Great Coaches Make Goal Setting a Priority
All coaches set goals for their team. Great coaches make goal setting a priority. In other words, most coaches don’t make goal setting a priority. Instead, goal setting is an afterthought. It’s something that’s done just to check the box. When this happens, athletes miss out on most of the benefits of setting goals.
On the other hand, great coaches prioritize goal setting because they know these benefits are the difference between good and great. These benefits include motivation, self-regulation, and performance improvements.
So, what does it mean to make goal setting a priority?
How to Make Goal Setting a Priority
First and foremost, this means that it’s not something you do periodically as a rote exercise. It’s not a bus you get on for a short trip, then get off and forget about. Rather, it’s the main vehicle you drive to work each day. So, just like you must check that you have enough gas to get to work each day, you must check your goals to be sure they will get you to your destination for the day.
To do this, goal setting must be specific to training and practice, not just the outcome of competitions. The sole purpose of training is to get better. When an athlete is training, they are trying to build new muscles, establish muscle memory, and improve skills. There must be goals for this that an athlete can monitor. When an athlete is practicing, they are testing out their training. Practice is about confirming that an athlete knows what they think they know and discovering things they don’t know. Then using that knowledge as input into a training program. There must be goals for this as well.
When a coach helps an athlete create goals that incorporate daily training and practice activities, as well as creates a system to monitor these goals, that coach has made goal setting a priority. That’s a great coach.