Goal Setting
by Paul Bevan-Thomas, MTF Mental Skills Coach
At the beginning of each training year it’s important to decide what you want to achieve and how you’re going to do it. Because if you don’t know where you’re going you will end up some place else. Here are some suggestions that may help you.
Write down challenging but realistic goals that motivate you to work hard. You’ll need to set two types of goals, “result” goals and “action” goals. Result goals are simply what place finish would make you very happy. Action goals are the things you need to do to make the results come about. You’ll need to think about how much time you will have to train and what the steps are to improve in each area. For example on starts you may need to work on body position, throttle control, reaction time or aggressiveness. Set aside time each week to improve in each aspect.
Writing down your goals makes them real and you may want to make notes on your progress towards them. That way you know how effective your training is and whether you need to change anything. Of course you will need to do this in all three areas; technical, physical and mental. As Ricky said,
“you know, I set goals every year and I have little things that keep me motivated. When the year's up, I try to find things that I need to improve on. I try to make myself a better rider and become more physically fit.I think you improve on the little things to try and make the big thing bette”. MXA Jan 2005.
Hopefully some of these tips can help you out. Good luck with your training.
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