Tag Archive for ‘goal setting’ at The Change Catalyst

Tag Archive for 'goal setting'

High Performance Tips: The Art of the Taper

Published

on June 18, 2009

. 0 Comments

Taper down to increase your performance We are all looking for ways to increase our performance given the resources given to us and the time we have in the day to dedicate to our given goal - whether that be work, play, family or community.

A technique used by endurance athletes before a race is called the taper. Like the funnel picture here, this involves reducing the volume of training in the week or two before a race. So if a triathlete is training 16 hours a week in the build up phase, during the taper she will reduce training volume to 8 or 10 hours.

While this may seem counter-intuitive, there is an important reason behind this. In short, this allows the body to repair and store up energy which increases performance in the race. A lot of athletes find this lowering of training a challenge. As competitive driven individuals who are used to pushing themselves as far as they can, to step back and train within themselves can be hard. As I am training for a race now, I have just entered my taper phase. I realized that this technique is applicable for all goal-setting.

Have you ever found yourself getting into a routine - albeit a high performance routine - and then asking yourself “Why am I doing this?” “What is this all about?” and if this is accompanied by questioning your own ability - you may need to taper.

If you have been pushing your new business development constantly all month and although you feel good progress has been made, you are not sure what comes next - take a step back. Take a day or two away from the activity of generating new business and put yourself in a different frame of mind. Call up an old and trusted client (or friend) and take them out for a coffee or lunch. Instead of trying to sell them, treat it like a fact-finding mission. Use your curiosity to learn more about their lives, ask them questions about their industry in general and perhaps even ask them to give feedback on your sales approach. This will strengthen the quality of your sales technique. Instead of hammering it to make 15 sales calls a day, take your time to make 3 quality calls. During your taper phase, see if you notice anything different or what you have learned that you can add into your toolkit.

High energy and passion are essential for success, but once a month add in a taper phase where you slow down, work within yourself and become more observant and “sponge” up new ideas. Enjoy the breakthroughs. Success in life is like an endurance race not a sprint so taper your way to higher performance!

Set some health targets

Published

Warwick

on February 13, 2009

in Health

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Ever feel annoyed, depressed, down with the world, lazy, or just lacking in energy? Chances are - in my non-medical opinion - you could do with a little more exercise. I find that whenever I let the world to get down on me, I realize that it’s been a couple of weeks since I had a good swim or cycle.

So set some health targets. Easy to set, hard to carry-out! It’s easy to say I will exercise three times a week, but why do we get so easily distracted? Very few people regularly exercise three times a week for a minimum amount of 20 minutes of aerobic exercise. But this is often cited as a minimum of exercise to keep healthy. I tried this way and it didn’t work for me. So I use a different approach - it’s more fun and has a higher chance of keeping me on track and motivated.

Set output targets (not activity targets)

The big flaw with most “x-times per week” exercise programs is that they are activity-focused and this - while being a good way to exercise - is not particularly motivating. Perhaps this explains why the vast majority of people who take out gym memberships (often in January) never go after month three. Repetitive tasks in a gym is just too boring. There are a few ways around this. One of my friends hired a physical coach to motivate her with new challenges and this can work for the duration of the coaching. I prefer an output based approach to exercise. My health goals are based around triathlon races. This year I have a target to complete four Olympic distance races from May to September. Having these races in my calendar, gives me clear targets for my exercise schedule. I know that 12 weeks out I need to be doing regular exercise and this provides me with the motivation to time block exercise into my calendar.

Set a range of performance targets

Even though I am an age-grouper (amateur) triathlete I still set a range of targets for myself. When I started out two years ago there were:

1. To finish healthy

2. To finish ahead of my training partner

3. To finish in a “good time”

4. To finish in a personal best.

It’s always my primary goal to finish healthy. I cannot afford to be in hospital on a drip for a couple of days after the race - mainly because I hate hospitals and wasting time!

If I feel good about my performance during the race, I may look out for my training partners and want to finish ahead of them. If things are really good and I feel good on the run section then I may push the run and finish in style and seek out a personal best. But simply finishing healthy is a victory. Set yourself a range of health goals that allow you to be successful across the full range. When I finished a half Ironman distance race in Hainan in 2008, it was in a much slower time than I had expected due to the blistering heat. But just to finish that race, in which many professional athletes had dropped out, was an achievement in itself.

Have fun with a group

The final tip is to join a group of people who also share the same love. Whether it’s a dancing group, the swimming or cycling club, you will draw a lot of motivation from the fact that you are surrounded by people with similar interests. Use the best performing people in these groups to spur you on. Have fun, but certainly, have some health goals this year.

So what can we learn from an Olympic legend?

Published

Warwick

on August 17, 2008

in Health and Skills

. 1 Comment

Michael Phelps

I love swimming, but I have to admit that I am more of a participant than a spectator. However, this week I have been amazed at how Michael Phelps has smashed world records, Olympic races and Olympic records. It’s inspiring to see someone at the top of their game, and still remain grounded and humble. Let’s also mention Mark Spitz (below) who had his 36 year old record broken by Phelps. He was very gracious and spoke up Phelps as a true champion perhaps the greatest Olympian of all time.

Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz

While newspapers have been focusing on Phelps’ 12,000 calories a day diet, I noticed two things that stood out. First, was Phelps’ margin of victory in his 7th race - one one thousandth of a second. He was in second place even down to the final meter, when he decided to make a final half-stroke that took him to the wall in first place. The difference between winning and losing is so thin sometimes, but ultimately it came down to decision making. Winners make the right decisions when it counts. In fact, over the 8 races Phelps’ margin of victory was only a total of 13.1 seconds.

The second thing that I noticed from the interviews with Phelps, was a reference to his goals. Yes, he has written goals. As the great man said, “My goals are right next to my bed. My coach and I are the only two people who know what those are. Being able to wake up and look at those every morning is helpful.”

Of course, this is straight out of Napolean Hill’s Think and Grow Rich in which Mr Hill recommends that all goals should be written and looked at (and spoken out aloud) twice a day to really help them become a reality. As I have followed this advice since 2002 with good results, I often wonder how many other people really do the same. I come across some successful business owners from time to time who do, but today was a good day. Phelps does it too. It’s enough to inspire me to create more goals for my list.

Do you have written goals? What do you have goals on? I’d love to hear more about how you set goals.

The Change Catalyst