Setting and Achieving Goals
Why set a goal?
In Alice in Wonderland, Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which way she should go, to which he asks where she wants to go. Alice says she doesn’t know and the Cheshire Cat says that it doesn’t really matter which way she goes in that case. The moral of the story if you don’t know where you want to end up, you are unlikely to get there. If you haven’t clearly defined your goal, you also won’t know if you’ve reached it or not. We get what we think about and focus on and so it is important to be create a detailed, specific goal and to keep it constantly on our minds.
How to set a goal?
Some of you may have heard of SMART goals but I’m going to tell you about SMERTIE goals.
S – Specific
M – Measurable
E – Evidential
R – Responsible
T – Timed
I – Inspirational
E – Emotional
Specific means get down to the detail – not just I want to learn my times tables but which times tables.
Measurable refers to being able to break down the goal into smaller steps which can be measured along the way.
Evidential means having an answer to the following questions: How will I know that I have achieved my goal? What proof/evidence will I have?
Responsible means that the achievement of the goal must depend only on your own actions not anyone else.
Timed means picking a specific date when you will have achieved your goal.
Inspirational links to your motivation and focusing on how this will benefit and improve your life.
Emotional requires you to focus on how you will feel when you’ve achieved your goal.
Your goal should always use positive language and be written in the first person and present tense.
Example:
It is 27th November 2009 and I am so proud of myself for learning all my times tables from 0x up to 10x. I can answer 20 random times tables questions in under 1min on the “****” website. It’s brilliant because now I can do my multiplication and division sums so much quicker. My confidence has gone through the roof and I love maths now.
How to achieve your goal
1. Read your goal out loud, with a big smile on your face, at least twice a day.
2. Break down your goal into smaller steps, assign dates to when you will achieve them (break down into months or weeks).
3. Now break down the first of these smaller steps into your daily/weekly actions.
By now you should be beginning to feel much more confident that you can achieve your goals if you just take it a day at a time.
4. Decide on some mini-rewards for achieving each of the smaller steps and a larger reward for achieving your overall goal.
5. Write down 10 negative consequences of not achieving your goal and 10 positive benefits of achieving your goal and read these regularly.
6. Write a letter to a friend/parent/teacher dated the day after your goal deadline and describe how great you feel at having achieved your goal and how your life is different, again read this often.
7. Now you have your map/plan and know exactly how to start so now take action! When you reach your first small step, celebrate and reward yourself and then write down the daily/weekly actions you need to reach the next step and so on. All you have to do to reach your goal is to successfully complete the actions you’ve planned each day, one day at a time.
