Following the event feature last week about a forthcoming Goal Mapping course at Quay Arts for kids, Island children’s writer and Goal Mapping Practitioner, Bethan Stritton, tells us more about the advantages of goal mapping. Ed
Ask most parents what they wish for their children to experience in life and the majority will reply happiness, love, friendship, fulfilling work, prosperity or good health.
Yet the key skill that will bring success to all these spheres of life – a skill that our education system currently fails to equip children with – is effective goal setting.
By learning how to set goals properly children can begin to choose what they want in life, why they want it, when they want to achieve it by and how they will complete their aim. They learn how to hold a positive thought about what they desire rather than worrying about (or worse still giving in) the things they fear.
Goal setting is a simple concept, yet the philosophy behind it is powerful and profound. In 1953 a survey was undertaken with the graduating class at Yale University. Results showed that just 4% of the class had clearly written goals for the future. Twenty years on the class members were interviewed again and it was discovered that the 4% who had made written goals were worth more in financial terms than the other 96% put together.
What this demonstrates is that teaching your child to just have a goal “in mind” isn’t enough. Goals must be committed to paper if they are to transform into actions – otherwise they are in danger of remaining as wishes.
In the past putting goals on paper has been limited to writing out left-brain sentences, but in recent years the developments in neuro-science have shown that to stimulate the whole brain into action, words and pictures must be used. The subconscious mind – the part in everyone that makes their body function, stores memories and creates ideas – thinks in pictures, so if your child is to approach their goals with their full power and potential then it’s vital that they make goals using both left-brain words and right-brain images.
Based on these discoveries about the subconscious mind, goal setting expert Brian Mayne, has created a system called Goal Mapping. This incredible technique has allowed countless thousands of people to improve their working life, find success in relationships, excel in sport and education and achieve their best in life. Goal Mapping has spread far and wide, helping thousands of people, young and old, to achieve their dreams.
As a children’s writer who has used Goal Mapping to achieve success when most people would have given up, I have become passionate about sharing this life skill with young people.
For those keen to boost their child’s goal setting abilities, I am holding The Seven Magic Keys Goal Mapping Workshop at the Quay Art Centre on April 9th for children aged 9-12 yrs.
Image: ooOJasonOoo
