Goal Time

Understanding Goal Setting

Well into the New Year many of us may have hopes and dreams for our running.  However, to prevent these aspirations from never leaving the dream world and instead to enter the real world we have to set appropriate goals.  This is not always easy because most do not know how to set goals or some people struggle to achieve the goals they set.  My Morning Jacket once wrote in their song Bermuda Highway, “Don’t let your silly dreams fall in between the crack of the bed in the wall.”  If we do not set goals and work to reach our dreams they will simply fall between our bed and our wall never to be reached.

Whether you are an individual runner or you run for a team, to be successful we all need to have goals.  Goal setting keeps athletes motivated throughout long seasons because it gives them something to strive for.  However, the goals we set must be attainable because if an athlete cannot reach their goal they cannot improve.  A lack of improvement may result in loss of motivation and perhaps lead you to give up on a goal or even running.  Due to this fact, try to set goals that will promote you or your team and not inhibit them.

Goal Types

            In sports there are four types of goals that can occur within a team:

1. The first is an athlete’s personal goal for themselves (Carron & Eys, 2012).  These goals may include a starting position or reaching a personal best. 
2. The second is an athlete’s goals for the team.  For example, the athlete may want the team to win the championship or make it to the playoffs. 
3. The third goal is the team’s goals for themselves.  An example of this type of goal could be to pack together better in races. 
4. The final goal is the team’s goals for the athlete.  For instance, the team might want the athlete to stick to the race plan better or be more committed to practice.

Process and Outcome Goals

            In addition, goals can also be categorized as process and outcome goals.  Process goals are often short term and focus on specific skills.  These types of goals may be used as stepping stones toward you or the team’s ultimate goals, so there might be several of them throughout the season.  Some examples of process goals might be improving hand-offs in a relay, improving form, improving your start, practicing your pre-race routine, or working hard in practice.  Process goals can be used to improve the skills of a particular athlete so that they are more likely to achieve their outcome goals.

            Outcome goals are often goals that are reached at the end of the season or year.  These goals are more long term and require several process goals before they can be reached.  If an athlete simply has an outcome goal and no process goals along the way they may have trouble focusing on their outcome goal.  When it comes to long term goals it is important that an athlete can see their progress, so they know if they are on track.  An example of possible outcome goals might be winning the championship, running a personal best, or qualifying for a prestigious team.  Without process goals outcome goals might just be silly dreams.

Mastery and Performance Goals

            This next section is important for coaches and individuals as they plan out goals for themselves or the team.  In athletics, a coach or individual may either promote mastery or performance goals.  Mastery goals focus on the mastering of skill.  Success is based on an athlete learning a new skill and the process that took place for them to do so (Ames & Archer, 1988).  Mastery goals are not based on winning and losing, therefore a runner can be successful even if he does not outperform the competition.  Performance goals focus on the actual performance of an athlete (Ames & Archer, 1988).  Winning or outperforming others is the only way to judge success.  Because of this those who are performing best feel like winners and those who are not, feel like losers. 

            Using a mastery approach as opposed to a performance approach may also be better.  For instance, it promotes a willingness to pursue challenges, a positive attitude toward sport, and athlete’s ability to adapt (Ames & Archer, 1988).  Furthermore, a runner who uses mastery goals is more likely to take on a challenging task because they now put importance on the process not on whether they win or lose (Ames & Archer, 1988).  On the other hand athletes who were given performance based goals were not as motivated.  For example, they avoided harder tasks and saw their ability level as low (Ames & Archer, 1988).  They did this because they did not want to risk failing.

            When it comes to sports, using mastery goals may be contusive to an all around better sport experience.  For example, mastery goals focus on learning a skill.  Therefore an athlete will be successful if they master a skill not if they perform the best.  This fact could lessen the negative effects of losing.  In addition, focusing on the process of mastering a skill can lead to better performance because being more skilled may mean you can perform better.  Lastly, an athlete who has mastery goals may approach his or her sport in a better way.  For instance, they will not shy away from a challenge because they know success is not based on winning or losing.  They may have a more positive attitude because they know success is not just a result of winning (Ames & Archer, 1988).

 Conclusion

           It is possible to see that goals can be broken down into several parts.  First of all, goals can be either the individuals or for the team.  Then goals can be either process or outcome.  Process goals are the short term goals that are needed to achieve the outcome goals.  Next, goals can be mastery or performance.  Mastery goals focus on achieving a task and the process that it takes to do so.  In addition, success of a mastery task is based on learning new skills.  Performance goals are based on winning and losing.  Therefore, the only way to be successful is to win.

References

Ames, C. & Archer, J. (1988). Achievement goals in the classroom: Students learning strategies and motivational process. Journal of Educational Psychology,80(3), 260-267.

Carron, A. & Eys, M. (2012). Group dynamics in sport (4th ed.). Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology.