Research shows that successful people in all areas have many things in common and one of them is goal setting.
If you ask a professional athlete or a successful entrepreneur, the majority will say that they set goals yearly, weekly, and some of them even daily. Why?
The main reason is that it’s very difficult to analyze your performance if you don’t have something to compare too. For example, Michael Phelps probably, at some, point set a goal to become an Olympic champion, and he used that as a target to guide the way he was going to prepare himself to achieve it.
So, how important is it for a child to learn how to set goals? I would say VERY IMPORTANT, don’t you think?
What activities do you know that will help your children improve their goal setting skills?
I know the one that can definitely help, martial arts, but how?
Setting goals is a habit and like any habit, it can be developed. At Guillobel Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu martial arts school we have many ways to instill this habit in our young students. Below are some examples.
Setting Daily Goals
At our martial art school, in every class, we award students that do well in performing and perfecting their techniques, training with their partner, and being a role model during class. This way, the students learn to have a daily goal to be achieved.
I can’t tell you how hard the kids try to achieve those goals. It really means a lot to them.
Setting Weekly Goals
We give our students “life-skills homework” with weekly chores that they have to complete in order to earn their “life-skill stripes”. We even have homework especially designed to teach goal setting. At our martial art school, we really take our students’ character development seriously.
Setting Monthly Goals
There are a couple different goals we have our young students set for each month.
One is to learn a variety of techniques and demonstrate them at the end of each month so they can earn their new rank (belt).
Another one is our martial art “Student of the Month” award, which is given to the students of each program that demonstrate what we call “black belt attitude” during the month.
Setting Goals to Improve Their Ranking
The belt system in our martial art school is a great way to instill short-term and long-term goal setting in our students.
This system allows the student to set a short-term goal to attain the next belt rank and also to set a long-term goal to attain their black belt. By setting and achieving these goals, the child feels more motivated to set new goals that can also be achieved, thus, creating the habit of setting and achieving goals.
Setting Goals to Win Tournaments
Our students also compete in many tournaments and setting goals to excel in tournaments is another great way to learn how to set goals.
Our instructors don’t force any student to compete because the REAL competition in martial arts is with ourselves. Instead, we try to create an interest and desire so that the ones who would like to compete are motivated and properly guided.
In conclusion, the habit of setting goals is a must for achieving success of any kind, and it’s our responsibility as parents to help our children develop this important life skill.
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