On Resolutions and Goal Setting

Oi. January 2 already. Hard to believe it's 2008. And like most of you, I've been thinking about goals, resolutions, and things I want to accomplish in the year to come. Obviously I'm not the only one; this morning the gym was just full of people I've never seen before. I wonder how many of these newbies will stick, and how many will trickle off after a few days or weeks?

So why do those people who rush to the gym and start those diets fail so often? Maybe they're setting the wrong goals in the wrong way, setting themselves up for failure. Years ago, I designed a little book for Clean Run called Your Secret Coach. I think It's out of print now. It was just a little handbook about how to be a success in agility. And I've used the tenets of that book ever since. Your Secret Coach taught me several really important things.

1. Set realistic goals.
Don't set a goal that is nearly impossible to attain. Look realistically at where you are and where you want to be. And if you set a big long term goal, be sure to set smaller short-term goals. If your goal is for your dog to do weaves from any angle at any distance, then short-term goals could be to first have the dog do offside and onside poles equally well, then crosses at poles, then sending 10 feet to the poles, then 20 feet, etc.

2. Set Performance goals, not Outcome goals
One of the biggest mistakes people make in setting goals is making them outcome oriented instead of performance oriented. An Outcome goal is one that is tied to a specific outcome. An Outcome goal would be to get a Double Q, or a 198 or above score or to win a class. If you set an Outcome goal and do not reach it, then no matter what else you did well, you will feel a failure. Let's say your Outcome goal is to Qualify both days of an agility weekend. And in that weekend your dog does great weave entries, executes a perfect 2on-2off contact each and every time, and has a really fast time—but you drop a bar in every run and don't qualify. Even though you and your dog did many things better than ever you'll feel a failure. Because you didn't meet your goal. And you might even take that out on the dog. You'll forget all the things you did well and dwell on the failure to meet your goal.

A performance goal is an improvement in performance in a particular area. So maybe the performance goal is to get a good weave entry or execute a smooth front cross. Maybe it's nice fast sits or good footwork on an about turn in obedience or rally. Realistic performance goals help us stay positive even if we don't qualify. It's a performance goal that will have you coming off the course and saying, "yeah, I know she dropped that bar but did you see those weaves! Those were great!" And even when we don't attain a performance goal, it's more constructive because it gives us a new training goal. "Okay, she didn't get that offside entry like I wanted. I need to train more offsides." It's much harder to be disappointed and angry with the dog over performance goals.

3. Keep your goals positive, not negative
When making goals, concentrate on the positive. Instead of saying, "I won't get in his face on the weaves," say, "I will give my dog plenty of room to do weaves." Instead of saying, "I don't want him to shift on the sit stay," say, "I will help him learn to keep feet in place on sits." Just those small word differences help keep your attitude and your relationship with your dog positive.

4. Be prepared to reevaluate and change goals
Constantly be aware of your goals, and be prepared to change them. If your goal was to have totally independent weaves by the end of the year and your dog gets injured, or you get sick, or work interferes and you just aren't training as much as you hoped, then instead of dwelling on how you're failing, revisit the goal and adjust it appropriately.

5. Don't let short-term goals sabotage your long term goals
One big mistake we make is that we sabotage our long term goals for the sake of a Q. We tend to do a lot of things for the sake of a qualifying run or a title that are contrary to our long-term goals. If our goal is fast, stress-free weaves, then trying the weaves 16 times at a trial with the dog getting increasingly stressed and upset is a huge no-no. The best thing to do is to resolve to stick to your goals and not care about qualifying. Which is really, really hard. But if we do that in the short-term, we're often rewarded in the long-term.