Introductory Comment 

We live in a world of change. Friends change, interests change, jobs come and go. For centuries a blacksmith was a blacksmith, was a black- smith. This is no longer true. Just as the blacksmith's career has changed, so too will your interests in basketball change. Nothing today is safe from the ravages of change. 

To manage change and personal growth we need to assess our goals. We need to regularly set and reset our goals. Setting goals is an activity few of us have been schooled in, even though it is a highly meaningful activity. This Workbook is designed to help you consider your goals in basketball, though the concepts used in this workbook can be applied to your life and career goals too. 

Opening Note

Everything you do in this Workbook is for your eyes and your coach's eyes only. You do not have to share or show anything you write in here with anyone else, unless you choose to do so. 

Purpose of Workbook

To help you determine at this point in time what your goals are in basketball over the next ten years. 

To Start

If you don't know where you're going

You'll never know when you get there...

First List

Future and Distant Basketball Goals

Your future is somewhere in tomorrow. Imagine that time has moved ahead ten or more years and you are now near the end of your active basketball playing career. A good friend has arranged a dinner in your honour and has just completed a speech outlining the things you have accomplished in basketball. List in the space below the things your friend was able to say about you and what you have accomplished.

On a sheet of paper, list quickly your thoughts. Time yourself. Do not take more than five minutes to complete this first list. 

Second List

Three to Five Year Goals

Pause a moment here and list in the space below how you want to live and the things you want to accomplish in basketball within the next three to five years.

On a sheet of paper, list quickly your thoughts. Time yourself. Do not take more than five minutes to complete this second list.

Third List

Immediate

Here and Now Goals

List below how you would like to live and what you would like to accomplish in the next six to twelve months if you had been informed that you had only this brief time left to play basketball.

On a sheet of paper list quickly your thoughts. Time yourself. Do not take more than five minutes to complete this third list.

Assessing Your Three Lists

Step One

Return to each of your three list, weigh and consider the items in each list. Underline the top three items in each list. You may combine or even add items to your lists as you are doing this. When you are done you should have nine items underlined.

Step Two

Review the nine underlined items. Weigh them giving each item some thought as to how committed you are to it. How much do you want to accomplish it?  List the top three items in the space below.

1.

 

2.

 

3.

There you are. There are your top three basketball goals as of today.

You might like to reword/rework your goals into more meaningful form, but this is not necessary if they are clear and meaningful to you. 

For future reference, these goals were set on this ______ day of

 __________ (month), in the year ________.

Signature: ______________________     

More You Can Do With Your Goals

Now that you have a clear picture of your basketball goals there are a number of other activities you can do with them. These further activities are in random order. Read them all over and if any of them appeal to you them give it/them a try.

One

Goals in and of themselves are not sufficient. Establishing goals is only the start of a much larger process. Goals without action plans are close to non-functional. What you need to do with each of your goal is to develop an action plan. The main parts of an action plan are:

• List each main step in achieving the goal on a separate sheet of paper

• (Optional) List sub-steps involved in achieving each step

• List resources, be they people, books, tools, courses, or whatever needed to action each step (or sub-step )

• Establish the (a) start date, and the (b) completion date associated with each step (or sub-step)

• Establish some way to evaluate both the quality of the work you have done and the fact that the step has been fully completed

• Establish a reward for yourself for each step of each goal. Make the reward big enough and realistic enough that it will spur you on toward competition of the step

• Contract with a friend or your coach for each step of each goal to have them evaluate the quality and completeness of your work

• When the contracted person for a step agrees with you that the step is complete give yourself the reward or reinforcement you specified

• Implement your plan.

Two

Share your work in this workbook with your a friend, a parent, another player, or your coach. Discuss the things you have written in each list.

Discuss the significance of your top three goals. Ask for feedback on your work. Check with the other person to see if your work is accurate.

Ask for critical feedback by choosing someone you know who is un- afraid of providing insightful criticism. Check your natural tendency to reject and ignore "negative" feedback. Weigh each piece of feedback with a clear conscience and try to understand it from the point of view which the other person has used in offering them to you. Note them in this workbook in the area of the associated goal. Receiving, hearing, not- ing critical comments you are inclined to reject does not mean you have accepted the point. All that it means is that the point has been captured by you for future use if you later see relevance in it. 

Three

Get a new copy of this Workbook and photocopy it and do it with your another player, a parent, or a friend. Decide in advance whether you will share your what you have written or just talk about your reactions in doing each part. 

Four

Supplement the contents of this workbook by listing on separate sheets of paper your (a) outstanding accomplishments to date, (b) strengths, (c) weaknesses, (d) skills, etc. This might be done before doing this work- book as a mini-self assessment. 

Five

Adjust and adapt the material in this workbook to better suit your needs. The materials in this workbook are only a guide to cause thinking. Experiment. Skip stuff. Add stuff. Change procedures. Do what works for you.

In Conclusion

I hope now that you have reached this point in this Workbook that you have a clearer picture of what you want to do. I hope you've been able to set specific goals for the next year to move you along your chosen path into a bright future of endless fun in basketball.