I am the first to admit that when we were told that we had to coach our learners to drive instead of instructing them that I didn’t fully understand the concept or how important goal setting was. I have since read books and completed a few courses which have helped me to get to grips with it.

We all have our own goals in life, and an idea of what we must do to achieve them. Throughout our lives are goals and ambitions change, when we leave school some people may want to be a pilot or ballet dancers, others may want to be millionaires. However as we grow older and start families our goals change. Before lockdown two of my personal goals were to be able to run a sub one hour in a 10K and to cycle on the great north trail.

Having  big  goals  and  ambitions  are  great  but  unless we  set  smaller  goals  our dreams and aspirations remain as they are and after three, four, five years and in some cases we never achieve them. Therefore it is imperative that we set smaller goals to help us to bring our dreams into fruition.

A few of my smaller goals for running were to work on my core, to do hill sprints, plyometrics and some speed training. With cycling I needed to work in the gym on my core strength, do cyclone classes, to work on my endurance, to plan my route, think about which bike I would need to use, look for camping equipment as well as many other things.

When learning to drive our big goal is to pass the test, but our smaller goals involve, leaning how to move the car and stop it, how use the brake, accelerator and to learn how to operate the clutch, also when to use the mirrors, how to deal with junctions, meeting situations, roundabouts and manoeuvres amongst other things

Encouraging our learners to set smaller goals, allows them to assess their progress which  in turn keeps them motivated, allowing them to see where they are and to set goals for their next lesson. Goals also allow them to work at their own pace and allow them to set their own timescale so that they can book and pass the test when they feel they are ready.

As  coaches  we  work  with  our  learners  and  encourage  them  to  set  goals  and motivate them if we need too. At the end of each lesson we get them to assess their progress, meaning that they are more involved in the learning process and if they make  mistakes  we  can  then  work  with  them  and  help  them  to  find  their  own solutions which will help when they make mistakes in the future because they won’t rely on others to tell them what they have done wrong and to offer solutions.