Time and time again, we’ve been told that goals have to be SMART: Specific, Measurable,Achievable, Realistic & Time-bound.
However, I discovered a new concept today which is called setting ‘Stretch Goals’.
What is a ‘Stretch Goal’?
This requires you to stretch the ‘Realistic’ part a little.
When coaching or motivating your child at home, get your child or teen to set a seemingly wild aim for his exam results. For example, to jump from a D7 in Maths to B3 by the end of 2017.
Your child (and most probably, you as well) will be stretched to think creatively, work effectively and do things out of the box to achieve this.
We are programmed to aim incrementally. “Okay, let’s jump from a D7 to a C6 first… and then a C5 and so on”.
Try setting a high goal and see how creative both you and your child can get and all the shortcuts you take to achieve that. It will push your child beyond his or her existing limits.
Even if you don’t reach that coveted B3, your child would have reached the highest potential he could within a period of, say, 8 months. Not bad, right?
Set Stretch Goals with your child for his or her exam results (or test results) today and get the magic going.