Setting & Smashing Your 2020 Goals

20 Feb Setting & Smashing Your 2020 Goals

With the eventing season fast approaching, riders up and down the country are planning their seasons and setting goals to work towards as a partnership.

The most important thing about goal setting is to be specific and create SMART goals, which means that they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Here’s how…

Specific: put a number on it. For example, if you would like to set a goal with regards to improving your dressage scores, don’t just say “I want to get better dressage results”, put a number to it and say something like “I want to get my dressage score below 28”.

Measurable: the above example is not just specific but it is also measurable. After each event, you can measure your performance, your score and assess ways you can improve.

Achievable: Make your goals a challenge but ensure they are achievable. For example, if your dressage is currently sitting on an average of 45, a score of 28 is possibly slightly unrealistic. If you set goals that you can’t realistically achieve it can leave you feeling demotivated.

Relevant: Make your goals relevant to what you want to achieve, which sounds obvious, but make sure your goals reflect and include what you enjoy. It will be a lot more fun and rewarding when you smash them!

Time-bound: put a time scale on the goal, for example, “I want to get my dressage score under 28 by my third event, and I am going to do this by getting weekend flatwork lessons”. This holds you accountable.

What are your SMART goals for this season? Let us know in the comments below.