Wednesday, 10 January 2018

Dear Teen, You’ve Got to Set Your Goals!

At the beginning of the year, there is usually, an avalanche of discussions on goals setting. It is a regular ritual at the start of the year. Lately, it seems clear that the several attempts at new year resolutions have produced very little positive results, so much so that the contributors have moved from just teaching ‘Goal Setting’ to providing ideas  on achieving the goals.

A lot of the time, teenagers have the impression that only adults set goals at the beginning of the year or even set goals at all. That’s not true. You see, teenagers work towards developing their talents, skills, learning abilities, and dreams in order to achieve success in their future ambition but one vital tool is missing – goal setting. With goal setting, a teenager will focus on the skills necessary to help their dreams become reality.

First, every serious-minded teenager needs to have a periodic goal-defining session. You need to sit down with a piece of paper, be as honest and open as possible and take as much time as you need to answer questions like the following;

  • What do I want out of life?
  • What do I most enjoy doing?
  • What gives me joy?
  • What do I value?
  • Who is someone I admire and what characteristics do they have?
  • If I could solve a world problem, what would it be?
  • What am I good at?
  • What makes me motivated?
  • Where do I see myself in 5 years, 10, 15, 20?
  • Where would I like to go?
These and similar questions can help a teenager produce a goal-setting profile and encourage them to begin to set goals in their life.



Second, teenagers need to engage in some goal-setting strategies. There are some specific steps to setting goals.

  1. Define your goals (wishes are not necessarily goals because some are not probable or even possible to achieve, i.e. “I wish to go to the moon right now.”)
  2. Discuss and brainstorm, with a small and trusted group of family and friends, the steps needed to achieve your goals. Do this step for each individual goal. If needed, research the goal online or at the library or talk to your parents/school counselors for guidance on how to reach the goal.
  3. Go over the possible roadblocks to accomplishing the goals and how to deal with them. For example, are their financial problems or time constraints or potential parental resistance to accomplishing the goal?
  4. Make deadlines. Don’t be overwhelmed by large goals, set small goals to help meet the large goals.
  5. And finally, have an accountability partner to whom you can report on your progress every now and again. Your relationship with God is a way to make Him your accountability partner. There, you will receive great guidance and direction and the objectives of your goals will be Kingdom-focused. For instance, you may set a goal to develop great and positive self-esteem this year by answering the questions around the "Why"? and "How"?
In connection with the final step, a good idea is to set goals and evaluations to work around your Christian life and the other important milestones of your growth, for instance, the church and school programs. For example, active participation in the church and the community can reveal the spirit of volunteerism, teamwork and leadership; grades can show academic success; or sports programs can show physical prowess. Also, set the kind of rewards you desire for accomplishing goals. Talk about how good it would feel to meet your goals and the rewards that will come.

Goals are critical. They keep you focused on what is important and allow you to make the best use of your 24 hours each day. When goals are tackled correctly, they force you out of your comfort zone and help you grow more than you would without them.
And, perhaps most importantly, they give us control of our destiny. Just by setting a goal, you are taking an active role in driving new and better results in your life. What could be more important than that?

(With excerpts from www.teenhelp.com and www.7mindsets.com )

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