The R.L.S. (Real Life Skills) Program teaches our students the skills they need for a more productive, happier life full of success and enjoyment.
“You can’t hit a target you can’t see.”
Goal setting may be the most important skill that students can learn and will serve them for their entire life. It has been called the “Master Skill of Success.”
Here are ten of the many reasons that we teach goal setting to our students and have included it as a key element in the R.L.S. program.
Clarity of Vision
Although goals give students a definite purpose to strive for, they clarity of vision extends beyond the individual goals. Setting goals helps students understand their priorities in life.
Forward Momentum
Keeping the goal in sight keeps students moving forward. They do not get lost in past failures but instead learn from them and continue to move toward achievement.
Focus
Having a clear goal and deadline gives students focus. The focus gives a student direction when they are prioritizing and practicing time management.
Accountability
Setting goals, and making them public, begins the practice of accountability. It instills the idea of responsibility for your actions. Likewise, the accountability reminds the students that they will have to deliver in the future and thus have an obligation to take action.
Measurable Progress
Setting specific goals with clear criteria and deadlines give students quantifiable progress. They can easily track their progress. Each successful step reinforces their confidence, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction and can be very motivating.
Overcoming Procrastination
Effective goal setting helps to battle procrastination – something most people find a challenge. By setting definite goals with clear deadlines, the accountability pushes students toward action. And having smaller sub-goals for goals with longer deadlines can maintain focus. Eventually, eliminating procrastination becomes a habit.
Motivation
Properly defined goals represent your true desires in life that will propel you forward toward happiness. By consistently revisiting your goals and visualizing their successful completion, students will have a constant source of motivation. This self-motivation is much more effective and reliable than an outside source that may never appear.
Chunking
Goal setting and effective self-motivation requires the skill of chunking, breaking larger, long-term goals into smaller goals of shorter duration. By mastering this skill, students can confidently face the most overwhelming task, break it down, and overcome the challenge one step at a time.
Confidence
As students achieve their goals, each time setting and achieving bigger and bigger goals, their confidence grows. Suddenly, students realized they are capable of more than they ever believed possible. Success feeds on success. By learning to set intelligent, realistic goals can only increase confidence with their achievement. This confidence leads to larger, more challenging goals as they good habits become even more deeply ingrained in the student’s psyche.
Stress Relief
All students live constantly under stress. Much of that stress comes from a perceived lack of control. By giving the students the skill of goal setting and achievement returns some of that missing control. This control drastically reduces the amount of stress felt by students.
Bonus
The bonus attached to the skill of goal setting and success planning is its longevity. Students will use this skill for the rest of their life, regardless of what career they choose. This skill will help them both professionally and personally to have a more fulfilled, happier, and stress-free life.