Judo competitor shares her tips and tricks to setting goals and following through on them
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Goals have played a huge part in my life, and I am so thankful for them during both my sporting career and my darkest days.
During my career as an athlete, I always had goals to work towards – medalling at various international competitions, securing a spot on the British Senior team, qualifying for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, winning at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, qualifying for the Olympic Games, becoming world champion.
Some of these goals never happened and I will discuss “failure” in my next column. Goals were not only a key component in my judo career but also in my recovery after my accident in 2016.
It was the goals I set myself throughout my recovery that kept me motivated. My goals gave me hope and a purpose each day.
Even now, five years after my accident and since my judo career ended, I still set goals which I continuously work towards.
I think we are all great at setting goals in the form of New Year’s resolutions, but do we really need a new year to decide that we want to make a change or focus on something we want to achieve? No! We can do that at any time. We have the power to decide what our goals are, when we set them and when to then make them happen.
Common goals I hear often include I’m going to lose weight before my summer holiday, I am going to pass all my exams, I am going to get that job and/or promotion, I am going to learn a foreign language. All excellent goals in their own rights. However, that is my opinion – but my opinion is not important. The beauty of goals is that they are personable to you.
You do not need anyone’s approval to set and work on your own goals, you don’t even need to share them if you don’t want to. They are your exclusive goals you want to reach in your life, and you have the control over them and that is a wonderful realisation. So, what goal do you want to set yourself?
Let me work through my previous goal of qualifying for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games (GCG) 2014 for judo as an example. “OK, we have a goal Steph, brilliant, job done, what’s next?” That is the right question to ask! “What’s next?” It is not enough to simply have a goal then sit back and wait for it to happen. You need to create a plan and work hard to achieve it.
Let me take you back to high school PE and learning about SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time). You should be able to explain each letter and how they are relevant to your goal. For me, S – it was an identified competition, M – come GCG 2014 I would be there, or I wouldn’t, A – I was full-time training in the sport of judo, R – I was currently ranked number one in Scotland, T – selections are to be announced in June 2014. It was all clear in my head, so write down your own goal in this format and it really will help you dive in deep and allow you to gain clarity too.
“OK, so we have a clear goal outlined, feet up, job done.” No! We need to make this happen. Let’s look at the GCG as my long-term goal that I set over a period of two years to reach. I now needed to focus on lots of short-term goals, to help me make my outcome happen. So, for me short term goals seem so simple like turning up to training, trying my best, listening and working with my coaches. “Steph that is so obvious” yes, it is, but sometimes we can brush over the fine details without realising just how important they are.
I also needed to focus on competitions, winning fights and results to earn me qualification points. Judo is a weight-controlled sport so I had to make sure I was meeting all my nutritional requirements and staying hydrated while maintaining my fighting weight. I needed to make sure I allowed my body enough rest, sure this meant sacrificing a lot of nights out and parties. So, just like that I created a stairway towards my long-term goal.
Whatever your goal is, write it out, map out your journey up the stairs and get started.
Do your best because when you reach that goal, and all your hard work has paid off, you will look back and feel so proud and happy with yourself – no matter how big or small your goal is.
