Setting Career Goals in Pro Wrestling

Before telling yourself “I’m going to be the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion”, there are things that we need to take care of. Practice, diet, image, fan base, etc. Before anything else, we should set our career goals. Dreams will never be reality if we don’t persevere and work hard for it. Sure it sounds easy, setting goals and seeing yourself as the last man standing in a Royal Rumble match.

Truth is, I’ve seen a lot of people with great career goals but fail to make it real. All those will be nothing if we don’t put it in black and white. Yes, you heard it right… Sometimes it’s not enough that we keep a mental note of what we want to achieve in our career and so it helps to have our goals written and visible.  There are two types of goals that one should set; those are our Short-Term and Long-Term Goals.

Before jumping on writing what you want, here’s a list of benefits that you can get from having your career goals set.

Benefits of Goal Setting

(Adapted from Winning the Mental Way by Karlene Sugarman)

1. Improves the quality of practice and performance.
2. Increases motivation and sustains motivation over a longer period of time. 
3. Relieves boredom by making training more challenging.
4. Lessens the doubt that you can’t accomplish something.
5. Encourages you to be persistent in your pursuit.
6. Directs attention to the task at hand.
   
7. Helps put things in proper perspective.
   
8. Clarifies expectations between athlete, teammates, coaches, and parents. 
9. Increases pride and satisfaction.
   
10. A mechanism for building self-confidence.

Here’s how we can get one step forward into achieving our goals:

The SMART Way To Write Your Goals
(Adapted from The Mental Edge by Kenneth Baum)


Specific – Make it clear what you want. Use numbers not vague statements. 
Measurable – Be able to keep track of your progress toward your goal.
Attainable – Make it relevant to your skills and level of expertise.
Realistic – For example, don’t set your goal to win the Olympics this year.
Time frame – Keep in mind the limited time you have to achieve these goals.

For example, a SMART goal would be: “By July 1, 2017, I will have wrestled in a new state outside of my current working territory.”  If you are looking to obtain a career outside of performing, these goal structure methods still apply to you.

Remember:

Make it visible

Once you’ve completed a series of short and long-term goals, it is important to put your list of individual goals in a place where you can see them every day. Many gym rats tend to post goals on a mirror in their room and same applies for wrestlers. Other common places include: in a locker, on the fridge, or even on the desktop of your computer. Wherever you choose to post your goals, make sure it is a place where you’ll see them multiple times every day.

Don’t be afraid to adjust your list of goals in order keep them relevant and beneficial.

And most of all:

Know Yourself

The only way to achieve your goals is to believe in yourself and commit, giving it 100% or even 200% of your effort. There’s no shame in falling short of a goal as long as you did everything in your power to make it happen and to continue to work toward those goals.

Another important aspect of goal setting is gradually making these goals more challenging.

You should never be satisfied with your goals: Raise the bar as you improve so you can achieve more challenging goals. Keep in mind that the only person who knows your own true potential is you.

Don’t be shy to ask for help from your colleagues, your trainers, mentors and other vets in the business since their experience can be of great help for your success.  Continue to educate yourself with self-discipline to work toward your goals in and out of the pro wrestling ring.
What career goals are you working on?  Let’s hear from you in the comments below.