PRACTICE GOAL SETTING

Setting goals for yourself lets you get more out of life by deciding who you want to be and what you want to do. Goal setting does more than just identify your dreams. It helps you achieve them. Use goal setting to identify personal and academic areas you want to change or improve. Ask yourself questions about your future. Take charge of your life.

Life is full of choices and the choices you make along the way, will determine what you‘ll do and who you’ll be in that future. To insure a better future, we have to set goals for ourselves and then make plans in order to achieve them. When setting your goals, the first step is to define your goal. Decide what it is you want to do or who you want to be. It can be anything you want to accomplish.

Topics

Short-Term vs. Long-Term Goals

Your goals can be long-term or, more immediate, short- term goals. Short-term goals can be incremental steps, along the way, that help you complete a long-term goal. Breaking down a long-term plan into smaller challenges can be a way of building confidence, and it’s a helpful way to keep track of how far you’ve come.

  • When making short-term plans, ask yourself, “What can I do today, next week or next month to move me toward my goal?” Make a step by step plan and stick to it.
  • Remember the old saying, “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”
  • Long-term goals can be things you want to accomplish when you reach adulthood, like getting a college degree or entering a certain profession.
  • When setting long-term goals, ask yourself, “Who and what do I want to be in five years? In 10?”

Setting Your Goals

Once you determine what your goals are, you can start making plans to achieve them.
Here are a few steps to help you set your goals:

  1. Be realistic (see below)
  2. Stay positive
  3. Develop and keep to a timeline
  4. Believe in yourself
  5. Tell someone you trust about your goal – they can help you
  6. Don’t get stressed – if you need more time to achieve your goal, adjust your timeline

A goal should be reachable but sometimes goals are set unrealistically high and here are some reasons why:

  • Other people: Other people (parents, media, society) can set unrealistic goals for you, based on what they want. Often this will be done with disregard to your goals, desires and ambitions.
  • Insufficient information: If you do not have a clear, realistic understanding of what you are trying to achieve and of the skills and knowledge to be mastered, it is difficult to set effective and realistic goals.
  • Always expecting your best performance: Many people base their goals on their best performance but it is better to set goals that raise your average performance and make it more consistent.
  • Lack of respect for yourself: If you do not respect your right to rest, relaxation and pleasure in life then you risk burnout.

On the other hand, goals can be set too low because of:

  • Fear of failure: If you are frightened of failure you will not take the risks needed for optimum performance. As you apply goal setting and see the achievement of goals, your self- confidence should increase, helping you to take bigger risks. Know that failure is a positive thing: it shows you areas where you can improve your skills and performance.
  • Taking it too easy: Don’t set your goals too low in an effort to avoid setting them too high. If you’re not prepared to stretch yourself and work hard, then you are extremely unlikely to achieve anything of any real worth.

It’s important to set your goals at the correct level – this is a skill that takes time and practice. You should set goals so that they are slightly out of your reach, but not so far that there is no hope of achieving them. You won’t put serious effort into achieving a goal that you believe is unrealistic. Personal factors such as the need for rest, other commitments, etc., should be taken into account when goals are set.

Now review the goals you have set, and then determine if they are unrealistically high or low – or if the goal is set at the right level for you. Adjust them so that they are at the right level. Remember, don’t give up… it may just take a slight adjustment to achieve your goal!

Ways to Practice Goal Setting

  • Help a new kid in school feel included
  • Get a good summer job
  • Help stop violence on the school grounds
  • Make friends with someone outside of your social circle
  • Earn enough money to buy something for yourself (like the new CD you’ve been wanting)
  • Raise money to buy a new computer for the school library or for a favorite charity

Just remember to tell yourself every day that you are working towards your goal and look at your timeline so that you can see the finish line. You’ll get there!!