Hi Boys and Girls,

I’m really disappointed today. I was going to go on my first run this weekend. I had been so excited. The weather here warmed up this past week and we had some frozen rain last Friday. The trails are all frozen ice. My human said it was not safe to take Slate (my brother) and myself out on ice for our first run. She said that there is a greater chance to get hurt and she wants our first run to be a fun experience for us. Slate and I are trying very hard to understand and not be too sad. My human says we’re expecting a lot of snow over the next few days and the trails should be in good shape soon. I just need to be patient.

My human thought this would be a good time to go over my goals with me. I also showed her all the goals you have made and shared with me. She said all our goals were great and now we need to make a plan to achieve those goals. She gave me some things to read for my kennel work (I think humans call this homework!). Then she gave me a worksheet to fill out with my goal plan. Can you tell my human is a teacher.

I want to share with you what I have learned. There are 3 steps in goal setting. The first step is to set a goal. You have to make sure the goal is something you will be able to achieve. Then you need to have a timeline. And finally, you need to come up with the steps you need to take to achieve your goal.

I’ve already told you my goal is to run on a team. While I would love to run in the Iditarod, that is not likely to happen. Making it my goal would not be reasonable. So, my first goal is: I will make my home team and run with them on a regular basis. Once I do that, I will make another goal for running in races. I need to take this one step at a time.

Now I have to set a time to do it by. Saying it’s going to be next week is unreasonable. I’m young, and I haven’t ever run on the team. So I’m going to say I’m going run with the team by next fall.

Okay, great- I’m going to run on the team by next fall. Sounds good, but how do I make sure that happens. Well first I need to listen to my humans and study hard and do my kennel work. I need to learn the mushing commands and what they mean. I have a real problem with “Gee” and “Haw”. I get them mixed up all the time. Lastly, I need to try hard whenever I’m running with the team this winter and show my humans how much I enjoy doing it.

That should do it. I’m going to go to the window now and watch the snow fall and hope it’s enough snow to start my goal. I want you to look your goals over, make sure you can reach them, and then decide when and how you will get there. It will really help when you have a plan.

Happy goal setting,

Gypsy