New Year’s Eve is a time when we look forward to the year ahead and think about what we want and who we want to become, then set goals to achieve our outcomes. There’s nothing wrong with that, but to really improve in darts you need to work on that strategy a bit…
Most important when setting goals are:

Make goals specific, observable and in measurable terms

Setting general goals such as improving your scoring abilities is easy but it becomes hard to determine
how to do this without specific directives. By specifying how and when to do things will help to this end. Observable goals for your practice are those that can be measured and are specific.

The Virtual Coach is coded to work this way for your training.
The Virtual Coach sets short-term reasonable goals for you to achieve, to reach your long-term goal.
The goals are set to be just on top of your average to make you try to reach your peak performance. That’s how you’ll improve and that’s why you should use the Virtual Coach for your training.

Set a time limit for your goal

Trying to improve your average will be ineffective unless you have a specified date or event to work towards. Is this goal to be accomplished by the end of today’s practice session? The end of the week? Before an important tournament? Well-stated goals should be timely.

It is better to set moderate goals than easy or very difficult goals since it will push you to work hard in order to meet the goals. These goals are also more satisfying when reached.

Use multiple short-range goals to achieve your long range plans

The short-term goals are ‘short’ for a purpose. They bridge the gap between how you play right now and how you want to be able to play. These goals are, but not limited to; tasks, to-do’s to be accomplished within a short time frame not more than a year. Divide your long-term goals into multiple short-term goals.

Set practice as well as competition goals

If you’re also playing in different competitions, it is also important to set competitions goals.
Don’t just focus on your average. Set goals for how many ton+ you’ll throw, how many 180’s or how few < 60 you'll throw during a game or period.

Celebrate Your Success (It’ll Help You Reach Your Goals)

As important it is to forget your bad games or throws, it’s equally important to celebrate when you reach your goals.
If you celebrate your victories or when you’ve reached a goal, it will give you a great feeling and it will stay stronger in your memory and will be important to build your confidence in the long run.
Celebrating achievement will boost your confidence and increase motivation!

The point is to take a little time to reflect back on all the work you put in to achieve an accomplishment and relish the feeling of reaching your goal. Gratitude also promotes a positive mindset toward your next goal. The power of positive thoughts is truly immeasurable.

Celebrating your success will also help you aim higher in your goal development and build rituals and habits to make sustainable success a part of your lifestyle. You’ll simultaneously celebrate success and shift your focus to a new goal.

Treat yourself with a gift can be a satisfying and fun way to celebrate an accomplishment you’ve been working so hard to achieve. Maybe a new set of darts (that’s how Peter Wright normally celebrates btw 😉 …), a new cool darts shirt or maybe extend your premium membership for one year?

It is not just for fun, there’s actually science behind rewarding success.
There’s a part of your brain called the “reward system” that is activated when you reward or reinforce something stimulating, which releases dopamine. When you experience the dopamine reward, your brain pays attention to what you did to deserve your “feel-good” moment. Your brain calculates what’s needed to repeat that action and move toward achieving your goals. In science we trust!

So set your goals right now and make sure to practice hard to reach them!

MAKE IT COUNT!