Goal-Setting For Pageants

Previously I wrote about how to use affirmation and visualization techniques to help you envision yourself as the next titleholder. Last week I wrote about the difference between goals and desires. While winning a pageant cannot be a goal because of the fact that you have no control over the outcome, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t goals you need to set in order for you to become closer to winning.

Today we will cover goal-setting for pageants.

 

Based on your level of experience, what you want to get out of the pageant and the certain areas of competition you have, your goals will differ.

It is important to first establish the personal goals you want to achieve for the pageant. Do you want to build your interview skills, increase your overall self-confidence or improve your public speaking ability? Write them all down. You will also have specific goals for each phase of competition. Some of your goals may have more measurable aspects to them and others may not.

Let’s talk about two goals and show how each goal-setting technique can help.

SAFE Goal-Setting

Goal: To deliver your on-stage question with grace, ease and to feel at peace, knowing you answered it perfectly.

There are two methods of goal-setting you can use. The first is SAFE. This particular technique is supposed to help the right-brain, creative-oriented thinkers. The right side of our brains furnish our big-picture processes, helping us grasp total situations, reach overall insights, and see creative, alternative solutions. The right side also houses our faith-based spiritual thinking. These strengths are very powerful, so it makes sense that we can use them to our goal achievement advantage.

SAFE stands for

See the end result – Picture the end result in your mind. See yourself answering the question with    ease, being perfectly at peace. See it with great detail and color.

Accept the end result - Open yourself toward believing that you will deliver your on-stage question with ease and be 100% certain that it will happen. This is critical because it ensures that you have no doubts. Use affirmations to help increase your belief.

Feel the end result - As you visualize yourself having achieved the goal, allow yourself to feel the emotions. The stronger the emotion the stronger the attraction to the goal. The more real it becomes to you, the more it will manifest itself into becoming a reality.

Express the end result - Taking action on your strong belief in your goal is the final step. Describe it verbally, telling yourself all about it. You also want to set-up mock on-stage interview questions so you can practice it and get to the point where you know you will succeed in having the perfect on-stage answer.
 

Using SAFE brings into play the full power of your brain, primarily building on right-brain strengths, but using left-brain functions too. Using SAFE in goal setting harnesses your full creative powers.

SMART Goal-Setting

Goal: To be in the best shape I can be for competition.

Another technique commonly recommended for goal setting is termed SMART. This acronym advises that you set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time related.

Specific: Your goal should be described as specifically as possible. A goal of being in the best shape is not specific enough. A goal of winning the fitness award or getting an average score of 9’s (from 1 to 10) is.

New Goal: Get an average score of 9’s in fitness.

Measurable: To be effective, the goal must be measurable. Obviously, weight is measurable. You may know you want to get to a body fat percentage of 24% to be very fit, whereas having a better walk or increasing your self-confidence are not measurable as stated. If your goal is in an area like the latter, such as having a better walk, identify some aspects of better walking that are measurable. Perhaps spending 10 minutes each day practicing walking in your heels in evening gown would be appropriate.

Achievable: There’s an art to goal setting that revolves around the goal’s difficulty. A goal too easy is not energizing. A goal too difficult seems hopeless. Both too easy and too difficult are goal setting no-no’s. Set the level of challenge somewhere in between. A good way to decide that a goal is achievable but challenging is to visualize yourself reaching the goal. Can you see yourself there? Are you energized by seeing the vision? If both of these are not present, revisit your goal.

Realistic: Do you have the knowledge, skill set, and competency to reach your goal? If your goal involves weight loss, do you know all you should know about nutrition, calorie content, and metabolism to achieve your goal? If not, perhaps your first goal should be to gather this information or speak with a nutritionist and personal trainer.

Time: Setting a deadline provides necessary positive tension to give you the energy to get on with it. The time frame you select should be realistic. Losing twenty pounds in twenty weeks is realistic, whereas losing it in five weeks is not only unrealistic but unhealthy.

Once you’ve made a list of all the goals you need to achieve for the pageant, set small action steps to help you work toward achieving them.

If you have any other questions about setting pageant goals, let me know!