will
discuss four important advanced goal setting skills, including adjusting goals to conform to
situational or personality factors, how to best accommodate task complexity factors, how to use
social support to enhance goal effectiveness, and how to build goal setting into normal sport
practice (see Figure 6.8).
Adjusting Goals
We’ve previously discussed the reluctance most athletes have to adjust goals, particularly to
lower goals when needed. Without adjustment, goals that are too difficult can create excessive
stress, whereas goals set too easy can create boredom and apathy. Yet how do we prevent goal
adjustment from becoming a crutch when goal attainment becomes stymied or encounters
obstacles? The bigger question is probably how do we know when and how to best adjust goals?
Here are a few guidelines. First, you should be alert to the need to raise goals in practice if they
are not challenging enough, whereas in competition, you normally may need to lower goals to
reduce unwanted stress because they are unrealistically difficult. Second, other situational factors
may also require goals be adjusted such as illness, injury, quality of training, competition site,
weather conditions, quality of opposition, point in the training cycle, and slumps. Third,
personality variables may also require an adjustment in goals. As will be discussed in Chapter 10,
athletes with performance-oriented motivation style will prefer significantly more difficult goals
than will failure-oriented performers, whereas success-oriented competitors will prefer goals of
intermediate difficulty between these two. Thus, you should normally expect differences in goal
difficulty level depending on athletes’ motivation style. Notice Figure 6.9 provides a sample Goal
Adjustment Form that was developed to help swimmers adjust their goals appropriately. It may
be valuable to develop a similar systematic approach to goal adjustment in your sport based on
what you believe to be valid adjustment factors.
Task Complexity Accommodations
One of the basic findings in the goal setting literature is that task complexity strongly impacts
the ability of goals to enhance performance. Specifically, Locke and Latham (1990) concluded
that the more complex the task, the longer it should take to demonstrate goal setting effects. As
discussed in the section on how goals work, simple tasks benefit virtually immediately from the
direct motivational functions of goals that focus attention, increase effort and intensity, and
enhance persistence in the face of failure and adversity. However, for more complex tasks, it
normally takes longer for these motivational functions to show results. Additionally, many times
new task strategies have to be developed first before the motivational impact of goals begin to
work. Thus, in evaluating goal-setting success with complex tasks, two concerns seem
paramount. First, expect goal effects to take longer to achieve for complex compared to simple
tasks. Second, make sure that your fundamentals are being executed correctly, so that the
motivational functions of goals can boost performance. If you have flaws in your form, then you
may first need to develop new and better techniques before your goal-motivated practice will
begin to pay dividends.
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Develop Social Support Systems
Social support, the positive impact of others on how you feel about yourself and how you
perform, is sometimes overlooked in the goal-setting process. Although research on social
support for setting goals is virtually nonexistent, practical experience suggests that it is vital to
SGST success. There are various types of social support designed to help you (a) feel better
emotionally, and (b) perform better, and both seem to have a positive impact on goals. Initially,
social support may need to be more informational in nature. It can be extremely valuable to have
someone else help you set up your SGST program and assist you in identifying ways to make it
work more effectively. Informational social support can come in the form of identifying areas
where goals would be beneficial, selecting the right goals, choosing the correct level of goal
difficulty, developing effective action plans, and showing you how to build goal setting into
practice. Later, once you become comfortable maintaining an on-going SGST program, emotional
support can be valuable when goal attainment proves elusive, external barriers are difficult to
overcome, or you are having problems with making goals work within your lifestyle constraints.
Several types of social support systems can be set up to enhance goal success, including: (a) group
sharing and reinforcement of goals or (b) a “mentor” system in which a more experienced goalsetter assists a novice goal-setter in setting up and implementing a successful SGST program
Build Goal Setting into Practice
Goals are probably more important in practice than in competition. Practice is where athletes
get better, and goals can serve a valuable function in this process. Athletes setting practice goals
are focusing their attention on specific techniques, skills and strategies that they will try to master
while exhibiting as much effort, intensity and persistence as possible to make their goals a reality.
Setting goals helps prepare athletes for practice and get the most benefit out of the time spent.
Not only do we recommend setting several process or performance goals each practice, but
performers can also set impromptu goals for most drills or activities they perform during practice.
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Review Questions 8
1.
How should goal difficulty be adjusted for competition compared to practice? Why do
you think this is so?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2.
How does task complexity affect goal setting effectiveness? _____________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
3.
Is it important to set goals in both practice and competition? Why or why not? ______
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Some Final Points
Remember, success in achieving goals is not guaranteed, even with a good goal-setting
program and well-executed action plans (although these certainly increase the chances of success).
Goals may be harder to achieve than expected, and obstacles may arise that could not be foreseen.
The setting of specific, challenging goals in fact increases the chance of failure for some athletes
and may increase diffidence, anxiety, or apathy.
But here is where goals teach us another tremendously valuable lesson—how to lose with
class. The ability to recover from a tough lose or failure is an important psychological quality that
goals can help us understand better. Problems associated with failure can be minimized if you
remember that goals are tools to help you develop to your fullest. . Never, never punish yourself
because you failed to reach a goal. Treat today's failure as a challenge to be solved tomorrow by
setting a new goal and developing a better action plan.
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Table 6.1
Benefits of Goal Setting.

Goals enhance focus and concentration.

Goals boost self-confidence.

Goals help prevent or manage stress.

Goals help create a positive mental attitude.

Goals increase intrinsic motivation to excel.

Goals improve the quality of practices by making training more challenging.

Goals enhance playing skill, techniques and strategies.

Goals improve overall performance.
Table 6.2
Guidelines for the Types of Goals You Should Set.
1. Emphasize process and performance goals as a higher priority than outcome goals.
2. Set specific, measurable goals rather than general or “do-your-best” goals.
3. Set moderately-difficult goals that are challenging but realistic.
4. Set positively- not negatively-focused goals
5. Set both long-term objectives and short-term goals, with short-term goals serving as the
building blocks for reaching long-term objectives
6. Set both individual and team goals, with individual goals becoming the steps used to attain
team goals.
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Table 6.3
Differences Between Practice and Competitive Goals.
Dimensions
1.
Goal Focus
optimally
2.
Mental Skills Emphasized
3.
Types of Goals Set
4.
Level of Goal Difficulty
Practice
Competitive
Goals
Goals
developing skills
focus & motivation
outcome, performance & process
moderately to very difficult
Table 6.4
Ways to Increase Commitment to Achieving Goals.
1. Set your own goals not someone else’s.
2. Participate in setting your goals.
3. Write down your goals.
4. Tell others or post your goals.
5. Image attaining your goals.
6. Focus on the incentives or rewards for achieving the goals.
7. Receive social support from coaches, teammates, and parents.
8. Earn a position on an elite team.
9. Win a major competition or championship.
10. Have a person who you trust help you shape your goal.
performing
poise & confidence
process & performance
realistic for CPC
Goal-Setting
11. Make your goals competitive, primarily with yourself.
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