Goal Setting

April 15th 2022

Why is goal setting important? Goal setting is important for several reasons including (but not limited to) providing us with a focus, increasing accountability, helping us to self-assess and understand what’s important. Making goal setting a joint effort between the student, family, and other mentors leads to increased consistency in the students’ engagement towards varying tasks, increased productivity and increased goal achievement. There are several strategies to consider in working with your student to set goals.

Look for ways that your student already uses goal setting techniques and initiate a conversation surrounding the way that they are already using those techniques (i.e. did they take steps to buy a new video game or to complete an assignment). Ensure that you are highlighting their strengths.
Start small; Start with setting a small, fun goal to further develop goal setting techniques and work towards forming larger goals. Set a goal to finish a fun book, save up for a new toy, etc.
Let your student decide what their goals are. They will be more likely to stick to a goal that they want to achieve. You can provide input and help them to plan for their goal, however, the goal should be their goal.
Be aware; Listen for your child’s wants or needs in their day to day activities and conversations and help them to create a plan.
Show your child how to set and plan for goals. Set your own goal (i.e. to form a garden, to eat healthier, to spend more time as a family), or a goal as a family, and show them what it takes to accomplish goals. Students sometimes learn best through examples.
Understand the difference between and importance of both short-term and long-term goals and help your student to understand that as well. For example, a short-term goal could be finishing a chapter in a favorite book whereas a long-term goal could be to finish a new book of choice each week. A short-term goal can often lead into a long-term goal such as moving from getting late work turned in by the end of the week to not having any late work in the next quarter.
Ensure that goals are concrete rather than abstract. Instead of having a goal of “doing better in school” create a concrete, S.M.A.R.T goal
Be realistic; help your student to understand the challenges, focuses, and patience that the goal may require. Assist them in weighing both the pros and cons that surround their goal. Ensure that you are being both encouraging and realistic when goal setting.
Applaud your student’s effort; Ensure that you are acknowledging both their work towards the goal, and the accomplishment of the goal. Acknowledge little successes along the way to the goal, rather than just focusing on acknowledging the end result.
Sometimes further encouragement or modification may be necessary. Ensure that your review the goal, provide praise as needed, and collaborate on adjustments to the goal as needed.
Goals are tools not rules. Remind your student that the goals they set are there as tools to guide them and help them to accomplish different wants or needs; Goals should not be set rules that restrict; Goals should be open for change.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals. When setting goals, ensure that your goals follow the S.M.A.R.T. criteria. Ensuring your goal is specific, measuable, attainable, relevant and time bound is helpful in setting and achieving concrete goals. It aids in ensuring that there is a set plan for the goal.

Example of a bad goal: “I want to go to college”
Example of a S.M.A.R.T. goal: “By January of 2020, I will have researched and applied to three colleges that I want to attend.”

Seven steps to goal setting. To set goals, it’s important to both understand the purpose of goals and the steps to setting goals. The following are seven steps to use in goal setting.

Step 1 - Set a SMART Goal: Make sure that your students goal follows these criteria to ensure it is sustainable and accountable
Step 2 - Identify Skills: Identify skills necessary for accomplishing the goal
Step 3 - Assess Strengths: Identify strengths that your student already holds that may help them in accomplishing the goal
Step 4 - Examine Stressors: Identify stressors and challenges that the student may have in accomplishing the goal
Step 5 - Explore Strategies: Explore different strategies for attaining the goal and create a plan of how those strategies will be utilized
Step 6 - Determine Support: Make a list of anyone or any resources that will help to encourage, support, and account for your student in their goal
Step 7 - Track Progress and Celebrate Successes: Create a way to track progress and celebrate the little successes along the way, and the overall achievement of the goal