Lesson 48

Lesson Title: "Short-Range Goals as Stepping Stones"

OTHER RESOURCES:

• Resource Guide for Young Women Manual 1 at lds.org. With Ensign, New Era, and Friend references

OBJECTIVE:

Each young woman will understand how setting short-range goals can help her to achieve long-range goals.

PREPARATION:

1. Bring paper and pencils for the young women.
2. Prepare the handout as suggested in the second section of the lesson, or write the illustration on the chalkboard.
3. Assign young women to present any stories, scriptures, or quotations you wish.

ATTENTION GETTER:

Ask the young women to imagine that it is five years from now. Tell them to think for a minute or two about what they would like to be doing and the person they would be if their highest hopes came true. Ask them to be sure the goals they describe are specific and personal, such as: "I want to be married in the temple; I want to have graduated from college; I want to be a teacher (secretary, doctor, and so on)." After they have had a few minutes to think, ask them to write these goals down on a piece of paper. Then ask the young women to write at least three of the most important things they can be doing to help them reach their goals.

Explain that these three things are short-range goals, or stepping stones, that will lead to the accomplishment of the long-range goals. An old Chinese proverb makes this point: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Ask one or two young women to share a long-range goal with the class and their stepping stones (short-range goals) that will lead to it. Write these on the chalkboard, with the long-range goal at the top and the short-range goals underneath.

LESSON:

CONCLUSION:

*Encourage each young woman to set, evaluate, and commit herself to her short - and long-range goals. Suggest that she write down some new goals if necessary and accomplish them by using short-range goals as stepping stones.

HANDOUT:

MID-WEEK ACTIVITY IDEA: