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Scoutmaster Update

Troop 31,

I want to talk to you about setting goals. Why goals? Simple, if you want to succeed, you need to set goals!

Goal setting allows you take control of your direction, whether it’s in school, work, or in Scouting. Your goals provide a pathway to an achievement, and provide benchmarks along the way to let you evaluate if you are succeeding along your track to your endgame.

Before you can accomplish your goals, you have to know how to set them. Goal setting starts with careful consideration of what you want to achieve, and is followed up with hard work. Without goals, you would be putting forth a whole lot of hard work, and have no idea where you are going with it. To help you figure out your goals, there are Five Golden Rules of Goal Setting.

Five Golden Rules of Goal Setting

  1. Set goals that motive you. If you are not working towards something that you want, then why are you doing it. Now, before you say, “Exactly, I don’t like memorizing things, so I shouldn’t have to memorize the Outdoor Code.” What is the bigger motivation? Is it to earn the next rank? Earn Eagle Scout? Along the way to the bigger goal that does motivate you, there may be some smaller steps that you will have to achieve to reach it. You can think of these as sub-goals to the big one.
  2. Set SMART Goals:
    1. Specific. You need to be specific in the goals you set. Don’t simply say that you want to do your best and achieve as much as you can. Set a specific level you want to achieve. Let’s start with a new Scout. What do you want to achieve? If you want to be an Eagle Scout, let’s start with ‘I want to earn the Eagle Scout rank.’ Well, there’s allot of steps to achieve Eagle Scout, so you will want to set some smaller goals that work towards the endgame. If endgame is Eagle Scout, maybe the first goal is to earn Scout rank in the first month, then earn Tenderfoot by the end of summer, earn Second Class by Christmas, and First Class by the end of next year (June 2020).
    2. Measurable. Your goals need to be measurable. In the case of the new Scout that wants to be an Eagle Scout, that is measurable. Either you earned Eagle Scout or you didn’t. If your goal is to ‘be as good of a Scout as I can be,’ how do you measure that? How do you, or anyone else know if you achieved that? That one day, three years ago, could you have done something better? Who knows, it’s not measurable.
    3. Attainable. You want to set high goals to work towards, but you also need to be realistic and set attainable goals. If the new Scout says they want to earn Eagle Scout in one year, that is not attainable. Even if they were the best Scout of all time, there are time requirements for the senior Scout ranks that take more than a year. If they were to say they wanted to earn Eagle Scout in three years, maybe. It would be very difficult, but technically achievable. Maybe the better goal would be to say you want to earn Eagle in four years. That’s still plenty fast and has lots of time to enjoy it, but provides some wiggle room for unexpected events along the way.
    4. Relevant. Your goals should be relevant to what you are trying to achieve. If your main goal is Eagle Scout, is mowing 25 lawns in order to buy a new bike relevant? Maybe. If you are trying to buy a new bike to earn the Bicycling Merit Badge, then yes, it’s absolutely relevant. If you already have the merit badge, or don’t have any intention of getting it, then no, it’s not relevant. It doesn’t mean it’s not a worth endeavor, but it would be a separate goal outside of Scouting.
    5. Time Bound. Let’s look at the goal and sub-goals in the Specific section above. If you said your end goal is Eagle Scout, and your sub-goals are to earn Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class, but don’t have a timeline to do it, you have no idea when you need to do it by, and if you are on track. Bounding the time prevents you from procrastinating, and putting it off forever. I realize no Troop 31 Scouts (nor your Scoutmaster) would EVER procrastinate, but let’s call it a necessary tool so you can help teach new Scouts down the road…
  3. Set goals in writing. Writing down your goals is probably the most important step. If you don’t write your goal (and sub-goals) down, how will you remember what they were in three or four years? Additionally, if you don’t write your goals down, your mentors will not know what you are working towards, and how to help you. Furthermore, having your goals written down provides something to review from time to time, and helps maintain your motivation.
  4. Make an Action Plan. I alluded to an Action Plan above by talking about sub-goals, but once you have decided on your ultimate goal, in this case Eagle Scout, you need to map out how to get there. It would certainly be acceptable to have a parent, mentor, or even a senior Scout help you map out how to get to your goal and build your sub-goals.
  5. Stick with it!!!! While self-explanatory, this might be the simplest and hardest step.

So, what will you decide to accomplish today, this year, in Scouting?

Yours in Scouting,

Mr. Salka

Troop 31 Scoutmaster