Goals For the New Year

2015 came and went in a blur but its a year we'll never forget! At the start of the year we made a post about setting goals. We know that an angler without goals will continue to fish the same places, the same techniques, and rarely sees true success. We challenged each of you to set goals as well. Now that the year has passed we want to look back at those goals and see what we learned.

Did you accomplish your goals? What did you do right? What did you do wrong? And what are you going to do in 2016 to continue moving forward? As an example let's look at Tim and my goals to see how we stacked up. Keep in mind, goals need to be lofty. They need to stretch you and cause you to develop as an angler. If your goals aren't a challenge that takes constant drive, you're shooting too low!

In 2015 both Tim and I set what we considered outrageous goals. We really stretched ourselves and were specific about what we wanted. I'll start by saying, we didn't accomplish all of them. But to my own amazement, we accomplished most of them! There is not a doubt in my mind that if we hadn't publicly committed ourselves to this, our year would have been very different!  Here is what we committed to for 2015...

Tim:

  • Help at least 3 friends break their "personal best" while fishing together
  • Catch (another) 13+ lb largemouth
  • Break a bass fishing world record

Matt:

  • Help a minimum of 1 client catch a 10+ lb largemouth
  • Catch a world record of any species (but I'd prefer an 11 lb Spotted Bass)
  • Catch a 15 lb largemouth in Clearlake

Those goals were crazy right?! World records?! You've got to be kidding me!! On January 12th, 2015 Tim broke the WORLD RECORD for Spotted Bass with a GIANT 10 lb 6 oz beauty! Several weeks later Matt broke not one, but two Channel Cat World Records! Now isn't that interesting? Tim's goal specifically stated that he wanted a BASS world record and Matt's wasn't as specific, settling for a world record of any species. Here we are, a year later looking back, and both of those goals came to fruition exactly as we had set out to accomplish them. 

Additionally, Tim was successful in helping his friends catch new personal bests just as he had planned. He fell short on the 13 lb largemouth but that's what 2016 is for! Matt successfully guided his clients to fish over 10 lbs and as a kicker, guided a client to a bonus world record catfish! He too fell short of his goal for a giant largemouth but will to continue pursuing that 15 lb Clearlake bass in 2016!

This goes to show that no matter how outrageous the goal, once you commit it to paper and have that accountability, you can accomplish virtually anything! We challenge you again to set lofty goals for 2016! What will you do this year? Will you stay the same or will you catch that personal best? Will you catch a new species? Perhaps break a record? This is your year and we look forward to being a part of it!

To see our goals for 2016 join us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tacticalbassin/ and share in the conversation.