Goal Setting
First of all, this is not a ‘sports psychology’ best approach to goal setting, generic, copy and paste blog post. It is coming from a place of experience - what worked for me, what was hard to do, what is relevant for dancers, dealing with setbacks, moving on, recalibrating, and so on. We are all aware of the importance of setting goals and if not, hopefully I do my job here and convince you to all set at least one for upcoming season. It is highly likely that you are all setting goals regularly without noticing but following a process can make these much more achievable. Realising these goals and harnessing their power is what I am about to try and help you with.
My goal right now is to get it across to you properly!
Why should I set goals?
Without goals, it is going to be impossible to improve and keep yourself motivated to do this very demanding dance form. Your goals must be important to you, nobody else, otherwise you will not follow through with them. It is unreasonable to expect yourself to keep practicing each day if you haven’t identified a motivating factor that is important to you. And I promise you that it won’t work if you are only fulfilling goals of the people around you (teachers, parents, guardians, grandparents, friends).
You must reflect. What is it that you want to do, deep down? Then you are off. It opens the world to you. What do you want to achieve? How do you get there? Who helps you get there? What are the small steps? What are the big steps? It will expand fast. It is basic problem solving at its best and you are designing it to make you better. That is not to say that you cannot get help from your ‘people’ and that they cannot advise you, because they can, and should! But it must be YOURS! Your goal to own!
How can you set a goal?
Sports psychology will tell us to do this:
S – Specific (or Significant)
M – Measurable (or Meaningful)
A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented)
R – Relevant (or Rewarding)
T – Time-bound (or Trackable)
Is that of great use for a 9-year-old who really wants to dance in front of the King…is there a goal plan for this? What if this is the biggest motivator for Annie McClumpha from Corgarff? I would say to teachers and parents to embrace that type of goal and work with the dancer to stay motivated by using it in dance classes. It is probably not a SMART goal (Specific - yes, measurable - sure, attainable - probably not, relevant - possibly, time-bound - not really) but it is a goal, which means something to Annie. For me, positive reenforcement was the magic that kept me trying hard. No doubt that my main dance teacher (Mum - Delma Wilson) was a master at this style of teaching. If she taught Annie, things might go like this:
“Oh Annie, those Highcuts were fantastic! If you did those high cuts in front of the King, he would be very impressed with you, you might even get to have tea with him afterwards.”
OR, if those high cuts weren’t so hot
“Oh Annie, if you did high cuts like that in front of the King, he would be straight up there on the boards trying to show you that he could do them better, can you give me more?”
How well do you think it would for Annie if her goal was met with disapproval?
“Sorry Annie, the likelihood of you dancing in front of the King is almost nil…change your goal at once!”
All dancers need that initial goal which comes from within. That is what hooks them into the dance form. From there, it is down to the dancer’s people to help set the appropriate goals with well thought out steppingstones. Probably starting with the big goal and working backwards.
Example: Goal – Let us go for an easy one that assumes wee Annie has danced for a while now. “I want to win a medal in a competition.”
Working backwards:
Winning the medal
Going to competitions regularly
Putting the practise into a pressurised situation, e.g., in front of a audience, not in competition.
Building confidence by repeating the below steps regularly
Practising hard on these corrections at home, whilst focusing on the goal
Listening to the corrections from her teacher and noting the steps that have been put in place to help these corrections get better
Paying attention in class
Turning up to class
Mapping out how to win that medal with her teacher
Does the time frame matter? Win that medal by such and such a date? Maybe not in this instance
Thinking about what she would like to achieve (regardless of the motivation) e.g., wanting to win that medal.
Working backwards is a good way to initially set the steps needed in order to achieve that goal. Do these steps always play out in that order? Not a chance! Things happen, plans change. You need to be adaptable. There are many ways to skin a cat and every dancer will get to their goals via different pathways. The dancer’s people are there to help in those moments and keep the dancer on track or, help change the goal, and so it goes on.
How do we determine the correct steps required?
My favourite way is the magic crystal ball I purchased when I was 5 years old from an odd looking man in ‘Diagon Alley’. This magical crystal ball has proven very useful over the years. If you don’t have one of those then the experience of your teachers and parents, who have probably done some pretty similar things to you in their lifetimes, will also help. The most important thing is to have the conversation on a regular basis. I cannot tell you how many conversations I have had about my goals - one or two each month, comfortably – and were mostly centred around the question - are they progressive? Once you get used to doing this, it can become a quick process to determine what is next.
One method that worked well for me - and may well do for you - was to determine a lot of mini goals that would lead to a big goal. These changed over time to become steppingstones but would initially start out as big goals defined as, something I had not achieved already.
Example of progressive goals:
Dancing in a competition
Winning a medal in a competition
Winning a gold medal in a competition
Winning a trophy in a competition
Moving to Novice
Repeat 1-4 until intermediate
Repeat 1-4 until Premier
Repeat 1-4 until winning your Pre-championship
Repeat 1-4 until winning a Championship
Repeat 1-4 until winning a specific Championship
Repeat. Repeat, Repeat…
All of the goals above started as a big goal and could also be broken down into he steps mentioned above in, ‘How can you set a goal?’. Once you have a goal setting system, it is very easy to repeat for the next steps, keeping you focused! Then you begin to enjoy the challenge of it. A bigger conversation starts to take place and the goals become more difficult to reach. The time between them increases, and so does the work required to achieve these new goals. So, it boils down to being able to manage your goals in small chunks.
Focus on the dancing
This next statement might sound contrary to what I have just given an example of but…it is not a good idea, in the world of Highland Dancing, to be bogged down by competition results. And…the irony of this statement is not lost on me!
