Setting Goals

Something we have been focusing on these past few seasons with the wrestlers and especially this summer with the creation of the Wrestling With Virtue program is goal setting. Here is the heading on one of the handouts I have been giving my students:

Our dreams become our goals whenever we write them down, share them with others and develop a vision and ultimately a strategy to accomplish all things big and small.

Let us start this process by simply writing down 3 goals to accomplish. First set a daily goal, for example: Set the goal to be the hardest working person at every activity you do that day. Set a goal to accomplish in the coming months, a mid-term goal. For ex. I want to improve my strength and conditioning through my hard work over the next few months and beyond. And finally, a long-term goal to be accomplished in the coming year or years. For ex. I have a 3-year plan to take a WWV team to Disney Duals in the high school division. You may even if ambitious set multiple goals like be a state champion and have a 4.0 GPA which takes dedication and hard work. Or to be the hardest working and kindest person each day!

A couple more words about this last sentence, I explain to the students that setting goals such as being the fastest or even the strongest in the next practice may not always be practical because say Usain Bolt or James Harrison show up to practice that day?!? But, to set the goal to be the hardest working and kindest is always practical as nothing nor anyone can ever stop you from this, it is entirely up to you to accomplish these goals! (albeit, you can set goals to improve your speed and strength)

Finally, it also does not always have to be goals to add things to our life or lifestyle. It just may be sometimes better to set goals to eliminate bad things from our life also. Such as to become healthier we may set a goal to eliminate junk food from our diet. So, from this standpoint it is not necessarily the adding of more and more things to our life which always makes our life better but sometimes the conscience taking away of things which may not be ultimately in our best interest towards our overall mental, physical and spiritual health! The creating of good habits is good and the eliminating of bad habits is also good whereas the allowing bad habits to form in our life is always bad.

So, lets all set goals by writing them down, sharing them with others and create a lifestyle that uses our time, talent and treasure in a positive manner towards accomplishing these GOALS!