A New Year Means New Goal Setting!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Make 2025 your best year with horses!
What are your objectives for 2025?
The start of a new year presents a perfect opportunity to reflect, strategize, and establish goals for the upcoming year. What would you like this year to look like on Dec 31st?
As a rider do you have specific skills you would like to learn or hone? Do you want to compete? Are you looking for more ways to be at the barn more? Do you have fears to overcome?
As an instructor are you looking to build your business, offer new programs, want to pursue more education or learning strategies to have more balance and not burn out?
As a barn owner are there major projects that you would like to do this year that would add value for your clients? Do you want to expand your boarding business? Should you review expenses and adjust your fees?
Setting a SMART goal(s) for the year
Setting goals is vital to achieving success in any area of life, including horseback riding. One effective way to ensure that your goals are clear and attainable is by using the SMART criteria. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, providing a structured approach to goal-setting that enhances the likelihood of success.
Make sure your goal is specific and clearly define what you want to achieve. For example, instead of saying, “I want to improve my riding skills,” a specific goal would be, “I want to improve my balance while in my half-seat so that I can confidently jump a cross-rail.”
Having a goal that can be measured allows you to track your progress and evaluate your success. With our above goal, consider stating, “I want to be able to stay in my half-seat with arms out and not falling back into the saddle consistently during my lessons.” This way, you can gauge your improvement and make necessary adjustments to your training.
Setting an achievable goal ensures that they are realistic and gives motivation without feeling impossible to achieve. For instance, if you are just starting in riding, a goal of clearing a 2-foot jump may not be achievable in the short term. Instead, aim for incremental progress, such as mastering the cross-rail before moving on to higher obstacles.
The relevance of a goal ensures that it aligns with your larger aspirations or values. If your long-term objective is to compete in jumping competitions, improving your jumping technique is highly relevant. This alignment keeps you motivated and focused on your riding journey.
Lastly, establishing a timeframe creates a sense of urgency and helps maintain focus. For example, you might set a goal to achieve consistent half-seat position over a cross rail within 4 months of beginning targeted lessons. This time constraint prompts you to prioritize your training and stay accountable. Remember, goals won’t be achieved if you only devote occasional time to achieving them!
Take out a sheet of paper and jot down your thoughts. In a perfect world what would your 2025 look like?
Got your list...ok let’s break it down.
For your riding goals how can you achieve the new skill? Do you need to seek out a new barn/ instructor? Do you need to carve out more time to incorporate another session a week? Talk with other riders, instructors and those you value an opinion from and ask their thoughts. Read, watch videos, etc. of the skill you are looking to learn or hone. Make yourself a goal sheet and keep it handy to look at often and so you can check things off your list!
As an instructor, if you are looking to build or add on a program look at what other barns are offering near you. You may find that no one offers what you enjoy doing and that opens up a wonderful opportunity for you. Even if others are offering similar programs don’t sell yourself short. Your knowledge and experience are valuable. To ease the possibilities of burn out offer classes/lessons/workshops that you enjoy teaching. Ask your accountant to help you evaluate your expenses from 2024 and if your fees should be raised, If you do your own taxes you can still ask an accountant to review with you (after tax season) and offer advice.
As a barn owner is there something you can offer that folks are looking for in your area? What would add value to your facility and also attract and retain clients. Are there maintenance projects that need to be done this year? You should also review expenses and consider adjusting fees.
Keep your lists handy so you can review and check off things that you have accomplished. Remember you don’t need need to have 10 goals to consider your year successful! You can have one goal for 2025 and still be amazing :)
If you would like specific work sheets to aid you in coming up with your plan please let me know.
