Goal setting is a popular motivational technique for enhancing productivity and performance in achievement domains like business and sport (Weinberg, 1994). Several intervention studies using goal setting to help change performance and behavior over time in sport or exercise settings have consistently demonstrated the positive effect that goals can have on improving performance in sports such as basketball, swimming, and golf (Weinberg and Gould, 2015). Along a similar vein, a survey of leading sport psychology consultants working with the U.S Olympic athletes showed that goal setting is one of the most often used psychological interventions.
The goal-setting theory became integral in sport and exercise settings, and it was proposed as one of the big four psychological skills in sport and exercise psychology alongside relaxation, imagery, and self-talk (Hardy, Jones & Gould, 1996). A review of 88 published studies in sport and exercise settings found that 80% of them demonstrated positive effects of goal setting on performance (Burton & Weiss, 2008).
There is strong scientific evidence that successful athletes and exercisers use it in a S.M.A.R.T way.
SMART Way to Set Goals. The SMART acronym was first expressed by Doran (1981) as a way to write management's goals and objectives. Sport and exercise psychology researchers and practitioners have since incorporated the principles of SMART into their domain (Sullivan & Strode, 2010).
Goal specificity is the first category in the SMART principle and deals with how focused a goal is (Tod & McGuigan, 2001). When people are asked to do their best, they struggle to do so because this demand has no external referent and thus is defined idiosyncratically (Locke & Latham, 2002). Therefore, is it recommended to schedule a detailed exercise regimen, including specific training and recovery times.
Weinberg (2015) explains that goals should be made measurable by involving definite numbers (e.g., how much, how many, how often), so one knows how to achieve the desired goals.
The next category of SMART is attainability. Kyllo and Landers (1995) found that moderately difficult goals lead to best performance. The researchers claimed that goals are of little value if no effort is needed to achieve them, and participants lose interest in these types of goals. Conversely, unattainable goals can lead to frustration, reduced confidence, and poor performance. The secret is to strike a balance between how challenging the goal is and the level of achievability.
Another key component of an effective goal is its relevance to the athlete (Sullivan & Strode, 2010). In fact, the athlete’s input is necessary to believe in the goal, increasing the commitment towards acquiring the goal and thus its success.
The final component in SMART is that goals must have a time limit to be effective. Since it is human nature to procrastinate, putting a time limit on goals will help athletes and exercisers to continue striving to achieve their goals (Tod & McGuigan, 2001). For instance, one should set a goal to reduce 5 seconds per mile until July.
Failing to monitor goals’ progress and readjust goals is a critical problem that coaches and sport psychologists should consider. To ameliorate the lack of monitoring and readjusting in sport and exercise settings, it is suggested that monitoring goal progress is an effective self-regulation strategy, and interventions that increase the frequency of progress monitoring are likely to promote behavior change (Harkin et al., 2016). Expert sport psychology consultant emphasize discussing the need to adjust goals upward and downward. Although adjusting goals downward is extremely difficult from a psychological perspective (Burton, 1989), by discussing the adjustments, the athlete can view the lowered goal as a temporary setback to be ultimately overcome.
Finally, the acceptance that goal setting technique serves as a mean to achieve goals, and it is not the main aim itself, might help athletes to earn the advantage of goal setting and not stumble into the pitfalls of making plans.
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