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3 Tiers for Successful Goal Getting
Use Harada’s method to coach yourself to win
A sports coach serves in multiple roles, and even more when coaching high schoolers. Keep the origin of Takashi Harada’s approach in mind — he developed a coaching method while working as a track coach for the worst performing school in Japan. But that doesn’t make it irrelevant to adults in recovery.
Harada encouraged his athletes to set strong goals that represented new levels of performance in school, at home and on the field. He also built in guaranteed success by having a three-tier structure. In addition to the ultimate goal, there is a sure-to-meet and an interim goal. The capable goal represented, for example, a time (runner) or distance (shotput) the athlete could meet with certainty. The interim goal would be met on the way to achieving the ultimate goal. Let’s say the 3200 m record is currently 8:52 and the strong goal is to beat it. Current PR is 9:02 and our student, Kent, can repeat it.
Set your goals through, not to
Now, Kent only has to be a fraction less than 8:52 to beat the record. Why set a goal to beat the record by two seconds? Lou Tice famously encouraged his audiences to “set your goal through, not to.” And staff from the Miliken company, recognized as one of the safest companies in…
