Goals are Overrated, Create Your Theme

New Year's Resolutions vs Themes

Dec 31, 2020

Hockey IQ is all about the mental side of the game. Today, we’re taking a step back from the sport we all love and instead are diving into self-improvement and the steps we take to reach our goals. But before we start, a few questions: What was your 2020 New Year’s Resolution? How is it going? What about in prior years? How did they go?

New Year’s Resolutions (NYRs)

Almost all NYRs (not the New York Rangers…) boil down to one element - creating positive life change, born out of some level of frustration.

In 1981, a publication of ‘Management Review’ sparked the advanced goal thinking process related to setting “SMART” goals. For goal-setting to be effective, they should be:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound

E.g: “I’m going to lose 10 lbs by the end of the year” or “I will score 20 goals this year” is likely to be more effective than “I want to read more”.

In reality, there is a better than fair chance that your own NYR isn’t going well, or even more likely, failed by the end of March. The problem with many NYRs is that they are too binary (pass/fail) with too long of a time frame.

To get a better grasp of how self-improvement happens, we need to understand that small decisions every day create the path forward towards our goal. Those small decisions ultimately determine success (or not). So, rather than having a far-off goal, what about if there was a way to gently guide you in each of those micro-decisions?

Theme Thinking/Framework

Introducing your theme… A guiding principle in your decision-making that sticks with you when making all of those micro-decisions leading towards the improvements you want to make in your life. These decisions constantly and gently push us towards our goals. Think of it as your North Star when making decisions.

Your theme helps bring focus to your decision making throughout the year. These nudges are vital in breaking or forming habits. Here is a great short video on this concept.

“Year of _______”

The goal is to ultimately improve your life and life experience. When developing your theme, there are three key elements:

Broad - Encompassing a large area
Directional - Gets you going in the direction where you need to go
Resonant - Resonate with you personally and consistently have meaning to you

A theme allows you to ask a simple, almost lazy question when making decisions - Will this be in line with my theme, or not? Slowly but surely, you’ll go in the direction you desire. When making a change, progress is happiness.

The best part of a theme is the adaptability it provides. You can continuously operate under a theme with a positive trend line, without feeling failure if/when you can no longer attain your SMART goal.

Going back to the goal-scoring example we laid out earlier (“I will score 20 goals this year”), what if your season got shortened due to COVID-19 or injury? With a theme like “Year of shooting”, you can still accomplish this whether shooting in your driveway or in a practice/game.

Past Yearly Themes

Here are some past themes we’ve used. Year of:

Simplicity
Deliberateness
Adventure
Health

When a decision involved food in the year of health, the decision inevitably led to better eating habits that go well beyond the selected theme.

A silly, but wonderful little change… In the year of adventure, when I popped in the GPS to drive to a rink, if it was close to the same time I (Greg) would choose the path less traveled and took in the new scenery. Simple, yet adds significantly to life enjoyment.

Join the crew

Just this year, we’ve introduced this to many people who instantly come on board the ‘Theme-thinking’ ship. Here ye’ come join the crew!

Drew Carlson @drewcarlsonhp

Sunday Reflection Tip of the hat to @CoachRevak for this one

drewcarlsonhp.substack.comSunday ReflectionI had a post written for today but will save that one for next time. This week something was shared with me that I had to put in today. With New Years coming up, I want to share a better way to have a more successful year. Tip of the hat to Greg Revak for the share.

We even converted Tanner Reklaitis, a coach who specializes in better thinking with his popular Monday Morning Edge newsletter.

Tanner Reklaitis @TReklaitis

@CoachRevak This is awesome. Funny how he ended it. Halfway through I was thinking about how a year is a really long time and how I usually can't maintain yearlong focus on just about anything. I tend to have theme weeks or days--things like moderation, cleanliness, or simplicity.

Finding Your Theme

Themes come into your life, serve their usefulness, and they dissipate when they are no longer useful. Take some time to reflect and find a theme that works for you year-round.

Further Reading

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