Goal setting

Key topic

This lesson will teach you the difference between a dream and a goal and will also show you how to set goals and achieve them. Specifically, we will explore the practical differences between dreams and goals, the questions you need to ask yourself to be able to set a goal and how you can break down a goal in order to understand it and plan how to accomplish it.

Learning objectives

• Understand the difference between a goal and a dream
• Discover the process of goal setting
• Create conditions that will help you get closer to achieving your goals
• Figure out ways to achieve your goals

Dreams vs goals

Have you ever heard of the expression: “A goal without a plan is just a dream”?

If you look these terms up in a dictionary, you will discover that a dream is a series of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind. A goal, on the other hand, is a state of things that a person plans to achieve; the keyword here is ‘plans’.

A dream is basically a deep wish within you. Perhaps you dream of owning a big house, or becoming a famous athlete, or helping your community. These are all dreams, wishes, things that you think about, and even though they are not unrealistic, they are however, not very specific nor tangible or ‘‘concrete’’. A goal is something you act on. It doesn’t matter how the size of a goal relates to the size of the dream; the major difference is that a goal is tangible and requires actions. Dreams can inspire you, but it is goals that can change your life. Sometimes it only takes a step to turn a dream into a goal. It might take years to take that goal to the finish line, but what’s important is that you should always dream big, and make sure your goals are equally as big.

Let’s drill into the differences between dreams and goals. Goals have deadlines but dreams don’t. In other words, goals must have a time-limit. Dreams can go on in perpetuity. In fact, many people maintain dreams for their entire life without actually reaching them. Dreams are free. Goals will cost; maybe not financially but they will take their toll. While you can daydream for free, goals don’t come without a price. Time, money and effort are usually the cost of pursuing your goals.

Goals produce results. Dreams don’t because they are imaginary. Goals are based on reality and they are about what can actually be accomplished; they are grounded in our reality. Goals can be big, but not impossible. Goals have a finish line. Dreams, not necessarily.

Dreams can inspire you and motivate you. On the other hand, goals can be lifechanging. Unlike dreams, goals must have focus. Dreams can be wandering, constantly changing thoughts. Goals must be guided by sheer determination; they must be specific and they must always be on your mind. Goals require hard work, while dreams only require mere imagination. Dreaming is very easy; everyone has a dream.

Dreams stretch your imagination. Goals stretch and test you as a person. Dreaming leads to dreaming bigger as the limits of your imagination are stretched and tested. Goals, however, increase your skills, your abilities, and change you forever. In a sense, it can be said that a dream can be the prequel to a goal.

In this lesson, you will come to learn how to set goals and how to go about accomplishing them.

Action steps – Exercise 1:(5 minutes)

• What are your dreams in relation to your sport?  Mention two of them.
• How can you turn one of those dreams into a goal?  Break down the process into actions.

The basics of goal setting

In order to be able to set good goals, you first have to answer two fundamental questions:

• What do you really want? What is the exact objective you desire? Is it to become the best student in the class? Is it to become the best shooter on the basketball team or the first scorer on the soccer team? In order to set goals which you will later achieve, you need to have a clear outcome in mind. You will find that when your desires become more specific and defined, the more precise your goal-setting tends to be and the more goals you get to achieve.
• Why do you want to achieve this goal? What will it bring you? Will being the top scorer on your team get you a college scholarship? Will being the top student in the class allow you to pursue a better college education? In order to achieve your goals, you need to ask the right questions.

Therefore, in order to set goals, you first need to know what you want and why you want it. Then, you must understand that not all goals are the same. Typically, there are three different kinds of goals: short-term goals, long-term goals and life goals.

Short-term goals are the ones that can be achieved within a small amount of time, perhaps a month, or a series of games, or even one whole season. Remember that your short-term goals have to be reasonably aligned with the answers to the above two questions. So, if you want to be the top scorer on your soccer team for the upcoming season, a short-term goal would be to score 5 goals in the next 10 games of the season. If you want to be the top student in the class in the upcoming semester, then a suitable short-term goal would be to get straight A’s in every test for the next month.

Long-term goals are the ones that take a longer time to achieve. For example, being the top goal-scorer of the league in each of the following 3 seasons; or being an honor-roll student throughout high school.

Life goals are those that are the hardest to achieve and are usually the more general ones, like becoming one of the best soccer players in the MLS or being recruited by Real Madrid.

In any aspect of life, whether that would be sports, academics, business or otherwise, there is a very interesting formula to use in order to set your goals. It’s derived from the everyday advice you get from parents and teachers: “Set SMART Goals”. But in this case, smart doesn’t mean intelligent, but it is an acronym that means:

Specific / Measurable / Actionable or Attainable / Relevant / Time-Bound (S.M.A.R.T.)

The bottom line is that a SMART goal should have some special characteristics such as objectives and specified timeframes, which we will look into below:

S – Specific: A goal needs to be as specific and detailed as possible. For example: “I want to be the top goal scorer of my team next year.”

M – Measurable:  When it comes to effective goal setting, tracking your progress is critical. Setting clear parameters to measure your progress will allow you to track it down and know when you have succeeded. For example: “I want to be the top goal scorer of my team, by scoring at least 15 goals.”

A – Actionable (or attainable):  The goal needs to show action and show that it is indeed attainable. For example: “I want to be the top goal scorer of my team, by scoring at least 15 goals, from headers and direct free kicks. “

R-Relevant (or realistic): Your goal needs to be relevant to what you want to do and why you want to do it, by making sure it is realistic and within your means to achieve it. For example: “I want to be the top goal scorer of my team, by scoring at least 15 goals, from headers and direct free kicks, given that last year the team’s top scorer only scored 14 goals.”

