Taken from "Your Competition Handgun Training Program" (book): 

Setting your goals.   There is a huge amount of information and research out there that proves that written goals are one piece of a successful formula.  In my other book, I point out the fact that your goals will dictate what you do in training.  In this program, I have built the training modules so that they are modifiable based on your goals.  I will expand more on this in the live fire section.  I break goals into three areas, end goals, performance goals, and enabling goals.  In many other books I have read, I have always been confused about the goal setting process.  Please don’t let these three goal types confuse you, and remember, that no matter what you write down you will be 50% more likely to reach your goal after you just put it on a piece of paper.  The following definitions of my specific goal types should be easy to understand and follow, and I will give you my examples afterward so you can just copy mine if you want (personalize them to your needs though!).  I want to define and explain each of these:

End goals- End goals are the ultimate end state you wish to reach or accomplish.  If you could have everything you want (relating to the area we are discussing!), what would that be?  What is the ultimate end state if you do everything perfectly and all goes as planned?  This program is a year in length, so I recommend that you write your end goal based on the first year you try this program, but if you have a loftier end goal, then go ahead and write that down too.  Set them yearly at a minimum.  Try to write your end goals so that they are realistic and in your control.  I don’t recommend specifically stating you are going to win such and such as an end goal in itself, but as a part of an end goal.  For example, I like to write mine so that I have control over every aspect of the goal, and then I write what meeting my goal will allow me to do.   Here are a couple examples:

O.K., but not what I would recommend- I will win the 2012 National and World Championships.

Good- I will put in the work and meet or exceed all of my enabling and performance goals, allowing me to be the best practical shooter in the world.  This will allow me to win the 2012 World Championships and numerous other matches.

Either one will work, but I like to accept the fact that I might not win a certain match or event if there is someone that shows up that puts in the same or more work, and has more natural talent than I do.  The truth is that I might get beat.  I like to be honest with myself and accept that I am not perfect, and focus on what I can completely control (my preparation) rather than what I cannot.  I can’t control who is going to show up, and what kind of preparation they do.  I can only control what I do.  One thing I know is that if I do my preparation like I have planned, then I will have a very, very good chance at actually winning whatever I am training for. 

Performance goals- Performance goals are goals that are specific to the matches and practice sessions you shoot.  These are metric goals that are normally measurable and thus improvable in nature (numbers).  These are the things that you will have to be able to do to actually accomplish your end goals.  For example, if you want to win a World Speed Shooting title (Steel Challenge), you can look at the results from previous years and break them down into measurable performance related goals that you would have to be able to do to win that match.  You will probably set performance goals for each major event you wish to do well at.  Set them as many times per year as you want, and as your skill increases, keep raising the bar. 

Enabling goals- Enabling goals are the small things that you will have to do to build the skills and prepare your gear to allow you to reach your performance goals thus allowing you success at reaching your end goal.  Enabling goals are usually related to your training modules, so you may set a goal to meet or exceed your scheduled training blocks.  One great author has a term he calls +20 in relation to enabling goals (actually he doesn’t call them enabling goals, but that’s not the point).  This simply means that he has athletes he works with attempt to exceed their scheduled training session or the work in a given session by 20%.   

Your Goals- O.k., now lets get your goals down on paper.  I would put nice lines in this book for you to write them down, but I always thought that was stupid in every book I have seen.  You don’t really want to write in this book do you?  Get a piece of paper!  Better yet, get onto your computer if you have one and open up a word processing program so you can type your goals and print them.  This will allow you to have multiple copies and include one in your training logbook.  When you have the piece of paper or computer cranked up, answer the following to the best of your ability:

Ok, now that you have some end goal raw material, lets take that information and write it in first person, future tense.  I normally start with “I will…” because it is more of an enabler if you write something as if it is a concrete statement that you will follow.  Then write your end goal statement (it might have pieces of your performance and enabling goals in it), and your performance goals, and your enabling goals.  To simplify this, here is an example.  Remember that the focus of this book is the training program I have designed for you, so don’t stress this exercise, but DO IT!  Once again, I remind you that smart researchers and scientists have conclusively proven that you increase your chances of success by writing your goals down, so this is my first assignment for you.  Here is an example:

End Goal: “I will meet or exceed all of my scheduled training modules and become the best practical shooter in the United States and the world in 2014.  This will allow me to win numerous championships including the U.S. National Championships and the World Championship.”

Performance Goal/s:  “I will be able to accomplish the following performance related goals:  less than 2 penalties, 90% hit ratio, and a consistent time of 95% of the stage winners time in all major matches I will shoot.  In addition I will be able to execute the following on demand at major matches: 

• .90 second draws (targets 1-10 yards)
• 1.40 second moving draws (turning or stepping, 1-10 yards)
• 1.2 second moving reloads
• Transitions: .20, .30, .40, and .50 at my key distances

These performance goals will allow me to perform at the level I need to in order to meet my end goal/s.”

Enabling Goal/s:  “I will religiously schedule and execute all of my training sessions, including mental, physical, live and dry fire, visual, and practice matches.  I will focus on actively visualizing during all live and dry fire sessions and I will perform passive visualization utilizing my previous good performances as an “internal video”.  I will prepare better than my competitors, and I will follow my yearly plan and go through all of the preparation steps in order to reach the success level that I desire.”

Now go ahead and write your own.  Don’t hesitate to write more than one end goal (I recommend an end goal for every major accomplishment you wish to meet), and be very specific when you write your performance goals and enabling goals.