How to improve your yearly cycling performance in only 5 mins

From the book “What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School” by Mark McCormack there is a classic and well-quoted case study about the power of written goal setting. I read about it years ago and it has stuck in my mind ever since.

It was done on students at the Harvard Business School MBA in 1979.

Students were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?“.

Only 3% of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13% had goals, but they were not in writing, and 84 % had no specific goals at all.

They were interviewed again, ten years later and it was found that the 13% of the class that had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% that had no goals at all. The 3% of the students that had clearly written their goals down were earning, on average, 10 times as much as all of the remaining 97 % of students!

Ok, so apparently this study was a myth but don’t discredit it too soon.

Getting clarity on your cycling goals will certainly help you with your riding. I see it all the time with the cyclists I coach.

The ones that have clear goals and a training plan with coaching support to help them achieve them are the ones that get the best results.

I’m not just saying that or trying to brag because I’m a coach running a coaching business. I just wanted to let you know that I’m in the trenches helping riders prepare for events and over the last ten years I’ve seen it time and time again.

So, never underestimate to power of goal setting. And, the great thing is that you can apply this to all areas of your life, no only your cycling.

So, spend five minutes writing down your cycling goals and see what happens.

You’ll have nothing to lose and it could be the best five minutes you have to spend all year on improving your cycling performance.