PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Do you know what you want to achieve?
James Cluskey, founder of High Calibre Collective and author of Advantage: lessons fromsport and business to achieve your goals , provides advice on the power of the plan
A s a former professional tennis player, I’ve always been very goal orientated. I’m competitive and want to improve and get better on daily basis. However, we have to ask ourselves some hard questions. Are we setting ourselves up for success? I graduated from Louisiana State University in 2009 after playing four years there on a scholarship for LSU. I was ranked as high as third in the country in doubles and was excited for my professional career to begin. I began travelling and playing tournaments around the world. If you were to equate my college ranking to my professional ranking then I should have moved up the latter quickly; however, I struggled. I would play well one week, then lose in the next few tournaments early. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I was nervous and was putting so much pressure on myself. At home in Dublin for a week my coach suggested I go and meet a business coach who is also a sports psychologist. Kevin, who I was meeting, had no knowledge or experience with tennis – and I have to admit I was a little sceptical, but decided to give it go. What happened next really changed the way I look at and approach my goals going forward. Kevin asked how many points I needed
to make my initial goal ranking of 250 in the world, and I wrote it on a board. We looked at how many second round, semi- finals, finals and tournament wins I needed to be 250 in the world. Next, he asked the simple question: “Well, why are you putting yourself under so much pressure every week?” I was going to these tournaments and if I didn’t win the event then I saw it as failure, but looking at my initial goal and the way it was broken down made it so much more achievable. I wrote out the results needed. When I went to an event in France and lost in the second round I wasn’t happy but I wasn’t distraught because I would tick off the fifteen points as I’d just moved one step closer to my goal. I got great satisfaction knowing I was moving in the right direction. I also did things like change my passwords to ‘iwillbe250’ because I was obsessed with achieving that goal and driving towards it. I knew what I needed to do results-wise to achieve my goal, but I needed to add in performance goals that would also give me confidence. I would set goals on a daily and weekly basis to achieve. How many gym sessions did I need to do? How many serves did I need to hit? How many volleys should I hit? For me having a plan is like getting into a car and putting a location in the satnav. Having a plan is having the direction
mapped out. Sure, sometimes you might have to change the route because of a crash ahead but your satnav is with you to help you get there. I retired from tennis at the end of 2015 and went into the corporate world. I started an executive coaching business which has evolved into a learning and development platform for companies to give autonomy to their employees to invest in their development. I put the same conditions in place in terms of planning and goals to help me get clients and build the business. I’ve been lucky enough to spend time coaching Sir Richard Branson on Necker Island. Spending one-to-one time with Richard has been an invaluable life experience. The thing about Necker is you never know who will come through the island at any one time. I was privileged to spend time with a tech entrepreneur who has had several successful exits. One day on the island I asked him about goals and achieving them. He looked at me seriously and said: “What is your vision and work backwards from that.” Work as far back as you possibly can. It’s easier said than done to find what that vision is. When I stopped playing professional tennis it took me a few years to decide where the next mountain was and what actually was my vision and where was I going. In conclusion I would encourage everyone to sit down and ask themself ‘what is my vision, what am I looking to achieve, and what can I do on a daily basis to help me achieve that vision?’. n
...looking at my initial goal and the way it was broken down made it so much more achievable...
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | November 2020 | Issue 65 44
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker