Keeping Goals in Gymnastics
I have always been big on goal setting in nearly every aspect of my life. I think that comes from having parents who are big on goal setting and continuously set goals, big or small, to better themselves. In gymnastics, I am the most adamant on goal setting and set short and long term goals. I feel it is the one area in my life that I know exactly what I want to achieve and I know exactly how to get there. In other areas of my life, like what I want my life to be like 20-30 years from now, it is kind of fuzzy. I know in general what I want, but I don't know exactly what I want and I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to get there.
When I goal set in gymnastics, I set weekly, monthly, and yearly goals that are in-line with my long term goals. I also keep track of my progress by writing down what I do at the gym every day. I feel that by logging everything I do, I tend to take more turns at the gym and try harder to complete those weekly goals, because I know that I'm going to have to write down what I did that day. I feel it's like getting leverage on myself to achieve goals. I also tell my parents and coaches my long term goals. This is very important and it's another way to get leverage on myself. I didn't let my old coaches know my long term goals for gymnastics until I was 18. And maybe they were also to blame for this because they never asked me, or any of my teammates what our goals for gymnastics were. Once my old coaches knew my goals, they trained me differently. They trained me like they wanted me to be a level 10. When I moved to another gym shortly after, I made sure to let my new coaches know my long term goals as soon as I joined. And now I have teammates and coaches who push me to do harder skills and take on challenges. Had I told my old coaches earlier, maybe I would already be a level 10. Or maybe not; my old gym cared too much about scores and would keep us down until we scored high in a lower level, instead of pushing us up to get to level 10 as fast as possible like my new gym does. There's something to say about both of these methods. I think letting the gymnast decide if she is ready to move up levels is the best way to go. But teaching gymnasts how to set goals makes moving up levels possible and it also gives the gymnast a sense of purpose or reason to go to the gym and work hard every practice.
How to set goals:
1. Decide your long term goals
The more specific, the better. If you can see yourself clearly achieving those goals, you can definitely do it in real life. But it's also good to set big goals that you can't see yourself achieving today. Being able to dream big is what creates incredible people who have achieved amazing things in their lives.
For example, you might set the long term goal "I want to go to the 2028 Olympics and compete AA for the U.S." or "I want to get a full ride to UCLA and compete AA in my Freshman year." Both of these long term goals are specific and big, which are perfect to write down and look at every day. Now, circumstances may change, and even though you may not achieve these goals, or maybe you decide in the future that this isn't what you want, you will still achieve great things.
2. Set yearly, monthly, and weekly goals
These are kind of like milestones. Depending on your long term goal, your yearly goals may also be big. That's okay. That's why you should write down monthly and weekly goals as well that are in-line with your yearly goals, which are in-line with your long term goals. You can then clearly see the steps that you must take each year, month, and week in order to reach your long term goal. Now that you have the big picture, maybe your long term goal doesn't look so hard to achieve.
For example, if your long term goal is to get a Division 1 college scholarship, maybe your yearly goals will be, "Move up 1 level per year." Your monthly goals may be, "Get 1 new skill a month." And a your weekly goal may be, "Attempt the new skill 15 times this week."
I set weekly goals for every event, and most of the time, I don't achieve all of them. Sometimes I set weekly goals that seem like a stretch to complete just to challenge myself. And sometimes I may not even achieve a single one because I either a) set my numbers to be too high, or b) my weekly goal was just too big for where I am currently. That's fine. I adjust as needed the following week and break down these goals into smaller steps, so that I can achieve these bigger goals in the next couple of weeks.
3. Log your gymnastics
This is a tip I got from one of my old coaches. He wanted everyone on the team to be writing down what they did every practice. He told us that it would help us visualize our progress on a month to month or year to year basis. He's right. I started logging my gymnastics a couple of years ago and looking back at what I have written down a couple of years ago and comparing it to what I'm doing now makes me see how much I have progressed since then. I also feel that it's a way to keep track of what you're doing at the gym so that whatever you do at your practices are more in-line with your goals. And the thought of having to write down what I have done at the gym that day makes me want to do more and try harder at the gym to reach my goals.
So get yourself a journal. It doesn't really matter what size it is; it's about what you prefer. Personally, I like small-to-medium sized journals. I also like them to have a hard outer cover. I used to just pick out random journals that I had lying around and use them as logs, but then I realized that what I am writing is important. It's a peek at my past and it tells me about myself: how I learn new things and how long it takes me to get them. So now I use nice journals and I write neatly and clearly. I use a pen with black ink when writing. I make sure the date at the top of the page is clear. When writing about what I did on the different events, I first write the event name on one line, then below that line, I briefly write down in a bullet-list what I did. Then I move on to the next event and do the same. I do this for all events. You can either write down what you do during practice if your coach allows it, or wait until you get home to write down what you have done. I prefer the latter. I also weight-train and I always write down what exercise I have done, how much weight I lifted, and how many reps I did with good form. I've only been weight-training for 6 months now and when comparing the amount of weight I used to lift when I first started to what I am lifting now, I see that I have already almost doubled the weight I used to lift when I first started, and I still am able to keep my form.
4. Let your parents and coaches know
Your coaches and parents are there for you to help you get to where you want to go. They are on your side. Let them know what your long term goals are so that they can help you achieve them. If you tell your coaches and they don't support you, then maybe that's a sign that you need to move to a different gym. However, most of the time, your parents and coaches will be excited about what you want to achieve and will help you to accomplish your goals.
I hope this post was helpful for those of you who do not set goals, or those of you that want to know how to set goals. Comment below if you plan to set some goals after reading this post. Or if you already set goals, comment when you started setting goals and why. Thanks for reading!
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