Setting goals

One of the absolute most important aspects of finding success in any endeavor, particularly long-term endeavors like those presented by training a martial art, is proper goal setting. I've talked about this before (like here and here, for a couple of examples), and I'm going to mention it again because I've put more thought and effort into the project recently than ever before.

One of the most important aspects to successful goal setting is to make them as clear as you can, other than the obvious: making sure they are something that is attainable that you have not yet attained. Once you've thought of some ideas for something to work on attaining -- a few examples just below -- try to make their statements specific.

Specificity in goal setting:

• If you'd like to enhance your turning practice, then you've got to be clear in what way you mean to do that. Some example statements of specific turning goals, particularly with the recent release of the new Yin Style Baguazhang Circle Turning DVD, which introduces turning in all eight animals plus some other postures, might be something like this:
• Get my turning in the Lion System to the point where I can hold the posture for an hour without dropping my hands. [This goal specifically notes the method of turning and a clear, measurable goal.]
• Give a serious try to turning in each of the eight animal systems by studying the new DVD and then trying each in turn seriously every day for a week (in addition to my usual turning practice). Use the knowledge gained to choose supplementary turning postures to achieve my current development goals. [This goal specifically addresses what you'd like to do and why with a realistic timeline and set of expectations.]
• Improve my footwork while turning, attempting to make it accurate.
• If you'd like to gain experience with an animal system or some aspect of it, you might select goals like these:
• Improve my understanding of the "Interlocking" nature of the Lion System.
• Improve my understanding of the seven attacking strategies of the Lion System by studying the seven types of forms.
• Improve my skill, understanding, and usage of the sweeping and chopping palms in the Lion System and how one can change from one of those palms to another.

These kinds of goals are all quite specific and are still broad enough to require a lot of training to achieve. They're also meaningful to your development, so they're put down with some thought as to where you are and a comparison of where you'd like to get with your training.

The next thing you'll need to pay attention to is putting down a call-to-action for your goals, which I recommend you put after each goal. It's important that you not only think about what your goals will be, but you must also consider how you intend to achieve them. If you force yourself to put down a plan, even if it is a loose one, then you're thinking about making your goals attainable and attaining them. Otherwise, they're just ideas floating around out there. For examples:

• If your goal is to improve your understanding of the seven attacking strategies of the Lion System, then your call-to-action for this goal might read something like this: "Learn the seven forms of the ___ palm in the Lion System and study them carefully, trying to feel the nature and understand the fundamental strategy in each. Pay attention to how the footwork, body movement, and kinds of changes in the form are defined by the specific strategy that I'm studying."
• If your goal is to increase the amount of time that you can turn in the Lion's posture without putting your hands down, then you might have a call-to-action like this: "Turn in the Lion's posture daily, emphasizing the amount of time spent on each direction before changing sides and attempting to put my hands down as rarely as possible. Increase the amount of time in the posture at regular intervals (which you might define)."

Also, you really should give a specific deadline for your goal, or if you'd like to take it further, a time-line for achieving it. The decision on which of those to use follows from how long-term the goal is and how specific you'd like to be. Time-lines and deadlines, though, give the goal real meaning and put the flavor of accountability on them. An example of each follows:

• Deadline only, goal of studying the seven strategies of the Lion System via the sweeping palm: "Know the seven forms of the Lion System's sweeping palm and have made significant headway on understanding their usage by the beginning of next summer."
• Time-line for the same: "Know the seven forms of the Lion System's sweeping palm within the next three weeks. Try to have a basic feeling for the nature of each strategy's footwork within a couple of months, and gain a comfortable understanding of the body movements in each a month after that. Then, focus on the types of changes in the strategy over the following month, and seek to have made significant headway on understanding their usage by the beginning of next summer."

 Lastly, write your goals out or type them and print them out. After you've done so, put a copy of them anywhere you're sure to see them regularly, possibly and probably most effectively in more than one place. If you don't see your goals regularly, then they are easy to forget about or ignore. When they're present in your life, though, they're real. Each time you see them, you might find yourself thinking about them, wondering what you have done and could be doing to meet them, and then you'll start to find development from them.