Having a Path

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where –“ said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.1

The start of a new year is always a time for self-reflection and personal goal-setting for many. I LOVE starting on the fresh path laid out at the start of a new year. There are choices and changes to make that require dedication and determination. It reminds me of a story:

Before the Sydney Olympics, the British rowing team hadn’t won a gold medal since 1912, but they wanted to make a change as they prepared for the 2000 Olympics. Their commitment to this change was embodied in a single question they asked themselves before making any decision: “Will it make the boat go faster?” With every decision or opportunity every member of the team asked themselves, “Will it make the boat go faster?” if the answer was no, they didn’t do it. Eat the doughnut? Will it make the boat go faster? Stay up late and go to the party? Will it make the boat go faster?

Because they were committed, they got the result they wanted. They won the gold that year2.

What will help my child's boat go faster this year? What will keep us on the path?

The following is a chart outlining an example of a parent goal related to their child's speech and language. Download a blank GOAL SETTING GUIDE below to help structure your goal setting this year.

1. Pick a Long Term Goal that is important to you and Short Term Goals that provide steps to reach your Long Term Goal.

2. Make the Short Term Goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). Set goals that you can ‘achieve’. Make them ‘specific’, so you can see your progress and can thus be motivated by it.

3. Brainstorm and ask your speech-language pathologist for input on beneficial Accommodations or Strategies that will help you reach your goals. How will these goals be achieved? What are some strategies that will help reach these goals?

4. Commit to the goals and path that will help your boat go faster.

<link: GOAL SETTING GUIDE>

1. Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

2. Dr. Benjamin Hardy, (as told in the Brooke Snow podcast), Personality Isn’t Permanent.