You may not believe this but, most of my personal goals were set around improvement within the dance form. My belief then, and still is now, is that if you are good enough, the goals will take care of themselves in the end. If you are looking to win a first place only, you are not focused on the right goal. Winning first place is a goal yes but you are not directly in control of that outcome so it is not a good idea to have your life revolve around it. Think about this, how do you feel if you do not win a medal or competition? Motivated? My guess is annoyed or disheartened. When you set that goal, did it cross your mind that someone else might have the same one? At the end of the day, on the World’s biggest stage, there are only three World Champions after it is all said and done. Does that mean everyone else goes away disappointed - no? Does that mean every dancer does not want to try to win something of great magnitude - no? If you are focused on your competition results as a goal, you are setting yourself up to be disappointed. Instead, how about focusing on your dancing?
Focusing on your dancing allows you to be better every day and not just on competition days. We are involved in a highly technical dance form that is judged on precision from a book that tells you where to put your feet on every single count. Your goals should be orientated towards how you can do that to the best of your abilities. If you focus on that each day, you and your people will have a pretty good idea what sort of goals to set, hopefully with dancing well at the top of your goals list.
Dancing well is something that is controllable. Dancing well is something that we can all feel. Dancing well is about a lot of hard work and dedication coming together all at once and getting positive feedback from your people. I liked dancing well. I miss being able to dance well! I have won some championships and been disappointed in myself and I have also lost some that I could not have done anything more. The results at the end of the competition are subjective. It is being judged by someone else who might have a different idea of what is good to you and your people. They are not wrong, and neither are you. It is a difference of opinion and you have to learn to deal with that. Disappointment in results might actually be the biggest demotivating factor in this dance form so I would quickly learn to leave it at the door.
A goal that I always liked – Always leave the stage having tried to WOW somebody!
This goal is something you are more in control of and very much centres around the idea that you are going to give the dance your best effort. Your best effort should have been determined before a competition in class, or at home, by working with your people who can help guide you through all the pushing and shoving to get your legs in the right position gracefully, or sharply – whichever of these two you prefer to see.
Another Goal that I like (which was not always easy) – Always trust the eyes of my teacher.
Easier said than done but crucial to your improvement. You have to remember that you are not able to see yourself on stage during the performance, so your teacher is there to be your eyes for you. Trust that they know what they are talking about in order to get the best out of you. Every single correction that I have ever been given felt awkward to change and generally felt rubbish for a while. I then built up my confidence on the positive feedback that I was given from my teacher. This all happened before a competition or performance so that by the time you hit the stage, you can do the business and go and WOW someone! Some food for thought – your teacher is the one who made you the dancer you are, if they do not like what they are seeing, it probably means that it’s really not that good. They will be feeling responsible for that, which is why you get your correction. So, if you think they are saying something to you that you do not agree with, remember that they have pride in the dancer that they produce and want to make you look good. It is for your benefit, and theirs.
Be Kind, Realistic and Follow Through
If you have set out steps as outlined above, you should not have any problem following through with your effort each day, right? Wrong! Even with the best will in the world, and all the love for highland dancing that you can give, it is still impossible to give it your all every day. Aches and pains will be the main cause of this, probably, and we can deal with this only a certain amount before our minds pack in and give up. Who wants to dance when every hop hurts every day for a full week or longer? Your goals will need to take a back seat and you need to reassess what the next steps are. Go to see a health Professional. For me it was Dr’s Dave and Mark Cashley (our super star Podiatrist, Chiropractor and Nutrition experts, here at the Clinic). There have been many difficult-to-hear conversations with those two over the years and one in particular, right before a trip to Australia to compete at the Champion of Champions.
For a few weeks I had been struggling with a mystery foot injury. There was a lot of back and forth from Dave and I about what I was feeling and when, and foot appointments with Dave trying to see what he could find. The only way I could describe this pain was it was like someone putting a knife into my foot on every hop. It zapped all energy out of every hop and was excruciating every time I landed. With a trip to OZ on the cards, it was making me very nervous for a few reasons. 1) I needed to be at my very best to compete well 2) It is a very long way to go to compete substandard 3) IT HURTS!!! 4) I did not want to disappoint anyone with the standard of dancer they had come to expect.
Dave had ruled out a stress fracture at in our last appointment before the trip to my relief so for me I was able to still dance on this without too much worry of breaking my foot. But the pain being so sore it was still debilitating. I go, dance as best I can giving my full effort, which was not enough in this instance. I did not achieve all of my goals on that trip, but I did learn a lot from it and still had a fantastic time meeting my overseas friends, enjoying watching the incredible calibre of two of my favourite dance competitors – Craig Johnston and Marielle Lesperence, and getting some much-needed sunshine! At the time, I can remember the relief come over my body after the last set of high cuts in the reel that I was finished. On that particular day, my foot felt pretty good for the first two dances but by the end the pain was too intense for me to think about anything other than getting to the end. Looking over at my Mum at the end, I knew it was the dance was no good, but I could see that she was proud of the effort I had put in to finish it. I do not wish to take away from the other competitors within the competition, or use my foot as an excuse for not achieving my goals, as there was no guarantees of any success even with a fully fit body, such was the calibre. When you compete, you have to take the responsibility of the risk involved and coming up short of your target does not always mean defeat.
The point of this story is that not everything can go to plan. So, what can you do? Change your plan. Adapt your plan. And most importantly, be kind to yourself and others in the process. It was nobody’s fault that I was injured and, even if it was, there is nothing that could be done about it, so there was no point getting mad. I was disappointed, feeling hard done by with the timing, but the sun still came up in the morning, I lived to fight another day and 7 billion people still have no idea what Highland Dancing is!!
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is this. What we do is special to us. And, how lucky are we that we get to continue with it each day!
Happy goal setting!
David