Reaching Your Goals, Targeting the Upper 90

If you're a soccer fan, you're likely familiar with the term "Upper 90". This place, where the post meets the crossbar (90° angle), is the hardest place to reach for a goalkeeper. With that being said, it's safe to assume that a skilled forward accurately targeting the upper 90 consistently will likely find himself scoring a lot of goals over his career.

Obviously, now, because this is LinkedIn, I'm going to dig in to an analogy about how this is similar to scoring goals in your career.

First let's talk about the goalkeeper. For our purposes, the goalkeeper will be anything that can stop you from achieving your goals. In my case, some goalkeepers I face are:

• time-consuming tasks that do not progress me toward my personal goals,
• setting too many goals, scattering my efforts to thin to acheive them all effectively,
• and, focusing on goals set before me by others.

Let's talk about how to get past any goalkeeper. Let's talk about placing the ball where the goalkeeper can't stop it. Hitting the upper 90 in not easy, which is why I used three qualifying variables when I described sharp-shooting forward earlier. Let's discuss those variables.

• Skill - I Coach 8 year olds. Some have never played organized soccer before; some have been playing since they were 3. If they continue to pursue soccer, by the time they reach 18, some of them will have been honing their skills for 15 years. The most talented and skilled players in the world don't get that way overnight, they have to build skill constantly. This is no different than you and I in our careers. If you want to hit your career goals, you will have to spend a ton of time developing skills. This will mean spending multiple hours a week developing those skills. Where growth stops, death begins.
• Accuracy - This is important. A lot of things go into accuracy: form, touch, timing, focus, and most of all, practice and repetition. Form, touch, and timing are all skills that are to be developed (as we discussed above), so let's focus on the focus aspect now. It is hard to hit a goal if our mind is on anything else. I find a lot of times, I will overload myself with multiple goals and tasks that need to be completed. This will lead to me becoming distracted and losing focus on what is most important. Once focus is lost, the prospect of achieving my goals in the timing and manner that I originally set out for is less that likely. Keep sight on the most important goals and don't set too many. Have as close to a singular focus as possible and you will have a much greater chance of hitting your targets.
• Consistency - This may be the most important bit of this whole thing. After all, what use is skill and accuracy if it is not consistent? This is where the practice a repetition piece we discussed earlier comes in to play. Set a routine, block off a calendar, make a practice of doing the things that will advance you toward your goals. Set aside time each week to develop your skills. Meditate for a moment each day, and clear your mind of distractions. See only the goal and what it takes to get there.

See only the upper 90, and attack your goals in such a way that no one can stop you.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to on effective goal setting and pursuit in the comments below.