April's Life Skill: Goals in Education and Career

This month's life sills is Goals in Education and Career. In January, we set Goals in Martial Arts. Students set goals to learn new forms, become black belts, instructors, world champion, and even Grand Master. Just as we can set short term, intermediate, and long term goals for our Martial Arts training, we can apply the same skills to our education and career.

Maybe your education goal is to do better in school. But remember to make it a SMART goal! Is it specific? Which grades specifically do you want to improve? Are you motivated? Also, it's important that our goals are achievable. It's probably not possible to change a failing grade to an A in one week. Instead, that student could set a goal to complete every assignment for a week. That way you can see you're making progress!

This month, work with your instructors, parents, and friends to set SMART goals for your education and career! Remember what President Abraham Lincoln said, "A goal properly set is halfway met."

Even if your goal for your career seems far away today, you can still start working towards it today. Do you want to be an astronaut? The inventor of tomorrow's computer? Do you want to be a doctor? You can do it, and there are things you can do today to make it happen!

This is also a great time to review your Goals in Martial Arts that you set back in January. See how much success you have already made towards those goals, or adjust them based on what you've learned since then. Seeing how successful you've been in those goals might help you believe in your ability to achieve more and bigger goals!

Good Luck! And don't forget, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."