Mid-year goals update
At work, it’s time for our mid-year calibrations and performance management activities. That’s when people managers get together to see how their team members are doing and if they are trending below, ahead of, or on par with their peers. I’m anxiously awaiting my one-on-one discussion with my manager to see how I fared when compared to my peers.
I thought that this would be a great opportunity to check in on my 2017 skating goals and see how they are progressing (or not).
Here we go!
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- Improve PCS. About a month prior to Adult Nationals, my coach asked me about my goals for the competition. I mentioned “higher PCS,” and she repeated the question. I was confused. After she explained that a goal is something that is within your control, I finally understood. I should have altered this goal to say that I wanted to improve my extension on landings, skate with deeper edges (etc.), because those were within my power to execute. I cannot control how an individual view/judges that. So with respect to PCS, while it did not improve score-wise, I am skating better than ever. I just hope this translates into higher scores at future competitions.
- Increase technical scores. Same as above. I should have said that I wanted to fully utilize my toe picks on jumps and hold my landings for a full second before moving to the next transitional element. I cannot control how a judge marks my elements on my score sheet, so I will be updating how I state this goal in the next year. So how am I progressing here? Well, I have been spending 75% of my practice time on basic skating skills and have noticed a drastic improvement. As a result, jumps are becoming easier to do. I would like to see this translate from practice to competition since that is where the true test lies. (In case you are wondering, my technical score did not improve)
- Approach 30 points in my IJS score. Same as #1 and #2. I cannot control a score. I need to be focused on being in the moment and delivering the elements as I know how to do them. I should alter this to say, “Focus on the element at hand and successfully execute it to the best of my ability.” (And if you are curious, I did not approach 30 points this season)
- Land a correct double salchow. Still working on this. I am hoping that with my renewed focus on basic edges and skating skills, that it will translate into an easier double salchow. I’ll be sure to post a video if and when I land one correctly.
- Add another axel to my program. This happened. I had two axels in the last version of my program. We’ll see if I keep this approach for the upcoming season.
- Continue working on double loop and/or double toe loop. While we have been working on my skating skills, double jumps have not been a priority. So I have no updates here.
In summary, I need to restate my goals to focus on what I can control versus what it beyond my reach. I can skate on deeper edges, hold landings, emote, etc., but I cannot control a score or how a judge reacts to my skating. Theoretically, if I can skate with authority and with great precision, that should translate to better scores.
We’ll see how I continue to improve throughout the rest of 2017.
