Most people want to see some kind of change or improvement in their lives from time to time. Setting goals is an effective way to increase motivation and to help you to create the changes you want. It can be used to improve health and relationships, or improve productivity at work. Show
Setting goals can also be an important step in the recovery from mental illness. Common disorders like depression or anxiety can make it hard to function at work or home, or relate to others. Setting goals can be used as part of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) to start the process of getting well and rebuilding a meaningful life. How do goals work?Having goals is a good way to focus attention on the things that are important. It allows us to create a vision of how we would like our life to be. When we have a goal, we tend to increase the amount of time and effort we spend on an activity, and develop effective strategies to achieve that goal. Types of goalsThere are as many different goals as there are human activities. Goals can be short, long or medium-term and can be individual or collective:
Goals and valuesPeople often confuse goals and values, but they are quite different. Goals tend to be specific and achievable, and they can be ticked off and completed. Values represent what is important in life and tend to be ongoing — they don't have an end point. Goals are successful when they are based on our values. For example, if family relationships are an important value, related goals could be to spend regular evenings out with a partner and read with the children each night. Goal setting and mental healthA reduced ability to achieve everyday tasks can be an indication of stress, depression or mental illness. Visiting a doctor or mental health professional can help to rule out underlying problems. Setting goalsWhether your goals are big or small, the first step to achieve them is to decide what they are. Start with the things you enjoy. We are happiest when we use our strengths. Identify any goals associated with your strengths. Make sure you focus on what you want to do, not what you think you should do. Setting small goals will be easier to achieve. For example, instead of saying “I will lose weight”, you could say “I will lose 2kg”. SMART goalsOnce you've decided your goals, the SMART theory of goal setting might help you to achieve them. The theory is based on years of academic research and became popular in the 1980s. Below are the 5 criteria of SMART goals that should give you the best chance of success.
More tips for goal settingSupport and feedbackHaving support from others and making goals public can improve the chances of achieving goals by enhancing commitment to the goal. Receiving regular feedback is also important, as it allows you to know when you are moving in the right direction, and change tactics if necessary. This can be done by receiving feedback from others (such as a teacher or work supervisor) or by tracking measurable items (such as food or alcohol intake). Breaking down goalsIt is useful to break down large goals into smaller steps that can be achieved relatively quickly. This can lead to a sense of achievement and help to keep you focused, as well as prevent you from becoming overwhelmed by large goals. For example, if your long-term goal is to find a new job, some smaller, more achievable steps may be to update your CV, check advertisements on the internet or to call work contacts. Last reviewed: November 2020 Do you remember when you learned how to set goals? If you have trouble answering that question, you’re not alone! Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about how we set goals. In fact, many of us don’t even think of goal setting as a skill; rather, it’s just something we do without reflecting on it much. However, goal setting is a practice that operates on a set of specific skills—and luckily, these skills are relatively easy to teach. As with most skills, it’s best to start teaching goal setting early. Although parents are perhaps the best source of skill-building and development for their children, it’s vital to have some goal setting material in the school curriculum as well. Learning how to set goals in school and seeing goal setting modeled by peers and teachers is a great way to encourage effective goal setting in children. This article will explore why goal setting is a great addition to the curriculum from elementary school all the way up to college, and how it can best be incorporated. Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients create actionable goals and master techniques to create lasting behavior change. A Look at Goal Setting in EducationSetting goals is a vital practice that can benefit anyone with a dream or a vision for their future. Young people who are just starting out on the grand journey of life are at a particularly opportune time to start building their goal setting skills—not only will these skills serve them throughout their lives, but building them now will help them mold their future into one that they desire. Parents can encourage goal setting in their children—and absolutely should do so—but the importance of this skill justifies its inclusion in our schools’ curriculum. The world of education is an excellent place to introduce children to goal setting, lay the foundations for effective goal setting, and begin to practice setting and striving towards personally meaningful goals. Why is Goal Setting Important for Youth?Not only will a curriculum that includes instruction in setting goals teach kids the mechanics and techniques of goal setting, but it will also give them early wins and help them develop belief in themselves. Anyone who has worked with children will recognize the importance of self-belief and self-confidence for early life development. Further, research backs up the effectiveness of goal setting, both for the children themselves and for schools and systems overall (O’Neill, 2000). When teachers practice good goal setting, the benefits for their students are two-fold:
