Chapter 1 Additional Discussion & Writing Prompts

Chapter 1: Charting Your Future

Additional Discussion & Writing Prompts

1. Write a letter to your instructor describing your best and worst educational experiences. Detail what made those experiences the best or worst. Before you set out on the experience did you have a plan in mind of what you wanted to accomplish?

2. If you were to teach an orientation class, what would you emphasize and why? What would be the goals for your class? What would you want the class to accomplish? What would you as the teacher want to accomplish?

3. Get into groups and make a list of the best and worst learning experiences. Have each group share their list with the class. What do the best experiences have in common? What do the worst experiences have in common?

4. Think about a time when someone told you weren’t able to do something you dreamed about doing (going to school, getting a particular job, competing in and winning a contest, etc.), and yet you achieved this dream anyway. What led you to achieve this dream? Did you imagine yourself achieving it beforehand? Did you have a plan with specific goals in mind?

5. Imagine what you’d like your life to be like in 10 years. Is what you’re imagining specific (do you want to own and live in a two-story home, for instance)? What steps would you have to take to get the life you want? Are those steps realistic and attainable? How long will it take to achieve what you want?

6. Imagine what kind of job you would like have in 10 years. What specific salary would you like to earn? What steps would you need to make to earn that salary? Is the salary you’re imagining realistic for the job you would like to have? Is it attainable within the timeframe you’ve set to attain it?

7. Describe your best work experience, whether paid or unpaid, part time or full time. Describe your worst work experience, whether paid or unpaid, part time or full time. What made these experiences good or bad. With the job you had/have did you have a purpose? What did you want to accomplish (for instance, was it a part time job you took to earn money for school)?

8. Imagine someone has told you that you won’t be able to get a degree in the field you’ve chosen. Write this individual a letter telling him or her your specific goals that would help you accomplish getting your degree. Make sure there are measurable steps to the goals. Are they attainable and realistic? Can you achieve them within a certain time frame?

9. If your professional life were perfect five years from now, what would it look like? What would you be doing? Where would you be doing it? Who would you be working with? What level of responsibility would you have? What kind of skills and abilities would you need and have?

10. List three of your most important personal goals. List three of your most important educational goals. List three of your most important professional goals.

11. Interview someone in your field. How has that person used goal setting to get where he or she is today?