The Ability and Know-How To Set and Achieve Powerful Goals
| If you are a parent you have goals for your child. They may be growth and developmental goals, academic goals, and maturity goals. As parents we want the best for our children. Now we must teach our children how to want the best for themselves by teaching them how to set goals |
Teaching your child how to set goals will be fun for the whole family! In fact after you help your child set their goals you can begin clearly setting your own, which will have a huge impact on you reaching them faster.
Here’s how to start… First, Define a Goal. I like to use this definition; a goal is a planned destination, a desired result. Or in kids’ language, something that you want. Goals help us stay on track, they give us reasons to do our very best. Once your child understands what goals are, they can begin to set goals in three areas; Academic, maturity, and athletic.
It’s effective for a child to set yearly goals and review them each month to measure how far they’ve come. What if they don’t reach their goal? Extend the deadline, that’s all.
Let’s get back to setting them.. On a clean sheet of paper have your child write the three categories at the top. Then under each category they will write as many goals as they can think of. Here’s one example “I completed the fourth grade with great results, October 2009.” This would be an example of an academic goal. Notice that we put the goal in the first person, present tense, and we state the goal as if it were already complete. It’s very important that you follow this procedure, by doing so your child’s goal will become part of their subconscious mind. Make sure your child re-writes their goals monthly. You can begin your own list of goals and review them monthly as well.
By having your child do this exercise each month you will be doing them a huge favour! It will take discipline on your part, but if you can follow through and stay with it you will give your child an edge.
Now… you have established some key basics of goal setting to help your children, let’s make sure that you have taken the time to focus on you. I challenge you to consider the life that you would very much like to enjoy. Go through this simple goal setting procedure with your children but focus on you. Show them that you too have goals, you have a direction, you have a purpose. Show them in your actions how you move closer to your goal. When you find yourself off track, show your children how you quickly refocus and continue to move forward. Whether you like it or not you are one of the biggest people and influences in your life and if you are wanting to teach your kids valuable life skills they will learn best by modelling your every move.
Review your goals with your family. Share the journey, inspire each other and have fun. and appreciate the journey . There will be days when you will need to coach each other through some tough times and test your ability to persevere no matter what. Sometimes you will need patience, sometimes you will need to take time enjoy/celebrate the journey and other times you are just going to need to put runs on the board. If what you truly desire is in line with your highest values you will find a way to reach your destination, you will attract the people you need and you will contribute greatly to others around you by sharing that journey. You will inspire others to take control of their lives.
In our Martial-Arts program we use Black Belt as a long term goal that each child will set for themselves. By setting this goal children learn the importance of tenacity and follow through in any activity. I want to leave you with our “Black belt success Cycle’. Know what you want, have a plan and a success coach, take consistent action, review your progress and renew your goals.
If you require further support in relation to goal setting please feel free to contact our team at Sunshine Coast Karate on 0435 255 323. We will take the time to sit with you and guide you through a short process to get you started.