4 Goal setting for reducing burnout

A female athlete wearing a red top is crouched ready to race in the starting blocks. She is facing the camera and looking towards us. In front of her sit a series of three metal hurdles. She is on a racetrack and the background is dark.

Seven categories of different types of goals are described within seven different coloured boxes with arrows between each pointing upwards.

The arrows point towards the top of the page in which the first category box is titled - Recovery goals (long-term). The description in this box is as follows. Used to specify the ultimate ambition (e.g. To be competitive at national level). It can also be useful to have long-term clarity of purpose built into such ambitions (e.g. To be competitive at national level in order to see how good I can be and to leave a legacy that I can be proud of).

The next box down shows Stage goals (medium term). Often for those managing their burnout, medium term objectives for recovery can provide useful targets. Manageable physical, psychological and performance goals may be appropriate and may link to Lifestyle goals

At the top of the page but to one side are Lifestyle goals. Issues in relation to rest, recovery, down-time, sleep, diet, alcohol use, relationships, work and education.

In the middle of the page below stage goals is a box titled Short-term goals. These goals are aimed to specify what will be the focus in weekly training. Process, performance and outcome goals often feature in these targets. Bullet points follow in which outcome, performance and process goals are highlighted in bold and read thus.

• Outcome goals typically focus on a competitive result of an event or scoring more points than an opponent.
• Performance goals focus on achieving standards independently of other competitors and tend to be more flexible and within your control compared to outcome goals.
• Process goals focus on the actions you must engage in during training or performance to perform well.

At the base of the page are three equally sized and coloured boxes each with their own heading and text as below:

• Physical goals - Including goals in relation to how much physical stress is created and effort is put into sessions and recovery strategies – this connects with the exhaustion/fatigue dimension of burnout.
• Psychological goals- Including goals regarding burnout related issue connected to thoughts, feelings, behaviour, motivation, use of social support and stress management.
• Performance goals- Including goals in relation to realistic expectations of a long term process of gradual improvement to previous levels. Having a focus on the degree of goal attainment rather than absolute goal attainment is recommended. Emphasis is given using bold to the words ‘degree’ and ‘attainment’ in this last description.