S-M-R-T D'oh, I mean S-M-A-R-T

So above is my favourite ever moment from The Simpsons. Every time I see it, it reminds me of being back in 16 Prospect Street in uni with Steve & Phil. It was a running in joke that doesn't seem relevant to a blog that's been mainly focusing on football and coaching lately?

Well it is relevant. It's relevant to something I find very important to football, coaching and life in general. When I started in Exeter, I did this for our first game and it worked wonders. We came out fast and achieved 80% of what we wanted to. An almost perfect start to the season. I've since introduced it to Wyverns for the defense and it has helped focus us in the games I have played in so far this season. I've experimented with when and how to do it, using both technology and an old fashioned approach. Guessed what it is yet? Yep that's right, I'm talking about goal setting. Specifically SMART goal setting and how it can provide you with something to aim for. It doesn't guarantee success but it can put you in positions to be successful.

So what does it stand for?

S - Specific - Being specific when setting goals is key. It means you are detailed in what you want to achieve.
M - Measurable - Being able to quantify your success. Follows on from the detailed specifics, this is the measurement to prove you have been successful or not.
A - Achievable - So now you can measure it, you've got to be able to achieve it. Your goal needs to be achievable to get people motivated to work towards it.
R - Realistic - Pairs nicely with achievable but ensures you don't overreach and become vulnerable. You don't want players playing purely to achieve a statistical goal.
T - Timely - It has to have a time constraint, so you know how long you need to work to achieve your goal.

This model I learnt in work but is widely available on the internet. I've not researched who coined the term and I've seen several variations on the A and R letters. By the time it got to me, it has probably been regurgitated so much that it's far from the original model. Who knows?

Finding the best way to set goals has been a challenge. I face different constraints with each team I'm apart of. With Exeter I get an hour classroom time a week and dedicate half of that in game weeks to set goals. This approach with a full room of people can be quite hectic with lots of voices, but can also be the most efficient. I attempted a live stream on Facebook with Wyverns to try to beat our geographical difficulties and lack of midweek training. We set our goals and learnt plenty, but there was a significant delay between the live stream and the comments, so I spent a lot of the time talking to myself or missing responses to my questions. It's a very surreal experience to be talking to a screen and awaiting for feedback to come in comment form. With a delay.

Either way, it provides a great source of focus for us and allows us to aim for tangible targets that can lead to us being successful in our endeavours. I will now share with you the first iteration of goals for our away season opener against newly relegated Bath Killer Bees:

"Goals give you focus. Goals allow you to measure progress. Goals keep you locked in and free from distractions. Goals help you overcome obstacles. Goals give you motivation. 

I’m a massive believer in goal setting both professionally, personally and in my sporting life. They help you achieve what you didn’t think was possible. They aren’t the be all and end all, but they are important on a path to success. This is why I wanted us to set goals as a defense, not just for this week, but for every game. We will use these as a benchmark to measure our success and dominate teams. This is the first of many posts from me that will display our goals. Let’s own these as a unit and ensure we do our part (and more) to earn that W on Sunday. 

1. Shutout
2. No blown contains.
3. No pass completed over 20 yards.
4. 2 turnovers.
5. Defense scores points. 

Let’s bring it on Sunday and send a message to the division about this defense. Remember, do your job first, then be great. 

Coach 

#BleedGreen "

So we hit 4 out of 5 of these. I thought they were so ambitious we were straying past realistic, however they still felt achievable. We shut bath out, scored the only TD of the game with a pick 6, got 4 turnovers, 8 sacks and didn't blow a contain. The pass completed over 20 yards was on the last drive with nothing but rookies on the field so we were so close to nailing all 5 week one. Once you achieve a goal, you set yourself loftier targets in the next game but you also have to be realistic to your opponent to not over reach. You are constantly working towards improvement. Constantly trying to better yourselves as players and coaches. I thrive from goal setting and just wanted to share a step in my process with you that you may find useful. 

On a sidenote about my blog, for those of you that are new fans, this is where I spill my thoughts about a variety of things to. You'll mostly find football and coaching but will see other views I have on subjects like movies, film and life in general. Some of the older posts shows how regularly I did this in uni, two hiatus' later and I'm trying to start it back up again. It's unbelievably cathartic to be able to write and know that even one person can take some value from it. All feedback, likes & shares are welcome but I'm fairly sure there's a specific niche of people that will like this blog. 

Cheers

Dan