People with goals generally outperform those without goals. Setting your goals (life, martial arts, work, etc) make sure they are specific. “Doing your best” is nice but has no direction. Ambiguous goals will lead to dissatisfaction. Set your sites where you want to be. See where you are now and know what it will look like when you get to your goal. Achieve greatness!
Here are three short tips on how to make your goals real:Values
What do you truly value? Have you ever considered this? Try making a list of all things you value, as this will help you create your goals. If you find that (for example) friendship is on your list of values, then perhaps you can develop goals that focus on building and maintaining friendships. In the sense of martial arts, what is it about martial arts that you value? …health, fitness, sport, skill, comradely, etc. Look over these examples of core values below and find what speaks to you, then discover how to connect those values to a goal:
| Authenticity | Citizenship | Friendships | Knowledge | Poise | Spirituality |
| Achievement | Community | Fun | Leadership | Popularity | Stability |
| Adventure | Competency | Growth | Learning | Recognition | Success |
| Authority | Contribution | Happiness | Love | Religion | Status |
| Autonomy | Creativity | Honesty | Loyalty | Reputation | Trustworthiness |
| Balance | Curiosity | Humor | Meaningful Work | Respect | Wealth |
| Beauty | Determination | Influence | Openness | Responsibility | Wisdom |
| Boldness | Fairness | Inner Harmony | Optimism | Security | |
| Compassion | Faith | Justice | Peace | Self-Respect | |
| Challenge | Fame | Kindness | Pleasure | Service |
Surround Yourself with the Right People
Surrounding yourself with people who have similar goals. Social accountability and social support are great ways to keep you on track. Certainly avoid the Negative Nancy’s of the world as they will only take you further from your goals. The joy of a martial arts dojo is that you are surrounded by people who want to see you succeed. As we help each other grow, we grow ourselves.
Create SMART Goals
Instead of re-writing what many have before, I encourage you to reach a good article explaining Smart Goals here: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm
o Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
o Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
o Achievable (agreed, attainable).
o Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
o Time bound (time-based, time-limited, time/cost-limited, timely, time-sensitive).
