SMART Goals

At the end of every training session you should take some time and reflect how it went. All good productive goal setting begins with an evaluation of where you are and where you have been. Taking the time to look back on your sessions can help you see your training and climbing from a different perspective. The best way to do this is as a SWOT Analysis but the quickest and easiest way is to ask yourself these questions:

• What am I good at, what are my strengths?

• What areas have I improved in?

• What areas did I struggle with?

• What areas need improvement?

Your answers to these questions will be the start of your goal/target planning whether it is for the for the upcoming competition season, a route you want to get ticked or just to generally improve your climbing.

SMART Goals

After determining what you value about your training and climbing, you can move on to setting goals. Goals are most effective when they are SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Action oriented, Realistic, and Time-limited).

Here are some ways to set SMART goals:

Specific: Make sure your goals are not vague or too general. For example, the goal “I want to get better”, is nice, but how are you going to define “better” in this instance? A more specific and helpful goal could be “I want to climb F6b or V8 by X competition or within 6 months”.

Measurable: Goals are more helpful when you can evaluate your progress towards your goal. If your goal is to get better, how are you going to measure that? Is it by staying injury free, or climbing with new people, or doing well in a competition? Setting a measurable goal will help you determine if you are meeting your goals or not.

Action Oriented: Goals are going to be more effective when they can be worked towards actively. For example, “I want to onsite F7a” or “I want to redpoint F6b” are goals that you can actively pursue. Setting action oriented goals will help you see the steps you need to take towards accomplishing your goal.

Realistic: Goals that are not realistic are going to be more hurtful than helpful. I would love to be able onsite 8a but in reality that is not going to happen! If I deny the reality and set that goal for myself, I am only in for disappointment and discouragement. Instead, setting goals and targets that are realistic to your abilities, lifestyle, time constraints and access to climbing whether indoors or outdoors, yet ones that push you to get better are going to be most effective.

Time-Limited: Goals that have a deadline are going to be more useful than those that are open-ended. Long-term goals are great, but you can set a timeline for those too. Otherwise, goals just get pushed back and not worked on. Set goals for each specific session before you train. Set goals for each training block (4 week block, 6 week bloc etc). Set goals for each competition. Set goals for each season. Set five and 10 year goals. Set lifetime goals.

After you have explored what you value about training and climbing, and linked those values with SMART goals, keep track of them, keep your goals in a place where you can see them regularly so you know where you are with your training, but most importantly ‘be prepared to be flexible with your goals’.

Something may come up that presents as an obstacle to reaching a goal. When this happens, re-evaluate what is important to you, and adjust your goals accordingly. Allow your goals to motivate you and help you stay connected to what is most valuable to you