How far have you come?

Seems a straight forward question, but how do you measure your progress?

If you do not have written goals, records of past performances (written or Videos), how do you know how far you have come?

If you rely on your memory, the chances are that your recollections will focus around either very good, or very poor performances and not ALL performance be they in training or competition.

Spending 30 mins after each training or competition, writing down your perceptions will provide you with reference points.  If you change something in your technique or training, make a note of it.  That way if your performance suddenly drops, you will know what you have changed, why and have a reference point to go back to if all else fails.  Records provide you with all you need to know how far you have come, use them and make sure you capture as much details as you can recall, then you will know exactly how far you have come.

If you have a development plan, link the two together and that will allow you to fully focus on getting to where you want to go, because you have no need to clutter your thinking with the analysis anymore.  It is written down, freeing you up to focus on what is important.