Personal Learning Style and Goal Setting Session 4: Goal Setting Part 2

What is a goal? Goals are results or achievements of a directed effort. Real life goals are similar to goals in sports because in a sport you work hard to improve your skills and are rewarded by scoring goals.

SMART Don’t forget- goals should be SMART! Specific Measureable Attainable Relevant Time-bound

Goal Categories You can have different categories of goals. For example: ◦ Learning Goals ◦ Personal Goals ◦ Behaviour Goals ◦ Career Goals Can you think of goals that would fit into each of those categories?

Activity Complete the: “Learning Goal Worksheet”, “Personal Goal Worksheet”, “Behaviour Goal Worksheet” and “Career Goal Worksheet”.

How long will it take to reach my goals? However, we can classify goals under three general categories... A long-term goal is generally a more complex goal that takes about two to five years to accomplish. You may think of this as a long range picture. A mid-term goal still requires many steps but only takes about a year to a year and a half to complete. A short-term goal is accomplished in approximately six months.

Long-term goal strategies Long-term goals can be quite discouraging as they are challenging and take a long time to complete. To accomplish a long-term goal: Use mid-term and short-term goals to keep you on track! Breaking your large goal into smaller goals will help you maintain positivity, boost your motivation and measure your progress.

Review your goals Look at the four goal sheets you just completed and decide whether your goals are long-term, mid-term or short-term

How long will it take to reach my goals? It all depends on you! The amount of time you come to class, your goal requirements and your level of motivation all contribute to the duration of your goal.

Activity Participate in the “Short-term, mid-term and long-term goals discussion”.

Activity Choose one of the goals from the four goal sheets that you would consider to be a long-term goal. Break that goal down into manageable steps.

Roadblocks When setting any goal you will most likely run into roadblocks. It is important to consider these possible roadblocks before you start working towards your goal so you can be prepared to work around the challenges.

Roadblocks Some possible roadblocks could be… Goals Money Time Childcare Family responsibilities Health Transportation

Motivations Don't forget that there are also many different factors that can help you move forward with your goal. This will help you when you encounter barriers or roadblocks.

Activity Complete the "Forward and Back Motivations and Roadblocks" activity.

Roadblocks What happens if you just can't meet your goals? Are you a failure? Certainly not! As you work towards a goal, it is easy to become interested in a different path. It is okay to revise your goals. In fact, you should frequently revisit your goals to make sure they are still going to benefit you. Life changes constantly and so does our needs, wants, desires and values. Many times when we veer off the pre- determined path we end up in a better place.

Activity Do the “Roadblock Brainstorming” activity.

Milestone 58

Credits This Power Point was created by Laubach Literacy Ontario. The resources can be downloaded free of charge at This Employment Ontario project was funded by the Ontario Government All website links were accurate at the time of original distribution-March All of the images and clip art used in this Power Point are from Clipart.com and Microsoft Office.com.