Goal-Setting No matter what kind of skill or level of skill you want, goal-setting has proven to be very effective. Achievers in various fields including athletes and business people use this technique. It gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. It helps you focus and organize. It forces you to confront certain realities about your game so that you know what you need to improve on.Long-Term Not every pool player has
desire to become a world-class pool player. But for people who love competition, it is their nature to be best that they can be. The first step in setting goals is to consider what you want to achieve. So at what level do you want to play pool? •Do you want to beat all of your friends? •Do you want to move up a rating in your league? •Do you want to be best in world?
Measure First, you must have a specific measurement in mind to determine your long-term goal. For example, if your goal is to beat all of your friends, how many balls would you have to run to be best player amongst your friends? Would best be able to run 3 or 4 balls, or 3 or 4 racks? Write that number down. Next, you must measure your ability now. For example, how many balls you can run without a miss, right now? ‘You must know where you are, to get where you want to go.’ Throw all 15 balls on table, with ball-in-hand on your first shot, and see how many you can make without missing. Try this drill 20 or more times and record your highest run.
Time How much time are you going to spend practicing to improve your performance? Consult an instructor on how much focused practice time he/she thinks it would take for you to achieve this goal. If you plan to practice only 1 hour a week, and your goal is to increase your high run by 50 balls, it could take you years to achieve this goal. But if you practiced for 6 hours/day, you may be able to achieve it in months. If you think it will take too much time for you to obtain your long-term goal, either consider more practice time or setting a lower long-term goal.
