In Lesson 2 you wrote a SMARTER goal that runs to the end of this term. Today you are applying that same framework to a finish line past the Leaving Certificate.
Have your Self-audit and SMARTER Goal 1 open before you start. If either is missing, flag your teacher now so you are not stuck mid-draft.
Everything about a goal changes when the result sits past your exams: what evidence you can collect, how close the checkpoints need to be, and how you tell "off track" from "too early to tell". Goal 2 must come from a different Self-audit development area than the one behind your Lesson 2 goal: have both documents open before you choose. You will write that longer goal from one of the remaining development areas on your Self-audit from Lesson 3.
Three terms sit under everything you write today.
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Long-horizon goal | A goal whose finish line sits after the Leaving Certificate, not inside this term. Your SMARTER Goal 2 must land past the exams, into whatever comes next. | Raising a real concern at work or on a course by the September after your Leaving Certificate |
| Checkpoint | A dated stop between now and the finish line where you check evidence, not feelings. You will set three of these, closer together than the goal itself. | End of this term; Easter of sixth year; August after the exams |
| Evidence | Something you could actually point to at a checkpoint. Decide it in advance so you are not inventing a story months later. | A dated note of what you said, who was there, and what changed |
Must finish today: the full SMARTER goal statement with a finish line after your Leaving Certificate, plus three dated checkpoints each with the evidence you would check. Start the survival paragraph in class; if time runs out, finish it before next lesson and save it in the same document.
First, study Róisín's goal written two ways below. Use the annotations to see what changes when the finish line moves past the Leaving Certificate. Your teacher will walk the beats with you, then you write your own.
Open your Self-audit document in the Strand 1.1 folder. Choose one development area that is not the one behind your Lesson 2 goal. Create a document called SMARTER Goal 2 in the same folder and write:
- the full SMARTER goal with a finish line after your Leaving Certificate
- three dated checkpoints between now and then, each with the evidence you would check at that stop
- one paragraph (start now; finish before next lesson if needed): which of your two goals (Goal 1 and Goal 2) would survive a bad month, and why
This document stays in your Digital Portfolio under Strand 1.1 beside Goal 1. You will reuse both when you review goals later and when you gather evidence for Portfolio in Action.
A long-horizon goal without checkpoints is a wish with a date on it. A checkpoint without evidence is a calendar reminder. Both have to be on the page before you stop. If you leave with only the goal and checkpoints complete, save the document as SMARTER Goal 2 and note at the bottom: "Survival paragraph to finish before next lesson."
Róisín's speaking-up goal: short horizon and long horizon
Talk these through with the person beside you, or sit with them quietly if that works better.
- On a goal that finishes after the Leaving Certificate, how will you tell the difference between being off track and it simply being too early to tell?
- Swap documents and stress-test your partner's first checkpoint evidence. Could a stranger actually check it, or is it still a feeling in disguise?
If either answer sharpens something in your SMARTER Goal 2 document, add it before you leave.
Today you applied the SMARTER framework to a finish line past the Leaving Certificate.
- You saw the same development goal written short-horizon and long-horizon, and what changes when the result sits past the exams
- You wrote SMARTER Goal 2 from a Lesson 3 development area you had not used for Goal 1
- You set three dated checkpoints with evidence you would actually check at each
- You started judging which of your two goals would survive a bad month, and why (finish the paragraph before next lesson if it is still open)
Keep SMARTER Goal 2 in your Strand 1.1 folder beside Goal 1. You will need both when you learn how to review a goal properly.
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