Life Skills and Leadership Manual - Peace Corps

Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 3, Session 2: SMART Goals | Page 22 of 67

How did it feel to be writing a story about your success in the future?

How did it feel to read it out loud to your friends?

To what extent does your dream seem more real after writing and reading it?

What unusual or surprising things did you learn about your friends from their stories?

What ideas for your own story did you pick up by listening to your friends?

If you were going to write another story about your future, what would you do differently?

What can you do to make your story become real?

Note: The discussion questions in “Where Are You Going?” and the sharing of stories are both assessments of Learning

Objective 2.

B. Summary
Conclude the exercise by saying:

“Often, if we are able to envision the future, the dream that we desire, we can begin to see the details

of action steps we need to take to get there.”

IV. Application ( 30 minutes)
Materials:
Additional copies of Handout 2: A Recipe for SMART Goals for each participant (Alternatively, participants
can copy the “recipe” on their note papers or the backs of previously used papers.)

A. My Own SMART Goal
Participants write SMART goals for their own future.

1. Describe the activity. Say:

“Now that you can see and feel what it would be like to reach at least one of your dreams, the next

logical step would be to write at least one short-term and one long-term SMART goal that will help you

reach your dream.

“So think about the dream you described for yourself. What is one small goal that you could accomplish

in a couple months (time-bound short-term). Also, what is one goal you could set for yourself that you

could accomplish in about a year (time-bound long-term). The two goals might be connected so that

the short-term goal helps you get to the long-term goal, but they don’t have to be connected.

“I’d like you to use the ‘recipe’ for writing SMART goals just as you did for the practice goals you

rewrote in your small groups. Please begin working independently. Then, after a short while, I’ll ask you

to join another person to get more ideas about the SMART goals you have written.”

2. Distribute more blank copies of Handout 2.Then move about the learning space to help individual
   participants as needed. Be prepared to offer ideas to make their goals more specific or more