How To Improve Your Football Skills By Setting The Right Goals

Your future depends on it.

By Jack Downer AKA 'Street Panna', 2x Panna World Champion and Professional Coach.

This guide is for ambitious football players who have the drive and determination to reach the elite level, but are confused about how exactly to get there. If that’s you, keep reading. You are exactly who this guide was made for.

One thing’s for sure - most people will either skim read this and not take it seriously, or get distracted half way through. It's a long read. Only dedicated players will get to the end.

However, I have built this guide to explain the exact goal-setting formula I’ve used to win multiple world championships and improve personally and professionally throughout my life. With the right attitude and attention, it can help you get to where you want to be… and faster than you think. Stick with it, save it, and come back whenever you need it.

Firstly, let me just say I disagree with almost everything I see about goal setting, and here’s why.

Countless books, podcasts and brands tell you to ‘set goals, work hard and reach them’ as if it’s some kind of super simple idea that anyone can go out and execute.

We all know it’s not that simple.

First, so many people rush their goals. They say “I'm feeling motivated, I need to set some goals” and spend 5 minutes jotting some stuff down on their Notes App that they never open again. Keep reading - I’ll explain a much better way that actually helps you achieve the things you want.

Second, unpredictable things happen. One of my standard goals - to train every day of the year - ended quickly this year as I got ill, my car broke down and then I had to travel… all just 2 days into the year! Some people would get disheartened by this, and say “how can I smash the year when I’ve failed my goal just 2 days in?”

But that’s not me. Why? It all comes down to the way I’ve looked at goals throughout my career:

It’s not enough to set goals based on what you want to do.

These goals are weak on their own. There has to be a second layer:

The most powerful goals need to include who you want to become as a person.

Let me explain.

All the pro players I've met have been focused goal-setters throughout their careers.

The most powerful goals move you towards the person you want to be. For me, goals like “win the World Championships” or “get scouted for a pro team” or “score at every game this year” are not powerful enough on their own. These are what we call ‘Event Goals’ at Street to Stadium.

To truly succeed, you have to pair these goals with ‘Value Goals’. A very powerful Value Goal for football training is ‘to be a true competitor’. Because what attributes does a true competitor have?

They’re disciplined and focused
They look after their body
They keep going even if they experience setbacks

These things will serve you so much better in life than the title of World Champion. But at the same time, these are the only types of people who win world championships, get scouted and score consistent goals. So by setting goals to hold the right values, you’re so much more likely to achieve the things you want at the same time.

Now, I encourage you to do a quick exercise. Grab a piece of paper and make 3 columns like the below, or use this template we've made for you. Try filling out your own Event Goal, Value Goal and then add as many Attributes as you can which you think embody the sort of person who achieves the goal you want.

Right there you have an asset that doesn’t just tell you where you want to go, but the person you need to be in order to get there. There’s no running, no kidding yourself. Deep down, you know who that person is. Now, before you make a decision in life, you can ask yourself - “is this going to help or hurt the type of person I am going to be this year?”

And remember, the type of person who achieves everything you want in life isn’t someone else. It’s a variation of you.

It’s by focusing on these kinds of value-based goals throughout my career that I’ve succeeded in winning world championships, and building a life travelling the world and playing the game. I can’t say this clearly enough - I haven’t succeeded just by setting goals based on the events I want to happen. I have succeeded by also setting goals that improve my character, which then lead me to where I want to be, every time.

The world's best players constantly think about improving themselves.

This is why I’m not worried when setbacks I can’t control (my illness, my car breaking down) prevent me from fully executing my event-based goals 100% of the time. I know they couldn’t be avoided, and that the more important thing is that my character deals with them appropriately and gets back to the grind as soon as possible.

I truly believe that anyone who has achieved anything great has followed this principle. Take Arnold Schwarzenegger for example, who I’ve been reading about recently. Sure, I might not become the World’s Strongest Man at this stage in my career, but I can become the strongest version of myself by following the same personal principles and priorities that Arnie did - nutrition, self belief, strength, sleep, recovery, and perseverance.

These are all goals that improve your character, and who you are as a person. The event is less important! You can bet that not every one of Arnie’s sessions went according to plan, but you can also be sure his character meant a hell of a lot to him. He succeeded across multiple Event Goals (fitness, acting, politics) using the exact same Value Goals. That’s the power of setting them and sticking to them.

So, now it’s time to get real. Here’s my 3-step plan for setting powerful goals and sticking to them year-round, no matter what.

1. Reflection

When it’s time to set goals (either at the start of the year or whenever you’re ready to get serious - the best day to start is today), the first thing to do is reflect. Reflection is super important and it’s a skill every athlete should have.

As an ambitious athlete, you’re always reflecting and analysing. You’re reflecting on highs and lows, good and bad. Pro teams do this after literally every game, and we can apply the same to our lives. It’s only by analysing what I thought was bad that I can build a plan to ensure more good and reduce bad in the New Year.

I look at this personally as well as professionally. When was I a good teammate, or a bad one? Was my behaviour and my integrity always the best it could have been? Did I always put my 100% best effort into everything I did, including all the work I put into Street to Stadium? All of these questions are just as important to me as whether I’ve maximised my playing opportunities around the globe.

I recommend you sit down and think about this, and make some notes. Be honest with yourself, even if you have to admit things you’d rather not examine. And as always, when it comes to something this important, put your phone away. If you’re serious about it, take it seriously.

Setting the right goals has allowed me to travel all over the world doing what I love.

2. Breaking down your goals

We’ve already discussed the fact that you can’t just set an Event Goal (like ‘win the World Championships’) without pairing it with a Value Goal (like ‘be a true competitor’). But how do you break down these goals so they become manageable and achievable?

My formula is to begin with a 5-year goal and work my way down to a 1-day goal in 5 steps. It helps to write this down or use this template we've made for you. Try it for yourself. Here’s just one example of how this could look, based on my road to the Panna World Championships:

The key here is that we’re breaking our goals down into small wins. If I can stick to this day-by-day, I’ll achieve my weekly goal. If I can stick to that, week-by-week, I’ll see massive improvements at the end of the month and hit that goal, too. And so on.

3. Sticking to your goals

Now for the best part. The way you stick to your goals is by remembering the main point of all of this - that if you work hard to develop yourself into the person you want to be, your goals will follow.

What sort of person achieves the 1-day goal of training for 20 minutes, eating healthily, staying hydrated and sleeping well? They are focused. They value the benefits of good health. They respect their body enough to let it recover.

What sort of person achieves the 1-week goal of not missing a single training session? They’re ambitious. They prepare their kit the night before to make it easy for themselves to get up and go. They don’t let less-than-perfect sessions get them down.

What sort of person enters and competes well in a tournament? They are diligent, and research tournaments close to them that they can enter. They plan well. They look after their body so they can have a clear mind when it’s time to compete.

If you focus on the person you want to be, all of these goals will follow. That’s the secret to sticking to goals and seeing the rewards.

Remember, deep down, you know who that person is. You can always use the same important question when you’re making a decision: “is this going to help or hurt the type of person I am going to be this year?”

The final thing to say is that your goals may be entirely different to mine. It’s very likely that they are. I can’t set your goals for you. But this formula has turned my ambition into real success over the years, and I truly believe in it. It works in both your personal and professional life, and can truly help turn you into the person you want to be.

For anyone who wants to get started right now, we've made this simple template for you to fill out your goals and make serious plans to smash the year. All you need is a Google account. Just hit ‘File’ and ‘Make a copy’ to make your own version and edit yourself.

Thank you for reading, it means a lot. I’ll see you at the academy.

- Jack Downer, AKA ‘Street Panna’