Just Get Started
My passion is helping Girl Scouts that want to earn the Gold Award to do so. However, sometimes those closest to you are the hardest to help.
I am honored to have two high school girls that have continued to allow me to be their Girl Scout leader since Daisies. They have both just finished their freshman year of high school. We have had multiple conversations regarding the Gold Award and each of them have ideas on what they would like for their project. They both earned the Silver Award and have already completed a Girl Scout Senior journey, so the path is wide open for them.
I happened to run into one of the girls at an event last week with plenty of time before the event started to have a short chat. I asked her how her planning for her project was going and if she had spoken with the librarian about the project yet to start to narrow done the possibilities.
At our previous meeting, we had discussed possible projects and she said she wanted to do something with the library, where she volunteers. I was all for this because having a project that compliments something you are already involved in creates a better connection. In this case, for example, if this girl has a quick question during the project, she will have more opportunity to connect with the library to get her question answered then if she wasn’t involved at the library for other reasons.
She hadn’t yet talked to the librarian and in fact, said she wasn’t planning on working on the project this summer because she was too busy. We talked about the things she was doing this summer – working at the library, babysitting, etc. I reminded her there would be opportunities when she was babysitting that she could have downtime, such as when the kids were in bed, where she would have small chunks of time.
As Rachel and I discussed in episode 14 of Hearts of Gold, the proposal can be the hardest part of the project. Deciding on a project, writing the proposal, and that dreaded interview with the committee. For many girls, once they get past the proposal, the project itself is smooth (with maybe a few waves) sailing. http://heartsofgold.libsyn.com/ep-14-rachel-mazcyk-my-state-your-state-our-state-biscayne-bay-mangrove-habitat-girl-scout-gold-award-project
My scout and I continued the discussion and I challenged her to just get the proposal done this summer. We discussed steps she could take to meet that goal – talk to the librarian; get registered for the Go Gold website application; answer the demographic questions on the website; answer one questions at a time on the application. We discussed if she just spends one hour a week, less than ten minutes a day, on her proposal she’ll give herself fifteen hours this summer to complete it, which should be more than enough time. Once we broke it into those more simple tasks, it made more sense to her, didn’t seem overwhelming, and was doable.
When you are struggling, identify some small steps you can take and just work on accomplishing those. Often, that little bit of momentum is enough to get you moving forward. If the steps you choose don’t give you the push, choose another series of small goals. Eventually, you’ll have met all your goals and reached your final goal.