How Do Children Benefit from Goal Setting?Aside from helping them believe in themselves and setting them up for success in school, goal setting also benefits children and students in many ways, including:
These are generic benefits of goal setting that anyone who engages in smart goal setting and striving can attain, but a few of them can be particularly effective for children; for example, the benefits of goal setting for youth include:
Using Goal Setting Effectively with Kids and Teens: A Look at the ResearchAccording to Education World, there are six key secrets to successful goal setting that you can communicate to your students:
The research on this topic provides some extra tips and tricks for maximizing the effectiveness of goal setting curricula:
How to Best Teach Goal Setting to StudentsIf you’re looking for some concrete examples of the best ways to teach your students’ goal setting, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for lesson plans, exercises, activities, and examples. Examples of Goal Setting for TeachersThe Children’s Center for Psychiatry, Psychology, and Related Services provide five great examples—one per each aspect of the SMART goal setting method—that teachers can use to teach their students about setting SMART goals:
A Lesson Plan for TeachersThere are tons of lesson plans available to help teachers incorporate goal-setting into their curriculum. Here is a popular and widely-used lesson plan outlined below. Growth Mindset Goal Setting Lesson PlanThis lesson plan from Mindset Works is intended to meet one important objective: Students will (learn how to) set growth mindset learning goals. The objective will be met through guiding students as they:
You’ll need the following materials to implement this lesson plan:
The lesson plan outlines three mini-lessons, each with their own activity:
Click here to see this lesson plan and download it for your use in your classroom. 4 Goal Setting Worksheets and Templates (PDF)Templates and worksheets are a must-have for teachers going over goal setting in the classroom. Use the four listed below to help your students learn about and practice effective goal setting. 1. Goal Execution PlanThe Goal Execution Plan template is an excellent resource for older students due to the considerations it includes and the level of detail. It includes space for up to three goals, with six steps per goal, and provides the following columns for each step:
You may not need all of these columns, but it’s helpful to have prompts to think deeply about each goal. You can find the template here. 2. Student Goal Setting WorksheetThis worksheet is quick and simple, making it a great choice for young children. The Student Goal Setting Worksheet has space for the student’s name and the current date, then poses these five prompts:
Working through this activity will help them start thinking about what goal setting is as well as what direction they’d like to go with their goals. You will likely need to walk your students through these prompts, so be prepared to provide assistance as needed. You can find the worksheet here. 3. Simple Goal Setting WorksheetThis is another simple worksheet—as the name implies—that can be used with younger or older students to help them figure out the basics of setting and working towards their goals. The worksheet provides space for students to answer the following prompts:
If you use this worksheet with younger students, you might need to help guide them through it or provide examples, but older students should have no trouble completing it on their own. You can find the worksheet at this link. 4. SMART Goal Setting WorksheetIf you want to focus your students on setting SMART goals, this worksheet is a great choice. It’s a bit more involved than the previous worksheets, making it more suitable for high school students than younger students. Here’s the gist of the worksheet:
At the bottom of the worksheet, there is space to list up to 7 action items and determine when they need to be completed by. Click here to see this worksheet and download it for your classroom. 2 PPTs to use in the ClassroomIf you want some ready-made positive psychology PowerPoint presentations that you can use in your classroom or as templates for putting your own unique spin on goal setting, these slideshows are a good place to start: A Look at Goal Setting in Elementary and Middle SchoolGoal setting is a bit trickier in elementary and middle school than in high school. Younger children generally need a bit more guidance and supervision when setting and striving towards goals, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a shot! Use the games, worksheets, and activities below to teach goal setting to your elementary and middle school students. 5 Games and Worksheets for Elementary Students (PDF)1. Pressure CookerThis game is a great way to get your elementary students to use their critical thinking skills. It was designed to:
It takes only 15 to 20 minutes to play, keeping it within the attention span of the average elementary school student. You can have up to 7 players. Here’s what you’ll need to play:
Here’s how the game works:
Click here to download the activity sheet and see popular variations on the game. 2. Cat on Yer HeadThis silly game was designed to work with crowds and can accommodate medium to large groups. The benefits of this game include:
It only takes 2 to 5 minutes to play, making it an excellent warm-up game. All you’ll need to play is some balloons and a stopwatch to keep track of time. To play the game, follow these instructions:
If you’d like to give this game a shot with your students, click here for the full game description and more information. 3. Longest ShadowThis is a quick problem-solving game that requires nothing but the sun! It’s good for up to 7 players and only takes 5 to 10 minutes to play. Why would you choose the Longest Shadow?
