In my goal setting research, I read many personal development books. I was first introduced to Tim Gallwey’s classic “The Inner Game of Tennis” while I was a teacher in the early 1980s. It has been a faithful companion through several career changes, mainly for the compassionate way in which Mr. Gallwey’s words have encouraged me to get out of my own way! In this article I would like to share with you 4 goal setting lessons I have learned from this wonderful book.

Goal Setting Lesson One:

Peak Performance is intimately related to the art of relaxed concentration.

Often people who set goals are interested in performance improvements in areas like career, relationships and wealth. One of the criticisms of using a goal setting approach is that it can increase stress and tension if the goal has been not met within an arbitrary deadline.

The key point here is to set goals which encourage your creativity to blossom during those (mostly) unpredictable peak performance experiences. There is no one easy solution for the confirmed goal setter as to how to do this - however, creating the desired vision of an activity where relaxed concentration appears to be effortless is an important component.

Goal Setting Lesson Two:

Learn to see the image of what you want before you do anything.

Experience with creative visualization methods has taught me that relaxed concentration comes about in the simplest of ways e.g. watching an exciting movie, walking in a beautiful park, going for a run. This is a feeling to continually cultivate when practicing with images of desired events related to your ideal outcome.

Goal Setting Lesson Three:

Learn to see non judgmentally.

If you are lucky you may have a coach, mentor or close friends (maybe all three!) who are truly nonjudgmental when observing your performance. They will tell you what they see and yet also hold up the unspoken words of what you might become.

The nonjudgmental sight that Tim Gallwey refers to, is your own! Don’t confuse this with the conscious self-talk which can be negative or belittling and prefers to berate rather than to praise and encourage. When this conscious self (one) quietens down or is ignored(!) there is an opportunity for a truly empowered self (two) to get on with doing what it does best.

Tim is also a real close observer of reality. He is suggesting that you see the reality of things as they are, not as you feel they ought to be. This type of awareness is in fact a key element of learning to get out of your own way.

Goal Setting Lesson Four:

The danger in trying to live up to expectations

As a former teacher, I guess I ought to know all about the dangers of others attempting to live up to my expectations. While anyone’s self-confidence can benefit from the “genuine knowingness” of trusted people about your abilities and aptitudes, there are many cases of folks who set goal after goal in a lifelong attempt to live up to the expectations of people close to them or in authority positions. And they might appear to achieve much - but perhaps at the expense of personal peace of mind.

At just over 120 pages this is a short book and rightly so. The author doesn’t pad the chapters with unnecessary material and I finished it in one day. For anyone beginning a major goal setting journey, or even just mastering a new skill, I highly recommend this book. I certainly wish I had read it before learning to drive a manual gear shift car in the UK!!