How Does The Global Pandemic of COVID-19 Affect Your Goals?

The Psychologist will tell you that we are all either intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. That’s the fancy way of saying that some of us make up our minds about doing something and then we do, while others just get influenced by other people or things to get stuff done and then it is done. Whichever category you fall in, and I hope you do by now, your fitness and performance efforts should actually be driven by a goal(s). You may have established those goals at the start of your Pre-season, or for many, it began as a New Year Resolution.

But how does the global pandemic of COVID-19 impacts those goals? For the sports person who is eyeing a great season with personal best performances, the recent cancellation of many of the sporting activities has resulted in mixed feelings of disappointment and the feeling that you may have wasted your efforts so far.

Truth be told, progression towards achieving goals is not really a straight line concept. Each time you hit the field of play your performance may not be better than the previous outing and producing better is not automatic or the only possible outcome. That’s an ideal world which, even without the threat of COVID-19, such an experience can be a bit unique. Real life is not quite so. Setbacks are part of the game. The setbacks might be due to injuries, poor conditions for competition, temporary discomforts among other factors. But a key component to the longevity of a sports person and their success is Resilience, the ability to bounce back from a set back. In these times you need some resilience in your knapsack and your water bottle.

As it relates to your goals, I wouldn’t make too many adjustments to them at this time. If your goal was to perform at a particular event and that event is cancelled, then choose a different event later in the season and work equally as hard towards it. Achieving the performance target is important to your overall development and you owe it to yourself. If you are extrinsically motivated then it might be a bit more difficult for you to reset, but you will need someone to press that reset button for you.

I would expect that the strategy to achieve your goals might have to change and the same is expected of your level of effort. Stay positive, stay focused and press RESET.

David Riley
Performance Coach
IAAF Level 5 (Sprints & Hurdles)