Here’s how the game works:
To see the full game description and learn about popular variations of this game, click here. 4. Paper HoldingThis fun and easy game is great for small groups and facilitates team-building. You might want to try this game if you’re looking for something that:
It takes only 5 to 10 minutes to play and all you need is some paper. Follow these steps to play the Paper Holding game:
If you want to play this game with your students, you can find more information by clicking here. Click here to see more games you can use to help students learn about and practice goal setting and goal striving. 5. My Goals WorksheetIt’s not as fun as the games described above, but this worksheet is a great way for your students to practice identifying and planning for their goals. It only requires them to set two goals and gives them ample room to write them down (although they may need your help with this). After they have identified two goals, they answer the following prompts for each of them:
It’s simple, easy, and won’t take more than 10 minutes or so, making it an excellent addition to the goal-setting curriculum either before or after one of the games above. You can find the worksheet here. 8 Goal Setting Activities for Middle School Students (Incl. Worksheets)If you’re a teacher of middle schoolers (or anyone else that interacts with several middle schoolers on a regular basis), these activities and worksheets will provide you with plenty of options for adding goal-setting into the curriculum. 1. Make a Family Bucket ListMaking a bucket list is a great way to set goals, and this activity involves the whole family in the goal-setting practice. It’s a great way to both model goal setting and encourages your children to practice it themselves, all at once. Here’s how to do it:
2. Draw a Wheel of FortuneThe wheel of fortune is a fun way to introduce goal setting in different areas of life. It will show your children that you don’t need to keep your goals limited to school or work, you can set goals in all life domains. Follow these steps to create and use a wheel of fortune:
Make sure to help her keep track of her progress throughout the timeline you chose. 3. Create a Vision BoardVision boards are a great way to plan out your goals, especially the big ones that are especially meaningful to you. Helping your children or students create a vision board will challenge them, get them thinking about what is most important to them, and encourage them to stay motivated in striving towards their goals. Here’s how to create an effective vision board:
Send them home with their vision board or hang it somewhere in the classroom if there’s space for all of them. 4. Play 3 Stars and a WishThis is a fun and easy game that you can play with your students or your children to help them start thinking about their goals. It’s a simple activity with simple rules:
This activity will not only help them come up with important goals, but it will also help them develop the self-belief they need to succeed. 5. Ask Fun QuestionsAsking questions is a great way to get your children or students thinking about what is important to them, what they’d like to achieve or accomplish, and how they can get there. There are tons of fun questions out there, but here are a couple of examples to get you started:
Continue the discussion as often as you can to make sure they are still thinking about their long-term goals and actively planning ways to reach them. 6. Interest MapsInterest maps are best for older students, so you may want to save this for upper middle school or junior high students. Here’s how to help your children or students create an interest map:
This activity will help your students learn more about themselves, which is a vital prerequisite to setting good goals. 7. New Year Reflections and ResolutionsMiddle-school-age children will likely have a grasp of the ritual that is setting New Year’s resolutions. They will also be at an age where they are demonstrating more agency and preferences in regards to their studies and extracurricular activities. Making a ritual out of setting New Year’s resolutions not only serves as a great opportunity to set goals, but it provides an opportunity to encourage children to reflect on the challenges and triumphs of the previous year, fostering gratitude and a sense of accomplishment. To facilitate this activity, ask your child to reflect on some of the following questions:
This is a great exercise to do together as a family. This way, you as the adult can also describe your reflections and set new goals in your personal or professional life. This will allow you to set an example for your kids, who may wish to set goals regarding their schooling, sports, or other extracurricular activities. For a range of useful worksheets to help your child set goals for the new year, take a look at the templates available at Charts4Kids.com. 8. My Goals WorksheetThis worksheet is an effective tool for encouraging children to think more about their goals and plan on how to meet them. At the top of the worksheet, there is a box for them to identify their goal and a box to note the target date for completion of their goal. Next, they are asked to identify three actions that will allow them to reach their goal. These should be relevant and realistic actions that will lead them to completing their goal by their target date. At the bottom, there is space to explain how they will know they’ve reached their goal (e.g., what will it look like when they achieve their goal, what the outcome will be). Plus, they are prompted to come up with two things that will help them stick to working towards their goal (e.g., an encouraging friend, a motivating thought). To see this worksheet or download it for use in your classroom, click here. Goal Setting for High School StudentsAt the high school level, goal setting gets a bit easier to teach, but not necessarily easier to learn and implement for the students! High school brings with it all kinds of distractions that can make setting good goals a challenge. 