{"id":4012,"date":"2018-06-04T07:04:20","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T11:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seedsofliteracy.org\/?p=4012"},"modified":"2022-10-12T12:50:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T16:50:10","slug":"how-to-reach-big-goals-with-lists-of-small-tasks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seedsofliteracy.org\/how-to-reach-big-goals-with-lists-of-small-tasks\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Reach Big Goals With Lists of Small Tasks"},"content":{"rendered":"

~Capital \u201cG\u201d Goals~<\/strong>
\nAt Seeds of Literacy, our adult students come in with a pretty big, capital G Goal: to earn their high school equivalency. But when that doesn\u2019t happen right away, some get frustrated. They fail to see all that they HAVE achieved because all they see is the goal that hasn\u2019t yet been met. Sometimes this means they stop coming, and no one wants that.<\/p>\n

That word \u201cGoal\u201d can be pretty intimidating. It\u2019s big, it\u2019s scary, and sometimes it is hard to picture. It can seem really far away, unrealistic, or unachievable. And often, our students have the end of the finish line in their minds, but no idea the path they need to take to get there.<\/p>\n

We talk a lot about SMART Goals<\/a><\/strong>. The idea of SMART Goals is that they are S<\/strong>pecific, M<\/strong>easurable, A<\/em>ttainable, R<\/strong>elevant, T<\/strong>imely. To make the Big, Scary Goal all of those things almost always means breaking it into smaller, easily managed steps.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Eating an Elephant<\/strong><\/p>\n

The SMART Goal concept doesn\u2019t make sense to some students, and if you\u2019re one of them, don\u2019t worry.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an old joke that asks \u201cHow do you eat an elephant?\u201d And the answer is \u201cOne bite at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For our students, earning an HSE is eating that elephant. We want them to see that each bite matters.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where a basic list comes in, specifically a To-Do-List. There\u2019s a powerful sense of accomplishment that comes from simply checking off a task on a list. Checking just one box makes it easier to move to the next task, and the next, and the next. One bite at a time. (Benefits of Making a To Do List<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Short Term = This Week\u2019s To Do List<\/strong><\/p>\n

New students are asked \u201cWhat are your immediate and short term goals?\u201d The answer is almost always \u201cGet my GED\u00ae.\u201d But, just like eating an elephant, that won\u2019t happen right away.  Students should think about the individual bites, what they need to do this week<\/em>.<\/p>\n

An example might be as follows:<\/p>\n

GOAL:<\/strong> Attend 3 classes this week.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

TO DO LIST<\/strong> (aka Things You Must Do to Achieve the Goa<\/strong>l)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n