goal setting
motivation
self development
Goal setting
The other day, I was talking to a friend, who had recently ran a marathon for the first time in his life. He was explaining, how he hasn’t run since that, but was considering to start over again. We were discussing whether he should set a new goal with a better time or should he try to run a different route or how could he motivate himself to do it again. Physically, the training for the first marathon helped him a lot and he was hoping to continue to improve his condition, but with busy times at work and with his family, it was hard to find the time to train, especially when the goal was unclear.
When you go down to the traditional martial arts, the ultimate goal is to be perfect and still improve your skills everyday. Even if you achieve the highest possible rank and appreciation from everyone, there is always room for improvement. In my previous post on “the way of perfection - is all about mistakes” I looked more into this subject matter. The ultimate goal doesn’t take away any smaller goals you set for yourself. These smaller attainable goals are as important as the big picture. They guide your way to the right direction.
In my Bachelor’s thesis, I studied how goal setting effects motivation (in sales and in management compared to martial arts). There is a clear connection between these two, but it also goes to both ways. De-motivation comes from unattainable goals, whereas motivation rises with attainable goals (especially, when there are rewards and other perks tight into achieving set goals), which aren’t too easy to reach. Salespeople are often results oriented, where measuring and goals are good source of motivation and make salespeople to work harder with a clearer vision.
One time goal vs life long goal
With my friend, who had recently reached one of his goals, it was difficult to set a similar goal to get the same motivation. He said that, he doesn’t see the same motivation coming, even if he sets a new target time. He was wondering if should find something else from totally different field of life, to be the next goal. He could, for instance, build a house or write a book. These would be clear targets and the feeling of achievement would be great. We both work in sales and were wondering, what his personal life motivators would mean in sales. If a salesperson achieves a yearly sales target, will the next years target be less motivating for him? How can you keep changing the goals in a way, that they result in new improved motivation?
In martial arts, a lot depends on the style you are training. Some styles aim for competitions and some to find the inner peace. But they almost always have a build-in system for continuous goal-setting. For instance, belt ranking system is built on this. You start with while belt and learn certain techniques and in the end of the beginner’s course, you will get a belt test and hopefully graduate to the next level, which is in many cases a yellow belt. Often, many people stop training after or before the first belt test, which means that the remaining people have motivation to improve their skills for the next test or goal. Belt ranks are made up, but still give motivation to many martial artists. They also show outsiders what kind of level you are at and give a feeling of accomplishment. Not everyone is motivated in getting a new rank. Some get motivation from competitions and success. And as stated before, those who don’t get enough motivation, will simply quit training.
How to set proper goals? Life long goals, that have no meaning to you, give no motivation and drive. On the other hand, short-term goals are no better, if you change them too often or they remain the same. Simply trying to do better next time, isn’t enough in the long run to keep up your motivation high. Martial arts have build a good system of belt ranks, which give you satisfaction of achievement, but also demand more from you with new techniques and demands in skills. You have to continue to train, in order to keep your level high. Some martial arts systems can degrade you, if you are not up to the standard anymore.
I remember when my friend's father told us, a group of preteens going to martial arts training, that only one of us will ever graduate to black belt. The others will not have the drive and patience to continue to train with all the setbacks coming. Still, we all were very motivated that time of the dream of getting a black belt. He was right, only one of us ever graduated to black belt, but all of us trained for several years with high motivation and we all won a lot of medals from competitions. Don't over think on goal-setting either. There needs to be a big picture, which gives you stronger feeling of a dream you want to achieve. It needs to be something that you really respect and value. Then you also need smaller short-term goals, which actually give you more motivation for everyday life. The big dream, gives you motivation to change your life. It is the strategy you build your life upon. Therefore, you can't change it too often. Smaller goals, on the other hand, you can change whenever you want to. These two have to guide you to the same direction or they will eat up one and other.
In martial arts, a lot depends on the style you are training. Some styles aim for competitions and some to find the inner peace. But they almost always have a build-in system for continuous goal-setting. For instance, belt ranking system is built on this. You start with while belt and learn certain techniques and in the end of the beginner’s course, you will get a belt test and hopefully graduate to the next level, which is in many cases a yellow belt. Often, many people stop training after or before the first belt test, which means that the remaining people have motivation to improve their skills for the next test or goal. Belt ranks are made up, but still give motivation to many martial artists. They also show outsiders what kind of level you are at and give a feeling of accomplishment. Not everyone is motivated in getting a new rank. Some get motivation from competitions and success. And as stated before, those who don’t get enough motivation, will simply quit training.
How to set proper goals? Life long goals, that have no meaning to you, give no motivation and drive. On the other hand, short-term goals are no better, if you change them too often or they remain the same. Simply trying to do better next time, isn’t enough in the long run to keep up your motivation high. Martial arts have build a good system of belt ranks, which give you satisfaction of achievement, but also demand more from you with new techniques and demands in skills. You have to continue to train, in order to keep your level high. Some martial arts systems can degrade you, if you are not up to the standard anymore.
I remember when my friend's father told us, a group of preteens going to martial arts training, that only one of us will ever graduate to black belt. The others will not have the drive and patience to continue to train with all the setbacks coming. Still, we all were very motivated that time of the dream of getting a black belt. He was right, only one of us ever graduated to black belt, but all of us trained for several years with high motivation and we all won a lot of medals from competitions. Don't over think on goal-setting either. There needs to be a big picture, which gives you stronger feeling of a dream you want to achieve. It needs to be something that you really respect and value. Then you also need smaller short-term goals, which actually give you more motivation for everyday life. The big dream, gives you motivation to change your life. It is the strategy you build your life upon. Therefore, you can't change it too often. Smaller goals, on the other hand, you can change whenever you want to. These two have to guide you to the same direction or they will eat up one and other.
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