Hit the Mark Exercise

Hit the Mark is a fantastic activity to relieve stress and experience the exhilarating power that equipment can have. For this activity you will need various materials such as a sheet of paper, markers, adhesive tape and optionally you can give away prizes such as chocolate.

Place a piece of paper on a wall high enough that touching it requires stretching or jumping slightly. The group chooses one person to run around the room and jump with a marker to make a mark on the paper.

Then the paper is placed a little higher and the chosen person is asked to try again and leave another mark. This dynamic of picking up the paper and leaving the mark continues until the person is absolutely convinced that they cannot reach the sheet.

The team is then told that they will be rewarded (could be chocolate) if they can get the person to reach the sheet and leave their final mark. Of course, the group cannot replace the jumper, they cannot touch him or provide him with any support (such as a chair).

This is the best part of the exercise! To help the jumper, the team can only resort to encouragement.

Moment of Reflection

• Ask the person who had to jump: At the time when the task became really challenging, did you think it was impossible to leave the mark? Did you think about giving up trying to jump because you thought it was impossible? What motivated you to continue trying to leave your mark?
• Ask the group: Did you think the jumper could achieve the challenge? How did you motivate the jumper to reach the goal?
• Question for everyone: Can skills be improved with practice and group help? Is motivation and support essential to success?
  What else contributed to the success?
• How could the teaching and experience of this exercise be applied in other places and moments?

The topics of this publication: interactions, teamwork, integration, adaptability skills, adaptation, energize, motivation