Every now and again, a great person comes into your life and teaches you to do things a different way; inspires something in you, you didn’t know you had.

The first time this seemingly magical presence came into my life, I was 10. His name was Frank Schnur and he was the Head Coach at Fordam University Men’s Soccer.

During the school year, he held clinics and from these clinics he handpicked a small group of highly skilled and dedicated players to train together—the practices were late at night in a small factory space with a hard floor, old school Astro turf and goals, lots of goals. The sessions were tight and intense, but also exciting.

You see, Coach Schnur had this unique gift of making things exciting—and not only through his actions, but through his words. There was one thing in particular he would say to us that really got us moving and competing: “Goals! I love Goals. I want Goals” We loved hearing this line from him. No matter how many times he said it, we never tired of hearing it.

To this day, I still get amped thinking about Coach Schnur telling us he “loves goals.” Words can be powerful, especially when they have multiple meanings.

On the surface, it was very clear what he wanted—he wanted us to score goals. He wanted us to put the ball in the net as often as possible. Scoring goals for Coach Schnur was pure joy. It was a big motivator.

But dig a little deeper and what he was really saying was that he wanted us to set a goal. He wanted us to strive for one when it was our turn to play. The goal was to set a goal and hopefully score one too. That mantra gave us purpose and drive.

Goal setting became one of the most effective and proven techniques I used to reach high levels of achievement on and off the soccer field. In fact, I used them to become a professional soccer player and author.

Why is goal setting so important?  Goals provide direction, structure and motivation. It’s good to know where you are going. It keeps you focused and lifts you up during tough times. This can impact your life daily, weekly and long term. It becomes your roadmap to success.

Take it from me. I was the little guy. The underdog. Yet by setting big goals, I was able to reach higher and dream bigger. Having a goal motivated me to practice harder. Practicing harder helped improve my performance. Performing better motivated me even more to set a new goal.

There is no better feeling than seeing your progress and hard work pay off. Achieving your goals will result in pride, satisfaction and increased self-confidence.

So, how do you make goal setting effective?

Short-Medium Term Goals: These are daily, weekly and monthly. They’re the foundation for the long-term vision. Start with daily goals, knowing what you want to accomplish in each practice. For example, “I want to beat my juggling record of 15.” Today try for 16 touches. Move on to weekly goals. Adding a few more touches each day so that at the end of the month, you can say you increased your juggling by 30 percent.

Long-Term Goals: These are big picture, ultimate dream goal.  These are goals that take several months, even several years to achieve. Maybe your ultimate soccer goal is to play professional soccer or even be on the World Cup team.  There is nothing wrong with dreaming big. I will be writing about DREAM GOALS in another post.

State Goals Positively: Decide what you want to do or what you want to achieve, not what you don’t want to do.  Sometimes soccer players set goals in terms of things they want to avoid such as “not making mistakes”.  A better way to state this goal is to say, “Practice skills that I am weak on every day.”

Skill-Focused Goals: It’s not the what, but the how.  It’s okay to think about “scoring 100 goals” or “making 100 saves,” but setting these kinds of goals doesn’t guide you on HOW to score those points or make saves.  Focused goals help you develop skills that lead to points or saves, so rather than say “I want to score more,” think, “I want to improve my weak foot” or “I want to drive more quickly to the ball”.

Used properly, goal setting can help you become the best you can be and ultimately reach new levels of success. Becoming great is no easy feat. There are moments that will get you down; times when you feel frustrated, stuck; when life pushes back HARD.

It’s in those moments, more than ever, when you need to remember the words of Coach Schnur: “Goals! I love goals!” That little voice could be the nudge you need to get you over the hump and go after it like we did.