Falling short of your goals?  You’re in good company.  Most do, and the effect is cumulative— missed goals are de-motivators, and the reasons for missing them can quickly become reasons to give up the fight and flatline your progress.

To keep today’s resolutions from becoming tomorrow’s disappointments, follow these five proven enhancers to your goal setting journey.

Set better goals.

The reasons for missed goals fall into one of two categories: there’s a problem with your goal or a problem with your process.  You can cut yourself a break by making sure your goals are reasonable, attainable, and within your control.

Break larger goals into smaller pieces.

Big goals give us a reason to wake up in the morning, so aim big, but the larger your goal, the more likely it will be that it requires a sequence of smaller goals to achieve.  Let your big goal, your outcome goal, be your guiding light, but focus on those smaller process goals to get you there.  Ask yourself, what are three to five things I could do today that would make my ultimate goal more possible?  Start there.

Set deadlines.

“Someday” is a terrible incentivizer, and “right now” isn’t much better.  For each of your goals, set a reasonable, finite timeline for it to be completed.  If it’s a routine goal—a goal you will need to hit repeatedly, like jogging four days each week—set a schedule.  This will ensure that you’re getting moving and staying in motion, without feeling like you need to build your goal empire in a single day.  Persistence is what wins this race, not speed.  Whether hour by hour, day by day, or inch by inch, a consistent commitment is what will get you from where you are to where you want to be.

Focus on Controllables.

Generally speaking, as our goals get larger, they become less controllable.  When possible, choose goals that are entirely within your control, remembering that we can control the process (30 minutes of cardio 4 days per week), but can’t always control the outcome (lose 30 pounds by March).  If you stick with a larger, outcome-based goal, keep your focus on what you can control, and bear in mind the uncontrollables when creating your timeline—make space for the occasional setback or bad hop.

Create accountability.

Post your goals in a prominent place to hold yourself to account, and importantly, tell someone about your goals.  A simple declaration of goals has been shown to have a significant impact on goal attainment, so tell a friend, teammate, coach, or family member, especially one who will support you on your journey.

Simply making it this far into this article is a sign of your conviction to your goals this current or upcoming year.  Direct that conviction toward the  pursuit of your goals, following the five achievement boosters outlined above, and you’ll be celebrating your efforts by the time you read our next article.

The sport of curling is mesmerizing to new spectators.

At first glance, the yelling, obscure body positioning, and commotion of the rocks are not quite like anything most have seen before, and as you continue to peel back the layers, it quickly becomes evident that curling is much more than “shuffleboard on ice”.

In addition to athletic ability, the sport demands high caliber mental toughness.

At this Olympic Games, the men’s and women’s fields each have ten teams, meaning Team USA will have to battle through a grueling nine-game round robin to determine their fate in the playoff bracket.

While the team strategist, the skip, primarily focuses on thinking shots ahead of the opponent, the other players help execute the intended game plan by taking turns reading and communicating the speed of the ice while sweeping.

For defending Olympic Gold Medalist Team Shuster, the roles required for performance are just as important as the ability to utilize dynamics to operate as a well-oiled machine.

“We work with a sports psychologist (Dr. Carlin Anderson) who has been with us for the last seven years or so,” Shuster said. “She just has us in a really great space where our team is out there and in a good place having fun and communicating.”

With the guidance of sports psychology and a wealth of international experience, Team Shuster has learned the ingredients necessary to achieve optimal performance.

Read the full article at USA Curling

MINNEAPOLIS — With the 2022 Winter Games well underway, one psychologist from Minnesota is in Beijing as a resident sports psychologist for the U.S. Olympic Curling teams.

Doctor Carlin Anderson is the co-founder of Minnesota-based Premier Sports Psychology, one of the nation’s largest  sports psychology companies. Premier’s experts help top athletes from the NFL to the U.S. Olympic Team cope with anxiety, depression, burnout and overall wellness.

According to Dr. Anderson, who was a gymnast at UCLA, optimal performances are connected to mental and physical well-being. Her company has research and and resilience programs that are beginning to discover proactive methods organizations and teams can use to hone mental health skills and manage overall wellness.

Read the full article at KARE11