T-Time Bound: Your goal must have a beginning and an end because having a clear idea of your timeline to achieve the goal makes it easier and also provides a sense of urgency. For example: “For this season, I want to be the top goal scorer of my team, by scoring at least 15 goals, from headers and direct free kicks, given that last year the team’s top scorer only scored 14 goals.”

So, a S.M.A.R.T. GOAL would be: “For this season, I want to be the top goal scorer of my team, by scoring at least 15 goals, from headers, shots inside the box and direct free kicks, given that last year the team’s top scorer only scored 14 goals.”

• It is specific in what you want to accomplish (top scorer)
• It is measurable (15 goals)
• It is actionable (headers and free kicks)
• It is relevant/realistic (last year’s top scorer had 14 goals)
• It is time bound (this season)

In recent times, this S.M.A.R.T. acronym, has been slightly modified and upgraded. Just like a meal at a fast-food restaurant, the acronym too has been supersized; so, the new acronym is……. S.M.A.R.T.E.R, which includes the below two:

E-Evaluation: In order to be successful, you need to evaluate your goal and do it often, so you don’t fall short.  Evaluating your goals will also reveal if a change in your approach is necessary and if you are on the right path to achieve your goal. For example, if you wish to be the top goal scorer and your team will play 30 games, that means you need to score at least 1 goal every 2 games (on average) in order to achieve your goal.  Therefore, every couple of games you need to evaluate the situation to see if you are on the right path and that you are on track!

R-Reward: It’s never a bad idea to include in your goal a personal reward system, something to motivate you or something to push you, something that you ordinarily would not have or do, as a means to make it all worth it. For example, if you score the 15 goals and end up being the top goal scorer, you will use $100 from your allowance to buy tickets for the MLS Cup final.

Hence your S.M.A.R.T.E.R goal will be: “For this season, I want to be the top goal scorer on my team, by scoring 15 goals, on average 1 every two games, from headers and direct free kicks, given that last year the team’s top scorer only scored 14 goals and when I do, I will get tickets to watch the MLS cup final.”

In setting your goal, you will state that “For this season, I want to be the top goal scorer for my team”. The rest is there for you to know how you will measure and achieve your goal, how to evaluate your progress and what reward you will give to yourself when you achieve your goal.

Action Steps – Exercise 2 (15 minutes)

Watch the following video using the link below

Complete guide to goal setting

• Do you usually set goals? If you do, do you follow up on them consistently or do you just let them be?
• Repeat the SMARTER exercise with one of your goals this time

Reality check

Once you have established your goal, it is very important to be true and honest with yourself. If last year’s goal scorer had 14 goals in 30 games, it is indeed realistic to expect that scoring 15 goals can help you reach your goal. But, at the same time you should ask yourself:

how many goals did you score last year? If last year you had scored 4 goals, it is indicative of the fact that you will need to work that much harder to get to 15 goals.

• Does the position you play allow you to score so many goals? If you are a striker or attacking midfielder or winger it is very different from playing in defense or defensive midfield.
• Are you a regular on the starting XI? Even so, do you play the full game or two-thirds of it?
• Is the scoring frequency realistic? 1 goal every two games, means basically being on target 50% of the times.
• Are you good enough in headers and free kicks to score 15 goals and is it enough to just score from these two courses of action?
• What are the problems you might face, for example the style of team play, or the type of defenders the opposing teams have?
• What do you need to do in order to achieve this goal?

You get to decide on all of the answers and you get to be the judge of things. Make sure that you do not, however, create expectations you cannot meet or the goal is so hard or far-fetched which makes it reasonably difficult to achieve.

Stick to the goal

A goal without a plan is just a dream…here we go, again.

In our example the goal is not just a dream. The goal of becoming the team’s top scorer for the upcoming season, does have a plan. The plan is to score 15 goals. But what’s the plan on that? Well, you want to score from headers and free kicks, but is it just that? Of course not!

Putting yourself in a position to achieve your goal, means that you must practice headers and free kicks, over and above any other aspect of your daily training with the team; it means learning to position yourself correctly to score with the header; it means mastering the art of free kicks, just like David Beckham has done in the past, probably having to kick a good extra 100 free kicks a day; it means having the style of play within the team that will earn you free kicks and having the philosophy of high balls in the box to put you in a position to score headers. These are all factors that affect the outcome and the goal itself.

If becoming the top scorer is your goal, you should not change your goal. Stick to the goal, but regularly re-evaluate the plan. If you need to change something, change the plan. Often times the plan (the approach) is not working out. It doesn’t mean it should stop you from finding ways to achieve your goal. If the plan of 100 kicks per day is not cutting it, make it 200 per day. If the scoring frequency is too high, or you had an injury and missed 2 games, then you need to readjust your plan and reconsider it. Perhaps 12 goals can be enough after all, or perhaps taking the responsibility to take penalty kicks can help you boost your goal tally.

It’s ok to change your plan and make all those things necessary in order to succeed. But keep your goal. If you know what you want and why you want it, then go for it. Go be the top goal scorer for the team in the upcoming season!

Lesson wrap-up

Today we pointed out the differences between dreams and goals. We explained how to approach goals, how to formulate them and how to create a plan to achieve them. We also discussed what kind of questions you need to ask yourself to get there and we also mentioned how important it is for a goal to be realistic and feasible. Moreover, we discussed the importance of revising and rethinking your goals and plans to achieve your plans.

At this point we will wrap up today’s lesson.  First, we will go over the learning objectives of this lesson and we want your feedback as to whether they have been achieved and then we will address any questions you may have.  Please feel free to ask anything you’d like in relation to today’s lesson and we would love to hear how the concepts we discussed today relate to you and your life!