Goal Setting and Planning Exercise: Identify and Prioritize Goals

Goal Setting and Planning Exercises

Scientific studies increasingly find that we learn best through play, and through project-based curriculum. The core premise is that when we are passionate about what we want, we are motivated to learn how to do it. But sometimes identifying our passions (goals!) is the trickiest step. Teasing out our desires reveals the best route to continued growth and achievement.

This 13-page instantly downloadable PDF file includes three exercises:

1. Identifying Goals

• • Brainstorm your top 10 goals across three categories: Projects; Experiences; and Personal Growth.

2. Prioritizing Goals

• • Prioritize your top 3 goals within each category.

• • Identify the dependencies of your goals:

• • • Money -- How much will it cost? How much will the materials cost?

• • • Time -- How much time will it take to do?

• • • Help -- Who do you need to ask for help? How much money and time will it cost them to help you?

• • Use these dependencies to help with prioritization and time frame.

• • Recognize that including Help is valuable for reminding ourselves that our goals impact the people around us, and their workload as well, which can help us have reasonable expectations of others.

3. Lifetime Goals

• • Take a broader perspective of your goals. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

• • Think about the steps you need to take to get there, using the Money, Time, and Help prioritization categories as guides.

• • Remember that lifetime goals do not have to be lofty. They can simply be reminders to do things you actually love to do. Recording them is acknowledging that they are important to you, and you will choose to make time for them.

• • Sometimes we don't have time to pursue a goal in the short-term, and recording it as a medium- or long-term goal gives us permission to not feel obligated to pack in so much all at once.

Each exercise includes a version with no lines, which is perfect for younger students who prefer to draw pictures of their goals than write about their goals, and a version with lines for comfortable writers.