Gold Medal Days: Deconstructing Goal Setting

Reset your goals with help from elite performers and proven psychology

In the light of the recent pandemic, as individuals, teams and organisations we are all having to re-calibrate our goals. We often want our careers to improve, but we’re not always sure how, or where, to start. We get frustrated in a world which craves, and expects rapid results. These insights from our research interviewing some of the world's best performers and coaches show us how they deconstruct the outcome into a powerful process. Over time, discipline around these small daily gold medals delivers transformational results.

The transformational goal

At twelve years old, Graeme Smith, drew a picture of himself on a piece of paper in a yellow and green cricket kit and said that he wanted to be the South African cricket captain; he stuck it on the fridge and walked past it every day throughout his childhood. At 22, he was appointed as South Africa’s youngest ever captain and is widely regarded as one of the greatest South African players of all time.

This story illustrates the power of the transformational goal; the world’s best performers probably all have their own similar anecdote; the ability to envisage themselves lifting that world cup or wearing the gold medal, drives them through the realities of a dreary Tuesday morning leg press session.

When we consider our own goals, we need to have our own gold medal moment in mind - the inspirational light that serves as a permanent reminder throughout the daily grind. However, as one of England's best ever bowlers and test players, Stuart Broad[1], notes, a “shining light at the end” is necessary, but “if you look too far ahead in your career and the way you want your career to go, then you can take your mind off exactly what is going to get you there - the little improvements that get you there.”

Differentiating between dreams and targets

Once the high-level aspiration is set, we need to turn it into something that sets off a chain reaction of daily choices in our daily disciplines. Sir Dave Brailsford[2], an incredibly successful head of British cycling in the velodrome with a huge number of medals produced over a decade, followed by even more success with the Tour de France team, team Sky and Team Ineos, clearly recognises the importance of aspiration. However, he advises to “be very careful in terms of clearly understanding what is a dream…and what’s a target.”

Brailsford uses the example of Chris Hoy: of course, he “wants to win a gold medal” but there will be many “other variables which he cannot influence” before this moment happens. In order to overcome the psychological weight of purely focusing on winning, “what he can do is manage everything about himself” through rigorously controlled targets that allow him to “really get on with the job and processes of what it’s going to take to achieve these things.”

When the chance to fulfil an aspiration arises, you should be able to say, “I'm now in the best shape possible to go and try and achieve my goal… I left no stone unturned. I feel my belief systems are great, confidence high. I know what to do. I couldn't be more prepared. I'm in the best possible position to try and achieve my dream. And then what happens, happens.”

Smarter goal-setting for your career

Smart goal setting can be visualised as a pyramid; this is the most valuable way to translate a dream into something tangible. An athlete’s inspirational goal might be becoming an Olympic champion, but unless there is a specific performance goal (for example, Usain Bolt’s 9.6 second 100 metres), how can they identify the specific processes required to deliver it?

We need to ask ourselves exactly what we need to do, tactically, mentally, physically, in order to deliver it. These processes then need to be broken down again and again; for example, a physical goal might then be broken down into endurance, power and flexibility; endurance could then be broken down again into exercise regimes, nutrition and hydration plans.

If we have a specific plan for ourselves of what it’s going to take to deliver the next level, then we know what a gold medal day, week, month or quarter looks like. Our ability to tick off daily disciplines and daily habits builds incremental improvement and confidence.

Elite performance in a business environment

This way of thinking is now commonplace in the world of elite sports but how to translate this into the business environment? In the sales environment, we might be set a sales target 20% up on last year’s, which was already our personal best. Instead of simply visualising our name on the sales’ leader board for next year and probably becoming very stressed and emotional, we need to break that performance target into something practical, using the pyramid format.

It might be a certain number of products, a certain number of client calls building trust with the company; it might be understanding the referrals network and spending a week looking at the referrals and how they can fuel success. Maybe it's investing a certain number of hours in the product portfolio and the technical knowledge that provides that expertise. Maybe there's some time on database or contact management or maybe there's some new business connections that need attention.

Even if it’s a million-dollar target, it can be broken down into daily and weekly activities that create a high-performance curriculum. Our performance doesn’t just rise up mythically to the level of our dreams and aspiration; it’s not enough to just write it down somewhere. Mindset determines results[3].

When we have a winning mindset, our behaviour, results and reputation are transformed, but we need to be focused on matters in our control in order to make a real difference.

Examining our environment 

Neuroscientist, Dr Tara Swart[4] suggests that anyone is capable of changing their habitual behaviour; “we can’t just rely on our willpower…we’ve got to think about the choice architecture that we place around us and understand how that interacts…. Create an environment that makes harder choices easier for you.”

In a business environment, this might involve an in-depth look at our environment, including the teams that surround us. The world’s top sports stars are not individuals, although we tend to think of them that way; they are a product of the teams they’ve built around them.

For example, Annabel Croft[5], former British number one tennis player and international correspondent, describes how “decisive” Andy Murray is “in terms of who he picks to come into the team” and how although he moved through coaches in “quite quick succession”, he was focused on building a “very close team of people… who clearly bolster him off the court as well.”

It is worth considering the people that surround us; will they give us confidence, discipline, focus or the sort of arm around the shoulder that’s going to make a difference to us? How can we use our networks to deliver our goals? Even if it’s a private, wellbeing goal, consider friends and family members; if they are negative and drain our energy, we need to think about how can we take control as the CEO of our own lives and start to spend less time in those areas and gravitate more towards the positive.

What’s your goal medal day?

Olympians are notoriously disciplined because their biggest concern is to get to that Olympic start line and not feel ready. When goal-setting, we shouldn’t be judging ourselves solely on our progress but on our discipline.

Whether you’re a nurse, whether you’re working in a sales environment or as part of a learning team; whether you’re in a rugby team or you’re an international Olympian, there will be three to five key daily priorities that indicate a gold medal day. The discipline and focus around these priorities will make you feel prepared and when you feel prepared, you’ll feel confident and ready to take on the world.

Discipline builds like a muscle; when we give ourselves small challenges to take on, it builds incrementally. Over time we get stronger, we feel prepared to take on bigger risks and commitments and this is when we see transformational change take place.

If we are willing to judge ourselves by our discipline rather than the intensity of our desire, then there’s really no secret to creating high-performance habits, apart from doing it and making it part of who you are and how you're going to live in the future. Everyone makes mistakes. If we can aim for 80 to 90 percent gold medal days, even with occasional blips and cheat days, everyone is capable of achieving their goal.

What does your gold medal day look like? Do you have any positive experiences of goal setting you’d like to share?

Listen back to discover more

Simply click the link below to get access to the podcast episode 1— Gold medal days: deconstructing goal-setting.

If you’ve enjoyed reading or listening, please do share on your own social feeds and tag a couple of your colleagues to help us keep the conversation going here on LinkedIn — Jeremy Snape, and over on Twitter.

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References & Citations

[1] https://www.sportingedge.com/podcasts/episode-01.html 

[2] https://www.sportingedge.com/podcasts/episode-01.html

[3] https://www.sportingedge.com/why-sporting-edge.html

[1] https://www.sportingedge.com/podcasts/episode-01.html (hyperlink)

[2] https://www.sportingedge.com/podcasts/episode-01.html

[3] https://www.sportingedge.com/why-sporting-edge.html

[4] https://www.sportingedge.com/podcasts/episode-01.html

[5] https://www.sportingedge.com/podcasts/episode-01.html