February 2025 - 47

Newer Players
BY ADAM PARRISH
adam@adamparrishbridge.com
adamparrishbridge.com
I
don't believe in New Year's resolutions,
but I do believe in goal setting.
The beginning of the year is
a great time for this. I'm setting goals
for myself for 2025; I encourage you
to do the same.
I do this every January with my
students. We usually check in around
July to see how we're doing and
reassess if necessary. Sometimes
we're way ahead of pace and want
to reset a more ambitious goal;
sometimes we realize a goal was too
ambitious and scale it back a bit.
Come December, we assess our final
progress.
There is an acronym that's very
important for goal setting: SMART. It
stands for
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound
Specific
A common trap is to be too vague
in your goal setting. " I want to get
better at declarer play. " What does
that mean? How will you know if you
have achieved it? Choose something
more specific: " I want to get better at
squeezes. " Now you have something
you can design a deliberate practice
regimen around.
Measurable
Specific goals are much easier to
measure than vague ones, but you
still need to set a goal for yourself
Parrish the Thought
Setting SMART goals
that you can measure. " Getting better
at squeezes " is a specific goal, but
it's not measurable. " I want to plan
out and execute at least one simple
squeeze and one double squeeze this
year " is something you can quantify.
Some other easily measurable goals:
Masterpoints:
* Win 200 masterpoints this year
Results:
* Average over 50% in club games
* Win an open pairs game
Practice:
* Get through all of the Bridge Master
problems on BBO
* Bid all of the hands in the Bulletin's
The Bidding Box with my partner
Reading:
* Read 10 bridge books
* Read the Bulletin every month
Achievable
Be realistic. " I want to win the
Spingold " is a reasonable goal for a
bridge legend like Steve Weinstein,
but not for most of us. It's also too
specific. Wouldn't winning the
Vanderbilt be good enough? " I want
to win a major team event " would be
a better goal.
Think about what you accomplished
last year and try to do just
a little bit better. If you earned 100
masterpoints, set a goal for 150. If
you won one Gold Rush game, aim
for two. Or better yet, aim for winning
an open game. If that feels unrealistic,
how about finishing first in
Flight B in an open game?
Relevant
These specific goals should map
onto your overall plan for improvement.
" I want to get elected to my
unit board " is a fine goal, but not one
that is going to help improve your
bridge game.
Time-bound
I'm working on a one-year timeline.
That's somewhat arbitrary, but it's
important to have a timeframe set.
Otherwise, there is no pressure. If
you just want to make Life Master,
but you don't give yourself a deadline,
what incentive do you have to work
at it?
Setting specific and measurable
goals can feel like a shot in the dark.
Pick something that feels achievable
but be ready to reassess if you overor
under-shot it. If you set a goal of
100 masterpoints for the year and get
to 90 by June, push that goal to 200.
Here are some of my goals for the
year. Putting them here in writing
makes them real. I encourage you to
do the same.
* Read 52 bridge books
* Make the Round of 16 in a national
knockout
* At least three top-10 finishes in
NABC+ events
* Play all of the hands on Bridge
Master
* Practice with my partner, Greg, at
least once per week
* Get to the `rank` of Ace on the
IntoBridge Ranked Game 2
February 2025 | Bridge Bulletin |
47
http://www.adamparrishbridge.com
February 2025

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