Finding Your Why And Setting Goals

Everyone has something that they strive for; a goal, an achievement, a dream. It can be anything you want it to be. It’s probably a safe bet that a lot of our athletes at M14 want to play at the college or professional level. These are amazing goals. Goals that some of M14’s very own athletes are going to be embarking on soon. To those kids, I congratulate you! This blog is going to hopefully shed some light on what I like to call your “Why” or the reason behind why we do what we do.

To start I should explain what a “Why” is. Your “why” is the endgame. It’s where you want to get to, or what you want to accomplish. For example, for the longest time, my “why” was to play college football. That was the reason “why” I played football and “why” I trained hard to get better as an athlete. Before you can get anywhere or accomplish anything, you need to have a why or a goal. Without a hoop to shoot at, it’s kind of hard to actually shoot hoops.

Once you have your why, you need to come up with a plan to help set yourself up for the most success possible. There’s all sorts of plans out there and they all can work, as long as you stick with them. Try a bunch out, find one that works best for you. It may take time or you may find it the first time. One of my favorite plans is a SMART Plan, or commonly referred to as SMART Goals.

SMART Goals can be broken down into 5 simple parts.

• (S)pecific: So if you want to play college basketball, you should be doing things that will help you get there. All things we do here at M14 are drills and tactics that are specifically designed to help you become a better basketball player and help you obtain your goals
• (M)easurable: You have to be able to track your progress. This can be as simple as seeing you or your team’s statistics improving over the course of a season. Or more personally, you can see an increase in the amount of weight you are lifting in the weightroom.
• (A)chievable: This one may be the hardest to come to terms with. While it is great to have goals and dreams, sometimes we make lofty goals that we may not be able to achieve. Our goals need to be realistic and we need to reflect if they are truly possible given our circumstances
• (R)ealistic: Here we want to be real with ourselves. I can say, “I want to add 24 inches to vertical jump in a week and half.” Ok, that’s great, but how realistic is that? No matter how hard I work in a little over a week, no one is going to add 2 feet to their vert in that short of time. Our bodies don’t work like that. So our goals should be hard and challenging to reach, but they shouldn’t be too far out of reach that we never get there.
• (T)ime-bound: We need to set a time limit. Give yourself time to accomplish a goal. If you have a big goal, give yourself more time; this could be months or even years. If it’s a small goal, it’s best not to spend forever on it because then you’re wasting your time. Back to college basketball, if you want to get recruited to play somewhere, you’ve automatically got 4 years of high school to work towards your dream school sending you a letter saying they want you on their squad. Give yourself time and get it done.

While having a “Why” and personal goals is great, it’s hard to get there on your own. People do it, but they will tell you it was a struggle and they wish they had help. Basketball is a team sport and all 5 players on the court need to work together in order for the score to go in your favor. With that being said, being a great teammate is so important to not only your own success but your team’s success as well! You will go far when you invest in yourself, but you will go farther when you invest in the team!

If you take anything away from this short blog, it’s that you should always go after what you want! If you have a “Why”, chase it, chase it like crazy and don’t be satisfied until you have it! If and when you get there (which you will) and you obtain that goal or dream, make a new one! Always find something to aim towards. It gives your life purpose and meaning. And don’t forget, when chasing your Why, you should WORK PARANOID!

“Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the ME for the WE.” – Phil Jackson