Goal setting and the ability to set goals is a skill that successful adults use to stay motivated and strive for greatness. The action of goal setting is a powerful tool for adults, but what if a child as young as 3-5 years old started to learn the importance of having goals? We believe that the possibility for a child that learns the importance of goal setting is endless, and we take responsibility in making sure every student has goals to work towards. Here at Premier Martial Arts, we believe every child has the dream of becoming a blackbelt, and we teach them how to turn this dream into a goal with a deadline.
The first step to goal setting is identifying what exactly it is that you want to accomplish. Since Premier Martial Arts understands that all of their members want to earn their black belt, we help them set that goal accordingly. We explain the difference between a goal and a dream, and we help them understand that all goals are attainable if you work towards them daily. The students need to know that the difference between having a dream and making it a reality, can oftentimes be determined by if there is a deadline for the goal to be completed or not.
In our Kids Karate program, we teach children the very important step of setting a date for the goal to be completed by or reached. This not only helps with the final step, figuring out which steps they need to take to reach the goal, but it also helps them understand that they need to work hard in between each step because they have a time limit to reach the goal. The urgency of knowing you have a deadline makes it easier to take action to move closer to the goal. The closer the students get to the deadline, the more urgency they should feel, and the harder they should work.
Finally, we help them know how to plan out the steps needed to accomplish their main goal, but also helping them come up with smaller, mini-goals. We use our ranking system and quarterly testing cycles to help them understand what they need to do for each belt. This takes them all the way through their curriculum for a black belt and keeps them motivated and on task. One problem with goal setting is setting a really difficult goal and not coming up with any steps or mini-goals along the way, this can make the long term goal feel impossible and people may drop off or give up. It is emphasized that daily progress makes any goal reachable, no matter how big or small that goal is. Premier Martial Arts wants its students to work towards their goals every single day, even if it is only just a few minutes. Through our usage of color ranks and graduation, we keep everyone excited and ready to tackle their goals.
Through the Premier Martial Arts rank advancement system, we empower our students with the ability to believe they can accomplish anything through the goal-setting process. We take pride in making sure every single student knows how to pick a goal, set a deadline, and take actionable steps to reach the goal. The students know exactly what they need to do, and they maintain their motivation through our mini-goals and planned graduations. Through this whole process, they feel strong, capable, and ready to take on the world.
