First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
Email: babawill2000@gmail.com Twitter: @Babawilly
Those who love soccer can pick up tips that will help them in goal setting in their personal life.
Football is a game with a specific aim – to secure victory by scoring goals in accordance with the laws of the game.
A dream is not a goal. The acronym SMART in relation to goals does not work with dreams
Specific – dreams are usually never detailed in how their attainment will be achieved.
Measureable – dreams tend to fail on this parameter.
Attainable? We have all dreamed about scoring the winning goal in a World Cup final only to wake up to use the loo just before the trophy presentation.
Relevant – dreams are mostly not relevant. People dream about going out with super models and flying in private aircrafts only to wake up to a letter written in red ink about rent arrears.
Time-limit – some people are still going on about the dreams they talked about 20 years ago and haven’t woken up to the fact that Joseph the dreamer dreamt for just two nights but had to work hard every single day for many years. Sometimes without pay!
When it comes to differentiating pipe dreams from real goals the football fans can learn from their sport.
Celebrate the little steps that lead to the main goal. During a long cup run, every goal in the early stages of the competition is celebrated. A cup is not won over night and no matter how impatient we are, we must go through all the preliminary stages that lead up to the final.
Hostility is certain. While the atmosphere may be loving and supportive at the home stadium, away games are different. You have fewer supporters when you travel out into the big bad world to play away. The team still works towards the goal despite boos and unfavourable editorials in the newspapers.
Injured players are treated when they get back to their home physio’s rooms and not in the away stadium’s medical room.
Adverse events may occur. The opposition may play dirty when the referee is not looking. Get on with it.
Penalty kicks are a fast track to a goal but these opportunities may not come up often and when they do, they might be missed. The more reliable way of achieving goals is not to look for luck but get working.
Time limit in all games. No opportunity lasts forever. Forty-five minutes in both halves with a 15-minute interval is what we get at games. After the final whistle, it is over even if there is still energy to play for longer.
You are not special. There is always someone on the bench with the same goal eager to replace you as you strive for a goal. Take nothing for granted.
You might score a goal and still lose the match. In two leg games, there is a second chance but this doesn’t happen often. Once the chance is gone, one looks to the next game or the next season.
You cannot live on past glory. The goals achieved in the last game or season cannot be transferred to today’s game. You cannot live on past glory no matter how dramatic it was. England invented football and has not won the World Cup since 1966.
Games are sometimes won with freak goals or by the opposing defence imploding and scoring a goal in their own net. This ‘miraculous events’ leading to victory cannot be in our game plan.
Play to strengths. Team members have certain strengths which can be exploited. The tall defenders come up for corner kicks if they have skills in heading the ball. Some team members take the free kicks or penalties. The leaders are made captain.
Have a reason to score. Those with a reason fare well. Ex- players tend to score when they return to their old hunting ground with their new team. Those players going through an ‘emotional patch’ such as a bereavement and who have inscribed a message on their vests are dangerous to the opposition because they have decided on scoring and running to the side lines to lift their jersey for the world to read what lies under.
The same goes for the players with a well-rehearsed goal celebration. Everyone has a desire to win but some have visualised victory to the point where they plan what to do after attaining the goal. Visiting ex-managers with a point to prove are dangerous. The intense rivalry of a derby match takes the competitive spirit and the ‘need to score’ a notch higher.
Setbacks will occur. The attacks are usually fruitless. Balls strike the post, go into the crowd or are saved by the keepers. The strikers just keep on attacking till a goal comes. There is no let up till the final whistle. A thick skin is needed to try speculative shots in the full view of TV cameras and a jeering opposition who greet the misses with the applause of derision. Courage and a thick skin are prerequisites to getting goals under the belt.
Be part of a great team. To achieve goals belonging to a great team is essential. A great defence that passes to a skilful midfield increases the chances of the ball getting to the wingers or strikers. Great things cannot be achieved in isolation. Entry points into great teams are set very high. Players turn up fit and ready for war. Those whose chocolate addiction or difficult childhood prevents them from training are not allowed to join an exclusive company of goal getting winners. Football fans never turn up to the stadium and expect to see overweight players for we know that the goals we want achieved needs warriors and not excuse merchants.
Finally, football fans and players take nothing for granted. A team that fails to achieve their goals and gets relegated may never return to the top flight. Some unachieved goals will never be achieved. Every chance must be taken.
