What Youth Sports Can Teach Us About Goal-Setting

Written by: Scott Reynolds, CFP® & Wealth Advisor at FFR Wealth Team

I love sports—just about all of them. But growing up in small town Canada, there were really only two seasons for me to participate in: hockey and baseball. My children, by contrast, seem to have endless possibilities and access to athletics. I find myself sometimes getting a little too excited about ALL the sports my kids COULD play at once, which leads me to think about priority and goal-setting as it applies to all of us for 2022.

  • First, having too many goals at once is ineffective. The time available for each of us in a day is the same and trying to wedge too much into 24 hours is a constant challenge for In our financial management practice, we are fortunate to work with highly motivated clients and referral partners who want to pursue huge successes and are willing to take on a lot at once. However, determining a select set of goals for the year that move us toward the long-term objective is key.
  • Fear of missing out (FOMO) with youth sports is real. It’s amazing that they can play so many things, but I’ve realized that we need to be mindful of how many. I tell my children that diversified athletics and academics are a great idea if the mental energy is available to focus fully on the task at hand. Rushing leads to poor results. Hurrying from one game or practice to another on the same day results in poor effort in at least one of the Tired muscles and mind do not lead to good results and the research is clearly telling us how important rest is.
  • It’s the same for adults with an overly aggressive To-Do List. There is never more than one priority at a time. There will always be something that can be done. Accept that and refocus by asking questions. When I am trying to determine what to do next (or first), I come back to a helpful question from a book that I like, called The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results: “What could I do right now that would make everything else easier or unnecessary?”

I think we can each pursue more in 2022 by doing less. Get the right next item on your daily “success list” done and then proceed to the next. Like I tell the little athletes in our house and on the teams, I am privileged to coach, there are no perfect days, but we can all embrace the challenge to try.

 

Scott is a non-producing Registered Representative of Cetera Advisor Networks LLC.

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