The realistic, the controllable, and the process goals
Many of us have worked with a coach to develop goals. Many of us, myself included, have also set up goals that are a recipe for disaster. Here are some thoughts on setting up goals that promote success, encourage stretching our perceived limits, and work well with real life. The picture above is a shot of one of my athlete’s strava screen after his second race in two days. No podium as we had both hoped for but great improvement.
Be realistic
At one point or another, we have all dreamed of some really huge goal that probably wasn’t realistic. For example, I would love to win a pro-level stage race. As a person in his 50’s with a job, a family, and no professional racing history, this “dream” isn’t realistic. It just won’t happen. I know some of my readers will want to argue about limiting myself. At this point I want to point out that having the will or desire to do something, is vastly different than having the will to do what it takes to make that happen.
Let me describe what I mean. Let’s say I really do want to win that stage race. Taking into account that I believe I can do that despite all the evidence against me, am I willing to do what it would take to make that happen? Not really. Pros dedicate all of their time and resources to training for a significant portion of the year. For the vast majority of the pros, a win like I imagine is still beyond their grasp without many other factors aligning for them. I just don’t have the will or desire to do all that would be necessary to make this goal happen. It just isn’t realistic.
Realistic goals must not only be realistic within the confines of time, finances, and physical abilities, but also must be realistic in the area of the athlete’s willingness to do what it takes. This is where a coach can offer an objective viewpoint and be a sounding board. “Okay, Joe, what do you think it will take to be the State Age-group Crit Champion? Do you have the time to spend on training every week? Will you have races locally with competitors who will challenge you? Will you have to travel? Is this really something you have complete control over?”
Know what is really within your control
Being a State Champion, National Champion, making the top step of a local race are all great endeavors but are not necessarily within the athlete’s control. I just recently signed up and went to the Texas State Road Race Championship at Fort Cavazos. I was all kitted up, had my nutrition ready, bike ready, and all the things I could control in place. What I didn’t have control over was getting sick. I didn’t even ride. If my goal was to win, I would have been a failure. If my goals were to be competitive for the title, I would have been a winner despite my illness.
There are just too many factors beyond the athlete’s control to make a title or a podium a good goal. Better goals might be “increase FTP by 10 watts by race day”, “participate in x-number of events in preparation for race day”, “improve my speed, power, preparation, etc. over last year.” All of these are within the athlete’s control. Who shows up at the race, mechanical failures, wrecks, and a million other things that are all a part of the race are not within the athlete’s control and can, alone or together, determine the outcome of the race.
Make sure that your goals are within your control! It is fine to dream of being the champion – just make your goal your ultimate measure of success.
Don’t forget the process goals
Process goals are the goals that define the process you use to attain your big hair goal from above. Let’s assume your big goal is to be competitive for the Championship. There are a lot of factors that play into that. Let’s look at what some process goals might be.
“I will complete 90 percent of the workouts my coach sets for me as planned each month.”
“I will lose 3 lbs per month from my current weight of 185 for the next 6 months.”
“I will increase my FTP by x-watts by x-date.” (Note that even this can be broken down into more process goals)
“I will write detailed post-event reports for every event in which I compete”
You get the point, right? These are all part of the process to get to that major goal. In some ways, these are even more important than that major goal. These are the actions and habits that will serve you in many ways and can be recycled for use later as well.
Final thoughts
As you make your goals, be sure to enlist another person who can give you honest feedback. Many times this is a coach but it can also be a friend, a teammate or any number of other trusted people. Just be sure that the person giving you feedback doesn’t have any skin in the game. A word of caution here, family are often great resources to bounce ideas off. They aren’t always the best at giving a total clear and honest opinion on your goals. Don’t get me wrong, if your close family doesn’t buy into your program, it will be difficult for you to stick to it. I encourage you to share your goals and aspirations with your friends and family. Just be cautious about enlisting them in the feedback part of goal development.
As an example, bouncing the following idea off my coach and my wife will elicit essentially the same answer but dramatically different delivery and emotion:
“I will purchase a new Time Trial bicycle in January. I have one picked out that will be about $15K to get it totally set up the way I want”
Coach’s response – Is that something that fits into your budget? What do you think the benefit of the new bike will be? Are there upgrades for your current bike that are cheaper and can help you achieve the same results?
Wife’s response – just think about it!
