Why Are Goals Important?

They motivate us. They help us plan for the future. They give us a purpose. They make us feel proud and satisfied when we reach them. A few weeks ago I introduced you to Personal Par and how you can incorporate the concept into accomplishing your New Year’s Resolution. For those of you still engaged in your resolutions, I would like to share a glimpse into The First Tee’s Birdie Level programs. While the Par level of The First Tee Life Skills Experience focused on interpersonal communication and self-management skills, once participants are the minimum age of 11 and successfully assess into the Birdie level program, the focus will move to an emphasize on goal-setting. So, why is this important to those New Year Resolutions you wrote down a few weeks ago? By implementing some of the following lesson tips you will ensure you are setting reachable goals while devising a plan to achieve the goal and overcome challenges. After Birdie level participants learn the correlation between dreams and goals they will then be introduced to four guidelines that will clarify and focus their goals, increasing their chance of being able to reach them. The guidelines for setting a reachable goal include: the goal is positive, the goal is important to you, the goal is specific and the goal is under your control. If I started by saying, “I don’t want to keep chipping bad,” I would need to change my goal to be “I want to improve my chipping,” and then even more specifically, “I want to hit my chip shots within 10 feet of the hole by April.” Finally, I have to figure out if this goal is actually under my control. What’s under your control in golf? Your attitude. What you do and how you act. The steps you go through before making a stroke. How confident you feel. How much water you drink while playing. How much sleep you get the night before you play. How you decide to play a shot. How much you practice. What’s not under your control in golf? How others play, act and feel. Bad bounces. Whether that putt decides to drop in the edge. What others say or think about you. How hot, cold, windy or rainy it is. How hard the course is. How much other people practice. So, is my goal under my control? Well, how much I practice my chipping, my pre-shot routine, my attitude before I hit a chip and my confidence over the shot are all in my control. But, a bad bounce, how the shot turns out and the weather elements on the day of play will not be in my control. Therefore, I should probably adjust my goal one more time to be, “I want to have the ability to hit my chip shots within 10 feet of the hole 5 out of 10 times by April 1.” Now that my goal is positive, important, specific and under my control; I need to create a goal ladder to help climb towards my goal. Building a goal ladder is the final focus of the Birdie level of The First Tee. Participants are taught to think of a plan as a ladder. Putting the easiest steps at the bottom of the ladder and the harder ones toward the top. Goal Ladders allow participants to see how far they have come and have far they have left to go. In the case of my chipping goal, I want to come up with five steps to help me achieve the goal. In order from the bottom of the ladder, my prongs would include: Ask for help on the proper way to chip consistently, practice proper technique, practice my ‘in the air’ distance control, practice combining the course factors between my ball and the hole in determining how far I need to fly my chip, stop the ball 5 out of 10 times within a ten foot circle. It looks like I have a lot to work on! Personally and professionally I have a lot of goals for 2016. Now is the time to revisit the original list, re-write them down more specifically, confirm they are reachable and start drawing out a goal ladder to work towards achievement. I’m encouraging you to figure out what your goal ladder looks like for 2016 and beyond! Shoot me a note and let us know!