Warriors Way » goals

Goal Setting Strategies

Arno — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00:19 +0000

The last several lessons focused on decision-making and the creative process. Now let us touch on a few final topics as this year comes to an end. The end of the year is a great time to contemplate the past year and what we’d like to accomplish next year.

Contemplation requires us to slow down from our hectic pace, stop, and think. We need time to think without the pressures of daily life. The first step in goal setting is carving out time for doing this. What works well for me is to sit on my back patio, get a brew like coffee or beer, and take in my surrounding. It’s autumn right now so the maple leaves are turning yellow and red, falling to the ground and covering the lawn. The temps are perfect.

Just sit, take in the environment, and let your feelings arise as you reflect on the past year. When you slow down like this, you allow feelings about the quality of your life to surface. Have you challenged yourself this last year? Did you accomplish what you intended? Did you learn anything and expand your awareness? It’s in moments like these that you become aware of deeper issues and desires in your life.

How does this manifest itself in your climbing? How have you challenged yourself on climbs? Did you accomplish routes or climbing goals you intended? Did you learn more about why you’re fearful or what limits your climbing? Are you going to the same ole climbing areas, climbing the same ole routes? Do you really want to be sitting here next year feeling the same way?

Take this time, this moment, to ask these questions, contemplate the answers, and set goals that will create the climbing life you desire.

Intention

Arno — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:50:14 +0000

In order to create the most powerful effort, you must have your attention fully in the present moment. What motivates you and how you set your intentions will determine what happens to your attention. We’ve discussed earlier how motivation must be grounded primarily in process goals that allow us to grow, and secondarily in end goals. Aligning goals this way maintains motivation when you are under maximum stress. Once you’ve established effective motivation, you can begin to set effective intentions.

As we said earlier, intention is attention focused in the direction of a choice or decision. In any climbing situation, you will have both end-result intentions and process intentions. Your end-result intention involves attaining an end goal, such as achieving a redpoint or arriving at the next decision point. End-result intentions are part of the process, but you cannot act on them. You need intentions your body can act out. Process intentions might include continuous breathing and moving through the next section, giving focused effort to each move, and not allowing your resolve to waver.

Motivation and Goals

Arno — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:00:31 +0000

Motivation derives from the sense that you will “get something” from an experience. Motivation is the fuel that drives your effort and increases or diminishes depending on whether or not you feel you’ll attain your goal. There are two main types of goals: end goals and process goals. Your motivation will behave very differently under the stress of a climbing challenge depending on which type of goal you are working toward. Understanding this difference and using it is key in maintaining motivation to stay committed during challenging climbing.

End goals are such external things as climbing harder grades or redpointing routes. Process goals are the skills you learn in the process of your external achievements, internal things such as the ability to commit more completely or fall more safely. If you’re motivated solely by end goals, then as stress and difficulty increase during a crux, you see less chance of attaining your goal. The stress stands between you and your goal. Since motivation derives from the anticipation of attaining a goal, when you begin to pump out, end-goal motivation will tend to diminish. You say, “Why bother? I know I’m too pumped to get to the top.”

If, however, you are motivated by process goals, then as stress increases you see a greater chance of attaining your goal-—improved skills. Your motivation increases. As your strength fades, you say, “One more move is valuable, so do it.”

Most climbers are motivated by both ends and processes. End goals pick the stage where you will perform. They involve routes you want to climb or places you want to arrive where you’ll be satisfied (comfortable). End goals are realized after stress. Process goals concern the quality of the performance. They involve skills you want to learn, or stressful situations that provide learning opportunities. Process goals are realized during stress.

It’s important to have both type of goals and to set them up in the correct hierarchy. If you want to maximize your performance, make process goals primary and end goals secondary. This way, you will be primarily motivated to engage in climbing situations that are stressful, creating an opportunity to learn and improve. You are secondarily motivated to find the most comfortable way through the stressful situation and attain the end goal of a redpoint or on-sight. Think of end goals as tests of how well you have learned your process goals.

As living beings, we feel truly alive when we grow. Grounding our motivation in growth, in the challenge and stress that will actually cause us to grow, fuels the whole process. The source of our power and the application of it are connected, allowing our power to flow from our ground, through our being, and into our effort, as we apply it on a route. Valuing growth keeps our motivation consistent and connected to its source.

Motivation derives from the sense that you will “get something” from an experience. Motivation is the fuel that drives your effort and increases or diminishes depending on whether or not you feel you’ll attain your goal. There are two main types of goals: end goals and process goals. Your motivation will behave very differently under the stress of a climbing challenge depending on which type of goal you are working toward. Understanding this difference and using it is key in maintaining motivation to stay committed during challenging climbing.

End goals are such external things as climbing harder grades or redpointing routes. Process goals are the skills you learn in the process of your external achievements, internal things such as the ability to commit more completely or fall more safely. If you’re motivated solely by end goals, then as stress and difficulty increase during a crux, you see less chance of attaining your goal. The stress stands between you and your goal. Since motivation derives from the anticipation of attaining a goal, when you begin to pump out, end-goal motivation will tend to diminish. You say, “Why bother? I know I’m too pumped to get to the top.”

Most climbers are motivated by both ends and processes. End goals pick the stage where you will perform. They involve routes you want to climb or places you want to arrive where you’ll be satisfied (comfortable). End goals are realized after stress. Process goals concern the quality of the performance. They involve skills you want to learn, or stressful situations that provide learning opportunities. Process goals are realized during stress.