In today’s blog post, we move onto Step 5 in our goal setting process and learn one of the secrets of top athletes to achieving their goals.
Step 5: Read, Review and Reward
- Read your goals at least once a day
- Review your action plans once a week
- Reward yourself – Set check points for celebration
Daily Discipline of Success – Read your goals at least once a day
Sounds easy but so few people do it! Do this daily to activate the power of your dreams and increase your motivation. Remember, failure is not an option. Set yourself up to win!
This can be easily accomplished by putting your goals in places where you will see them daily, such as in the bathroom, in your wallet, your sports bag, your car, your diary or even the fridge! Have them as a pop up on your computer. Write them on index cards and leave beside your bed to read each morning and night. Have another set for your wallet or purse and carry them with you wherever you go so when you have a spare minute, you can simply read them.
There is certainly truth in the parable ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Don’t let this happen to your goals. And don’t just read them, say them with passion and enthusiasm and feel and see them already accomplished and how great you feel. Experience the pleasure, pride and excitement of having achieved your dream. Feels great, doesn’t it?
Review your action plans once a week
Be sure to check your progress regularly. Are you on track? Perhaps you need to modify some action points? Not achieving what you want is part of the process and helps you readjust what you are doing. Perhaps you are one step ahead and can add some more challenging actions to complete in the coming month?
Ask your coaches for their observations. Feedback is the breakfast of champions. You need constant and regular feedback to keep you on target. If you were driving to a new city you had never been before, you would be checking the map and the road signs to make sure you are on the right road. It is exactly the same with your training. Wherever you are at, review and re-evaluate your action plans each week.
“Concentrate on the successes in your life and look at the failures and negatives as corrective feedback to get you back on target again”.
Denis Waitley
Reward yourself! Set check points for celebration
When you have achieved your goal or even a big action, treat yourself to a reward and celebrate your success. This is the fun part. Add in some things you would love to buy or things to do. They can be as little or big as you like! Enjoy!
Often athletes get so focused on their goals that they don’t stop to enjoy the journey. Remember life is a journey, not a destination. The accolades and adulations and incredible feelings you feel when you achieve your sporting dreams do not last for long and the key is to make sure you have fun through the process and en-route to your dreams. One rule you must obey is that you cannot get your reward until you have completed your goals.
