The Psychology of the Sport of
Speaking – Motivation.
Whinks

Introduction.
• What makes an athlete train
day in, day out, in all weathers,
all year round?
• Why do they want to improve?
• What is driving them to strive
for success?
• Success itself?
• To be the best that you can be
in your chosen sport or activity.

What Motivates Us?
• We may be fortunate enough to
be able to lead and guide
ourselves.
• Many of us will rely on a primary
coach.
• We may call on a group of
trusted older graduates.
• Intrinsic & Extrinsic

Goal Setting
• Before you start to set goals,
you should try to consider the
background to goal setting
itself:
• Understanding your commitment to
the sport (of speaking).
• Understanding the level you want to
reach within the sport (of speaking)
• Knowing the skills that will have to
be acquired and the levels of
performance that will be needed.

General Guidelines.
• Positive Statement: Express
your goals positively.
• Be Precise.
• Set Priorities.
• Record Goals.
• Keep immediate Goals
Small.

Set Specific Goals.
• Set specific measurable goals.
• If you achieve all aspects of a
measurable goal, then you can be
confident in your achievement or that of
your graduate.
• If you consistently fail to meet a
measurable goal, then you can adjust it
or analyse why you have not succeeded.
• After analysis, you can take appropriate
action and approach it from a different
angle.
• Or set smaller targets to build up to the
larger goal.

Set Realistic Goals .
• Goals may be set unrealistically
high for the following reasons:
– Other people’s influence.
– Insufficient information on the
situation.
– Always expecting your best
performance.
– Lack of self-respect and
knowledge of your own limits.

Setting Goals Too Low
• Alternatively goals can be set
too low because of:
– Fear of failure (Where have we
heard that before?)
– Not willing to put in the effort
required:
• Time
• Complacency

Setting Goals at the Right Level.
• Skill that is which can only be
gained through practice.
• Set goals so that they are
slightly out of your immediate
grasp.
• No-one will put serious effort
into achieving a goal that they
believe is unrealistic.
• Remember that the belief that
a goal is unrealistic may be
counter productive.

Where Goal Setting Can Go Wrong.
• Goal setting can go wrong for
a number of reasons:
• Goals can be set unrealistically
high.
• Goals can be set too low.
• Goals can be so vague that they
are useless.
• Too many goals may be set and
then worked towards at the same
time.

Achieving Goals and Feedback.
• When you have achieved a
goal, take the time to enjoy it
and what achieving it has
meant.
• Take the opportunity to reward
yourself appropriately if you
have been working towards it
for a long time.

Feedback: Failure.
• Where you have failed to reach a goal,
ensure that you learn the lessons of the
failure.
• These may be:
• That you didn't try hard enough
• That your technique was faulty and needs to be
adjusted
• That the goal you set was unrealistic

Feedback: Failure Cont.
• Use this information to adjust the goal.
• Feeding back turns everything into a positive
learning experience.
• Even failing to achieve a goal can be a step
forward towards better technique.
• Remember that the fact of trying something,
even if it does not work, often opens doors
that would otherwise have remained closed.

Feedback: Success.
• Where you have achieved a goal always try
and feedback into your next goals:
• If the goal was easily achieved, make your next goals
harder
• If the goal took too long to achieve, make the next goals
a little easier
• If you learned something that would lead you to change
goals still outstanding, do so
• If while achieving the goal you noticed some turbulence
in your recovery, take appropriate action to fix this.

Feedback: Success Cont.
• Goals change as you mature and travel along
Freedom’s Road.
• Adjust them regularly to reflect this growth.
• If goals do not hold any attraction any longer,
have a break and try other things.
• To reach your target should bring you real
pleasure, satisfaction and achievement.

Summary of Goal Setting.
• Goal setting is an
important method of:
– Deciding how committed
you are to the sport of
speaking.
– Deciding what is
important for you to
achieve.
– Motivating yourself to
achieve.
– Building your self-
confidence.
• You can set goals
effectively by:
– Phrasing them positively
– Defining them precisely
– Prioritising multiple goals
– Writing them down
– Keeping them
manageable: Not too
hard, but not too easy.

The SMARTER Principle.
• You may now be thinking, “Whinks, I’ve
reached information overload!”
• Set your goals based on the S.M.A.R.T.E.R
principle.
• Goals should be:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Affirmative
• Realistic
• Time based
• Evaluated
• Recorded