Setting Goals

“Goals determine what you’re going to be.”  ~ Julius Erving

 

Tips for Setting Goals:

1.  Identify a goal.  It could be something that you want to change or something that you want to continue.

In order for something to be a goal:

• It has to be important to you, personally.
• It has to be within your power to make it happen through your own actions.
• It has to be something you have a reasonable chance of achieving.
• It must be clearly defined and have a specific plan of action.

2.  Outline the steps needed to achieve it.  What do you need to do in order to accomplish that goal?

3.  Consider possible blocks and ways of dealing with them.

4.  Set deadlines.

5.  Periodically re-evaluate your goals.

6.  Reward yourself for accomplishing your goal.

Group Scenarios:  Divide students into groups and assign each group a goal. Have them identify 2-3 steps needed to achieve that goal and set a date(s) by which they would like to accomplish each step or reach their main goal. Ask each group of students to share their responses.

1.  Goal 1:  Help a new kid in school feel included

2.  Goal 2:  Decrease bullying in school.

3.  Goal 3:  Raise money to buy a new computer for the school library.

4.  Goal 4:  Improve Math grade (Be specific of what grade you would like to achieve).

 

 

Optional Questions for Discussion:

 

1.  How do you decide what your goals are?

2.  Is it a good idea to set goals?  Why, what do goals do for you?

3.  Have you ever set a goal that was unrealistic?  What happened?  What did you learn from that?

4.  Has there been a time when you turned a failure into a success?  What did you learn from that?

5.  If you don’t accomplish all your goals does that make you a failure?

 

Information obtained/adapted from:  http://www.goodcharacter.com/BCBC/Goals.html

 

Handout:

Goal Setting.doc