Planning a Journey

In Spid the Spider Has a Day Off Spid goes to visit his friends, though he misses his friends because he gets side-tracked and failed to plan his journey. So he learns some valuable lessons about the risks in taking short-cuts and the importance of planning. Achieving intended destinations starts with setting goals and taking steps to reach that goal. Because if you don’t have a goal, you’ll never reach your intended destination. Having goals and determination to reach goals, aspire to greater things in life, are important parts of a ‘growth mindset’. Though as four out of ten children have a ‘fixed mindset’ they will need help and confidence to aspire to greater things in life. Though through simple tools and determination they too should realise that there should be no limit to what they wish for themselves.

Parent and Teacher Notes

So here’s a simple three-step thinking exercise to help your children think about possible goals, and help instil a goal-oriented and planning mindset.

Goal setting can work over one or more time periods; a teaching period, a day,  a school term, a school year, a holiday, specific target ages or a life-time. You can choose the time-period. In a teaching period, a reasonable goal might be to understand the concept of a goal or objective. You can then repeat this exercise by setting goals for a longer time-period. You can then reinforce the concept of setting goals by explaining the teaching or learning aim of every lesson. Also by repeating this exercise by working with your children to set goals for  longer time-periods.

Step 1: Where are we/you now?

In an exercise to explain goals and plan how to achieve them, first ask children what they know about goals or objectives. Also what goals or objectives can apply to and why we should bother with goals or objectives? Sporting analogies are entirely reasonable as the aim of the teams is to score goals and win!  Travelling analogies are also reasonable, as journeys start in one place and finish in another. But most importantly encourage children to think about whether they have, and encourage setting of personal goals. These can be small or large.

Step 2: Where do we/you want to be?

Continuing the sporting analogy, what is the goal or objective of a football or netball player or team? While participation (to get and stay fit, learn to play together as a group) might be part of the answer for school teams, for professional teams (objectives will include winning trophies, getting promoted, playing on the international stage, entertaining and making supporters happy, and providing financial rewards for the players and club owners).

Most importantly encourage children to think about whether they have, and encourage setting of personal goals. These can be small or large.  Such as to learn to read as this is the gateway to learning.  When thinking about goals ask children to visualise themselves achieving the goal, and the consequences of achieving that goal.

Step 3: How do we get there (i.e. from your current destination to desired destination)

The answer to this question is unlikely to be in one big step. So encourage children to think broadly about the challenge and draw lines on the roadmap to make a series of steps, like a railway track. Then to consider the activities to undertake, or skills to acquire to reach their destination. There are no wrong answers, it is the process of thinking this way that is the first step on the route to personal growth.

You may also wish to introduce some personal examples here as well. It remains the case, for example, that not everyone knows what they want to do as a career or job at an early age. A good place in this instance is to focus on doing things you enjoy.

Equally, unusually some do know what they want to do from a very early age. Warren Buffett is a good example. For those unfamiliar with him, his goal in life, from a very young age, is revealed only in the last couple of pages of his 707 page book, The Snowball, Warren Buffett and the Business of Life.