How many people get what they want if they walk into a car dealership and say "I want to buy a car today" without having any more information to share - what size, brand, style, color, price range? It's the same when you walk into a ski clinic - if your stated goal is to 'ski better' you might not get what you want in the end.
As I was writing about my own goals for ski season, I recognized that I set goals in a slightly different way than some of the instructors I work with. For example, many of the instructors that come to clinic say, "I want to pass the XXX exam this year." That's a good goal, but it's lazy. No, no, no - not that it's lazy to train for an exam, but if that's all you have to say, you've been lazy in your own goal setting process. Plus, if you don't pass the exam and it was your only goal, does it mean you had a failed ski season? If you're not going for an exam, does that mean you've stopped learning?
I try to set a couple kinds of goals. For starters, I try to set a few external goals where success can be measured by someone else. The easy example here is to succeed at an exam. But equally good external goals could include working hard enough to get singled out as awesome at a weekly meeting, having students regularly return at night sessions asking for you, or finishing off the requirements to teach a higher level.
I think most people do okay at setting some vague external goals. But now it's time to challenge yourself - what makes the 'big' goal challenging for you? Once you've identified your individual weaknesses or challenges, you can set intermediate goals that will help achieve the 'big' external goal. If you're trying to get singled out at the meeting, set a goal that every Saturday you're going to take one opportunity to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and work harder than you wanted to. If you're going for an exam and need work on your demos, set a goal to practice them a half hour each weekend. If you're afraid of doing movement analysis in front of a group, challenge yourself to lift that shyness even if for a mere sentence at first.
To get better, I think you have to be honest with yourself. That means you have to use your own honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses to develop effective goals. Often I'm asked what someone should work on before going to an exam. As a staff trainer, I can watch your skiing, sure. But you are a more active participant in the learning process if you ask, "What should I work on to improve these ski instructor turns we ski every morning?", "How can I fix the fact that my stance width changes in my wedge christie demos?" or "Can you help me - my teaching lacks specific, constructive feedback - I'm very uncertain about what I'm seeing or how to describe it?". Having spent the time to self-assess and develop your own goals makes these questions obvious... easy even.
Don't be lazy and wind up with a "failed" ski season - put time into the goal setting process. I do.
As I was writing about my own goals for ski season, I recognized that I set goals in a slightly different way than some of the instructors I work with. For example, many of the instructors that come to clinic say, "I want to pass the XXX exam this year." That's a good goal, but it's lazy. No, no, no - not that it's lazy to train for an exam, but if that's all you have to say, you've been lazy in your own goal setting process. Plus, if you don't pass the exam and it was your only goal, does it mean you had a failed ski season? If you're not going for an exam, does that mean you've stopped learning?
I try to set a couple kinds of goals. For starters, I try to set a few external goals where success can be measured by someone else. The easy example here is to succeed at an exam. But equally good external goals could include working hard enough to get singled out as awesome at a weekly meeting, having students regularly return at night sessions asking for you, or finishing off the requirements to teach a higher level.
I think most people do okay at setting some vague external goals. But now it's time to challenge yourself - what makes the 'big' goal challenging for you? Once you've identified your individual weaknesses or challenges, you can set intermediate goals that will help achieve the 'big' external goal. If you're trying to get singled out at the meeting, set a goal that every Saturday you're going to take one opportunity to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and work harder than you wanted to. If you're going for an exam and need work on your demos, set a goal to practice them a half hour each weekend. If you're afraid of doing movement analysis in front of a group, challenge yourself to lift that shyness even if for a mere sentence at first.
To get better, I think you have to be honest with yourself. That means you have to use your own honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses to develop effective goals. Often I'm asked what someone should work on before going to an exam. As a staff trainer, I can watch your skiing, sure. But you are a more active participant in the learning process if you ask, "What should I work on to improve these ski instructor turns we ski every morning?", "How can I fix the fact that my stance width changes in my wedge christie demos?" or "Can you help me - my teaching lacks specific, constructive feedback - I'm very uncertain about what I'm seeing or how to describe it?". Having spent the time to self-assess and develop your own goals makes these questions obvious... easy even.
Don't be lazy and wind up with a "failed" ski season - put time into the goal setting process. I do.
Great first post!!
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