"A goal properly set is halfway reached." - Abraham Lincoln
Goals! We all have them but how often do you set goals without thinking them through? I am sure that we are all culprits from time to time. From simple to lofty, all goals need a plan! For example, you want to lose weight. That is great but it is also vague. How are you going to to achieve it? How much weight would you like to lose? When do you know that you have reached that goal? By re-thinking that goal, you could say that you would like to lose 5 lbs in a month's time. How will you do this? By adding 15 extra minutes of exercise into my daily routine and cutting out refined carbohydrates from my diet. At the end of the month, it is simple.. You can measure your success by stepping on a scale.
I find that if you can break your goal down in to smaller pieces, it becomes much more achievable and manageable. It feels good to cross off those smaller, short-term goals on the way to reaching your bigger long-term dreams. I am an individual who likes to set the bar high but often, I do not take the time to plan. What is that quote I see everywhere in dog training? A failure to plan is a plan to fail. It is true and this time I want to set myself up for success. I want what I want when I want it but when it comes to losing weight, achieving a fitness goal or even training dogs, it does not work that way! So, here is my first step on our quest to running successfully in agility. Writing down all of my goals and journalling my training sessions will be a lesson in patience for me.
Working in the clinic, we frequently ask our patients to set goals for themselves at the beginning of our program and re-evaluate at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. After looking at our most recent Goal Worksheet, I realized could be an incredibly beneficial tool for dog training as well. We use a format called SMART goals and for those who are unfamiliar, SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Action Oriented, Realistic, Time Frame.
Here is my first attempt at a short-term SMART goal for agility training...
SMART Goal #1: I want Miles to have a reliable 2 o/2 o contact (reliable meaning he gives it to me 90% of the time) with a nose touch on two sets of stairs in our house. I will re-evaluate this goal on April 29th, 2010 when we have our first private lesson.
PLAN for CHALLENGES! Some things that might get in the way are:
1. Procrastination - I will overcome this challenge by setting a daily reminder on my iPhone to remind me that I have set aside time to train Miles to work on his contacts.
2. Having an unmotivated dog at the time of training - I will remember not to feed or exercise Miles before we work on our contact training. If this does not work, I will break it off and try again later with a reward that is high in value.
3. Going to the Baltimore Specialty next weekend will cut into our training time. I will bring my clicker and treats and work the behaviour in the hotel stair-well.
STEPS: To make sure I achieve this goal, I will:
1. First, I will decide what I want Miles' 2o / 2o contact to look like.
2. I will train for 10 minutes a day with a clicker and high value treats between now and April 29th.
3. Take the show on the road! I will move around the house on stairs that are inside and outside to enforce that this is a behaviour I want him to perform anywhere.
Confidence! How likely am I that I am going to achieve this goal?
I am 85% likely that I am going to achieve this goal.
