Key Concepts:
Vocabulary: values, decision making skills, goals, short term goal, long term goal, action plan
Making Responsible Decisions and Setting Goals
Decisions, Goals, and Your Health
Main Idea: Achieving good health begins with making responsible decisions.
Now that you’re in high school, do you have more freedom than you did when you were younger? Maybe you’re allowed to stay out later on weekends and have more control over your schedule and activities. You may have a wider circle of friends than you did in middle school. Having more freedom is an exciting benefit of growing up.
As you’re probably finding out, the freedom you gain as you grow older comes with more responsibility. For example, you may have to make tough decisions. You’ll also have to set goals for yourself and plan how to reach them. Making decisions and setting goals means you’re taking responsibility in determining your life’s purpose and direction.
Decision Making
Main Idea: Decision making skills help you make successful, responsible choices.
Life is filled with decisions. You make plenty of them every day. Some decisions are small, like what to wear to school or what to eat for breakfast. Other choices may be life changing, like deciding which college to attend or which career to pursue. Developing good decision-making skills will help you make responsible choices that contribute to your health and quality of life.
Your Values
The decisions you make reflect your personal values and the values of your family. Values are the ideas, beliefs, and attitudes about what is important that help guide the way you live. For example, you may value a strong, healthy body. The decisions you make about how to take care of your body will reflect this value. If you value your relationships with family and friends, you will make choices that show your caring and respect.
Because you first learned your values from your family, it’s often a good idea to talk with family members about a decision that is troubling you. You share important values with them, so they can provide you with helpful feedback.
The Decision-Making Process
Have you ever thought about what actually goes into making a decision? Decision-making skills are steps that enable you to make a healthful decision. Figure 2.7 illustrates the six steps in making good decisions. Notice that one of the steps involves the HELP strategy. This strategy includes asking yourself the following questions:
H (Healthful) Does this choice present any health risks?
E(Ethical) Does this choice reflect what you value?
L(Legal) Does this option violate any local, state, or federal laws?
P (Parent Approval) Would your parents or guardians approve of this choice?
Goal Setting
Main Idea: Working toward goals helps you achieve your hopes and dreams.
How do you see yourself in the future? What would you like to accomplish? What are your hopes and dreams? The answers to these questions form your goals, those things you aim for that take planning and work. Whether you reach your goals-and how successfully you reach them-depends on the plans you make now. Suppose your goal is to go to college. To reach that goal, you’ll plan what courses to take in high school so that you meet the entrance requirements of the college you choose. You’ll also work hard to earn the grades that will get you in.
Just as you set life goals because you have dreams for the future, you also set goals for your health in order to stay well. For instance, you may set a goal to drink more water and fewer soft drinks. To reach this goal, you need to plan how to make water available instead of soda when you’re thirsty. You might plan to carry a refillable water bottle in your backpack, and to order water instead of soda when you’re eating out with friends.
Types of Goals
Time is a consideration when you’re setting goals. How long do you think it will take to reach your goal? A short-term goal, like finishing a term paper by Friday, is a goal that you can reach in a short period o f time. A long-term goal is a goal that you plan to reach over an extended period of time.
Sometimes short-term goals become stepping stones to long-term goals. For example, making a high school sports team can be a stepping stone to your goal of becoming a professional athlete.
Short Term Goals
You can accomplish a short-term goal fairly quickly. Let’s say your goal is to find and read three articles on an assigned topic over the weekend. On Saturday you search the Internet, locate, and print out your articles. On Sunday you read the articles so you’re ready to discuss them in class on Monday.
Long Term Goals
Long-term goals call for more time as well as more planning. If you want to run a 10K (6.2-mile) race, you know you need to train for several months to build up your endurance and speed. A series of short-term goals can help you achieve this. You can practice running shorter distances until you are able to run a mile in a reasonable time. Then, you work up to running 5K (3.1 miles). Working short-term goals into the planning of your long-term goal helps you feel good each week as you run faster and farther.
Reaching Your Goals
To reach your goal, you need an action plan. An action plan is a multistep strategy to identify and achieve your goals.
You can turn your dreams into reality by following the steps in Figure 2.10.
Making New Friends
Justine made a new friend, Michelle, in Biology class. Justine really likes Michelle , and the two girls have a lot in common. However, Justine knows that Michelle hangs out with a group of friends who smoke.
During class this morning, Michelle asked if Justine wanted to go to the mall with her and some friends on Saturday. Justine wants to go, but she doesn’t want to be pressured about her choice not to smoke. She also doesn’t want to lose Michelle as a friend. Justine wonders how she should handle the situation.
Think about the decision-making process that Justine should work through to figure out a way to keep her new friend, not feel pressured to smoke, and still protect her health. Be sure to include each of these steps:
1. State the situation.
2. List the options.
3. Weigh possible outcomes.
4. Consider values.
5. Make a decision and act.
6. Evaluate the decision.
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