Life Skills and Leadership Manual - Peace Corps

Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 2, Session 4: Creative Ideas | Page 67 of 127

IV. Application (30 minutes)
Materials:
Flip chart, markers or crayons

A. Be Outrageous
Participants practice creative methods for decision making in their own situations.

1. Explain the inherent difficulties of making decisions. Say:

“One of the most difficult aspects of making decisions is discovering the options that are ‘hidden’ inside

the tasks we ‘have’ to do. Many times we don’t have a choice about whether we do something, yet

there can still be ways for us to make some small decisions while doing what we are required to do.

“For example, on a particular day you may want to spend time with friends, yet you have school

homework and chores to complete. There are a limited number of hours in the day and you want to do

all these things. If you can decide when to do each activity and how much time to spend on each, you

can have some control while getting everything done. Does it matter in what order you study, do

chores, or spend time with friends? If not, then make a choice about when and how long you will do

each. Even though you are doing some things you don’t like, you are able to take charge of your own

time and energy while doing them.

Note: This activity touches on the skill of setting priorities, which is also very important for youth to develop. If you wish,

you can point this out by telling participants that you will go into more detail about setting priorities in Unit 3 when they

learn about setting goals and managing time and resources.

“To give you some practice at this, let’s think of some of the priorities that you have for yourself and

that others have set for you in your community. Then we will use the methods for thinking more

creatively about options that we just learned about when we imagined we were planning a party.

2. Make a list on flip chart. If people have trouble coming up with ideas, prompt them with questions,
   such as these: What responsibilities do you have at home, in school, in your spiritual community, in
   your neighborhood? (e.g., cook the rice, clean the yard, sweep the house, take care of my younger
   sister or brother, work in the family store). Where do you spend most of your time and what are you
   doing there? (e.g., school, learning; home, helping or relaxing; with friends, having fun). What sort of
   requests or demands do adults make upon you? (e.g., maintaining the house or school yard; working to
   help a family business; encouraging me to study hard and stay in school).


3. Divide participants into groups of four to six. Take the ideas that the participants just listed and write
   each on a different flip chart page so there is one page for each small group. Give each group a flip
   chart page with these instructions:

“Each group has a page with one thing that’s a priority. It’s something that must be done. I’d like you to

write down all the ways that someone can still make decisions even though this is something you have

to do. You have five minutes.”