Goal-Setting Tips From Our Champions

Lessons From The Champions

As we get into our paces in 2023, it is important to maintain a clear line of sight on our goals and have a proper game plan to achieve them. For our student-athletes, it is even more important for them to plan and manage their busy schedule in order to strike a balance between sports and studies.

To help them on their way, we had the pleasure of welcoming two of our alumni back to share their tips on goal setting and time management as part of Lessons from the Champions series.

The first alumnus was national triathlete and medical student Nicholas Rachmadi. He shared about how student-athletes should first learn how to set goals and make key decisions when managing their time. Among the important points that Nicholas shared were:

1. Have a big picture mindset and think how your goals will benefit you in the years ahead.
2. Set SMARTER goals. Make sure that they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound, take time to Evaluate them and Reset your goals when necessary.
3. Prioritise and switch your focus around. It is tough to split your attention evenly between sports and studies and one is never more important than the other. You have to make a decision to focus on either one at a given point in time. Speak to your mentors, teachers, and coaches to manage expectations.
4. Having a healthy dose of Vitamin N, where N stands for learning to say No. For example, you have a choice to catch up on sleep when you say No to late-night gatherings.

Sabrina Lee Jingyi was our other alumna who was back to share her take on the topic with our student-athletes. The two-time valedictorian who recently graduated from the IBDP with a near-perfect score of 44 out of 45 points, shared four valuable points:

1. Set micro goals. Break down daunting goals into bite-sized tasks that you can manage.
2. Prioritise your time so that you can tackle the important tasks at hand first and not miss deadlines.
3. Set goals for relaxing. Having ample rest and fun leads to a rejuvenated mind and motivates you to work more efficiently.
4. Identify anti-goals. These are the goals that you do not want to achieve and identifying them will constantly remind you to steer away from them.

These are indeed mind-opening pointers that our student-athletes can use to guide them in achieving their goals in 2023 and beyond!