1. Plan ahead
Yes – you saw this tip coming a mile away! But it really does help, especially when the unexpected happens. Make sure you plan ahead which can be as simple as making time each weekend to map out the upcoming week. There are so many great benefits in doing this such as:

- You will start the week with a positive mindset, rather than feeling overwhelmed
- If unexpected things do happen, you can clearly see where to reschedule and adjust your week, so that you can still squeeze in those steps towards your goals
- A big one for pole dancers is that planning can help you avoid overtraining and injury, allowing yourself to see which days can be rest days and you won't feel guilty for taking them!
- You will start to see patterns in performance and will discover which days or times work for you and your body the best. Not a morning workout person? Amazing – evening pole classes it is! Tired by the end of the week? No problem – Train the challenging tricks are the beginning of the
week and dance your way into the weekend.

Planning your week helps you to focus and channels that motivated energy into action – even on days when you CBF. Whether you plan in your phone calendar or prefer a good old-fashioned planner, mapping it out will keep you committed to powering through your pole and fitness goals!



2. Write your goals down
Now that you are the proactive planning QUEEN, you know the benefits in writing things down. It helps the overwhelming to-do tasks flow out of your head and seem more manageable. The same thing happens when you write down your goals – they become more tangible and you are more likely to take them head-on, and our friend science backs this!

A psychology professor at the Dominican University in California, Dr Gail Matthews, conducted a study on goal setting and discovered that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. Um, WOW! Excuse us while we pick our jaw up off the ground and fire up our glitter pens.

Writing down your goals helps to narrow your focus and work through which ones are the most important to you. How many times have you made meaningless to-do lists which don’t actually get you closer to the goals you value the most? (But I’m sure they looked pretty and were perfectly colour
coordinated). Writing down your goals will help you to prioritise them so you can take one step closer to living the dream!

3. Set mini-goals
While writing down that you would like to get your aerial shoulder mount by the end of the year is GREAT, you still need to break down how you will do this. We have seen enough Harry Potter movies to believe magic exists, but even Harry had to rock up to Quidditch practice.

Sometimes the end goal can feel unattainable and this is where mini-goals come in! Mini-goals are the smaller steps you need to tick off before you can achieve the “big” goal. For example, your big goal could be to aerial shoulder mount by the end of the year. So, a mini-goal would be to shoulder mount
from the floor first. To do this you may need to take one extra pole conditioning class per week, book in some extra private lessons to work on your technique, or schedule a weekly practice session dedicated to shoulder mount conditioning. Again, narrowing it down to more specific mini-goals. Once you can shoulder mount from the ground – TICK! Mini-goal unlocked! The next mini-goal may then be to deadlift your shoulder mount from the floor without any push off the ground, and so on.

If looking at the whole staircase seems daunting, just focus on the step in front of you. Once you have written down your big goals, start to work backwards and think about the mini-goals you can put in place and how they can fit into your weekly plan.



4. Tik Tok on the clock
Ke$ha may wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy, but we would rather wake up in the morning feeling like Miss Filly – and slay our pole goals!

Setting deadlines and timeframes for some people can feel like too much pressure – and that’s okay. You do you boo! But for some pole dancers, a deadline is the perfect kick up the booty! Putting deadlines on your big goals can help you to map out your mini-goals and keep you on track towards the
end result. Pole competitions are a prime example of this. If you are accepted into a pole dancing competition and know that you will be on stage in 8 weeks, your gameface is on baby! You can map out your training, how often you will train each week, what you will train, when it needs to be completed by
and what you will be focusing on closer to the comp ie full run-throughs of your show rather than perfecting selected combos.

However, you don’t need a pole competition to provide a deadline. A great way to set timeframes in pole dancing land is to utilise the studio terms. Most pole studios run in blocks of 8-week terms so perhaps the end of term will signal your big goal deadline which then gives you a focus for each week of the term leading up to it. No matter what your pole goals are, setting deadlines or “due dates” can be a fantastic way to keep you and your pole-priorities in check, especially when life gets busy.



5. Shout it from the top of a mountain
Okay so you may not live very close to a mountain, but you can still tell the world about your pole goals and what you WILL be achieving because going public makes you accountable! How many times have you pondered over an idea when suddenly you blink, it’s been 6 months and nothing has happened?
However, if someone asks you how your latest project is going, you want to be in a position to proudly give them an answer.

In the pole world, the project you are working on is you! Which is equally exciting and scary at the same time because pole tricks can be challenging and learning new skills can take practice. Yet by sharing the journey with your pole gang, the path to your pole goals gets so much easier! Perhaps the whole crew
wants to share a private with you to work on the combo of your dreams, or it could be as simple as finding that one friend that you have check in with at the end of each week. Social media is also a great tool for this! Nothing screams accountability like telling everyone on Instagram that you are working on getting into an intermediate level or trying to nail your Jade split. Perhaps you are sharing your flexibility journey or behind the scenes training leading up to a pole comp.

Tell anyone that will listen what your pole goals are and find that amazing person in your life who will help you level up and smash your dream goal. Dorothy didn’t get all the way to the Emerald City without Toto and neither should you! Find your Toto and be each other’s hype crew – sparkly, red heels and all!



6. Treat yo’self
You have planned your week, written down your goals, set mini-goals with deadlines and have a goal- buddy to keep you accountable. Like good grip days and slippery days, there will always be times where life just gets in the way and you might miss a pole class or practice session. But when you do complete
your mini-goals and most importantly, your BIG goal, it’s essential that you celebrate this! You have put in the work and dedicated yourself to achieving it, so make sure you take a moment to do a happy dance – or a happy twerk!

Whether you treat yo’self with a new pair of pole heels, a bonus dance class at the end of the week, or a sweet new pole outfit from AMBR Designs, make sure you take the time to pat yourself on peach before chasing exciting, new pole goals.