When setting goals for yourself as an athlete, it is important to understand the difference between outcome-oriented and process-oriented goals. Outcome goals focus on the desired endpoint while process goals emphasize the behaviors that improve the likelihood that outcome goals will be reached. For example, if a lacrosse goalie has an outcome goal of having the highest save percentage in the league, a process goal for that would be to make a good play on every shot. Although it is good to have a mix of outcome and process goals, athletes want to be careful about not focusing too much on the outcome goals because these goals often involve many uncontrollable aspects. Using the lacrosse goalie example, there are many situations related to save percentage that are out of the goalie’s control such as their competitors’ shot speed and accuracy, shooter’s proximity to the cage, unpredictability of bounce shots, etc. If the goalie gets so fixated on having the lowest save percentage above all else, they may get hard on themselves or self-critical for reasons that are out of their control, which will unnecessarily deteriorate confidence. Process goals are important here because they focus on what the goalie can control, like making a good play on every shot. As a goalie in lacrosse, you can be in the best possible position, use perfect technique, be mentally locked in, and still get scored on. So, to feel you have failed and be self-critical in this case is unhelpful and can send you into a downward confidence spiral.