5 Activities and Worksheets for High School Students (PDF)Use the activities and worksheets described below to help your older students navigate effective goal setting. 1. Smarties Warm-Up ActivityYou can use this activity to get students warmed up and ready to think about goal setting. All you’ll need is two rolls of Smarties candies (or a similar round, stackable candy) per student and 5 minutes. The students’ task is to stack as many Smarties as they can in one vertical column in one minute—but they can only use one hand. Before they begin, have them set a goal for themselves by estimating the number of Smarties they think they’ll be able to stack. Start the timer and have the students start stacking! Once the timer hits one minute, instruct your students to stop stacking and count up their candy. Next, you’ll guide them through the scoring guidelines:
For example, say a student sets a goal of 15 Smarties stacked. If the student stacked 10 Smarties, they would score 5 points per candy for a total of 50 points. If the student stacked 15 Smarties, they would score 10 points per candy for a total of 150 points. If the student stacked 18 Smarties, they would score 10 points per candy up to 15 (150 points) and 5 points per candy up to 18 (15 points) for a total of 165 points. Have the students calculate their score then determine who stacked the most candies and who had the highest score—due to the scoring, this may not be the same person. Discuss any unusual approaches students used, if any. See more activities and a full lesson plan on setting goals with high schoolers here. 2. Action for Goals WorksheetThis worksheet is a great reminder for students that setting goals on its own won’t get you anywhere—you need to set mini goals and identify action steps on the way to your larger goal. The worksheet provides an example of a larger goal and the mini goals and action steps that will lead to it:
Using this as a template, students are given the space to write down four goals and come up with 3 mini goals or action steps per goal and provided with these instructions: “In each box below, state a goal that is important to you and then identify the mini goals/action statements needed.” Completing this worksheet will help your students get in the right frame of mind for goal setting and goal striving, and keep them cognizant of the effort required to actually meet their goals after setting them. You can find this worksheet at this link. 3. My Goals WorksheetThe My Goals worksheet is a good way to help your students figure out what their goals are and refine them into ones that are relevant, meaningful, and motivating. Here’s how it works:
Good goal setting requires healthy reflection and an understanding of who we are and what we want, which this activity is sure to help your students build upon. View, download, or print the My Goals worksheet by clicking here. 4. Rate Yourself WorksheetAnother great activity to try before setting goals is to rate yourself on your need for goal setting in each life domain—in other words, to determine how much you are in need of improvement in each area. This worksheet provides you with an easy way to get your students to rate themselves in 12 different life domains. The instructions at the top state: “Before setting goals for yourself, determine where the need is by completing the scale below. Once completed, prioritize them from greatest to least need.” The scale given to students for their use in rating is as follows:
The 12 domains listed for students to rate their need are:
To use this worksheet with your high schoolers, follow this link. 5. Goal Setting: Learning from the PastIt’s also important to think about your past goals and taking inventory of what went well, what didn’t, and any other lessons learned. This worksheet can guide your students through that process. It opens with an explanation of why it’s an important practice: “Before setting new goals, it’s important to look back to previous goals you have set and learn from them. Analyze why you reached those goals or why you didn’t reach those goals.” Next, the worksheet presents several questions and prompts to help the user think it through:
Be ready to help your students with useful prompts or examples in case they need help, and discuss their answers with them after they’ve completed the activity. Click here to see this worksheet. Goal Setting for College StudentsBy the time students reach college, they are generally at least somewhat familiar with goal setting techniques and have a minimum level of competence in setting effective goals; however, that doesn’t mean they have no work left to do! Goal setting and striving are made up of a set of skills that can be increased and enhanced throughout life—there is no maximum level of skill one can have in setting good goals. 9 Activities and Games for College StudentsThe activities and games described here can help you give your college students the push they need to further develop their goal-setting skills. Goal Setting for the First-Time College StudentThis is a great activity for new college students, as it shows them the importance of setting good goals and planning to achieve them. Here’s how to get your new students thinking critically about their goals:
To further the goal-setting practice, you can share the worksheet at the end of this activity with your students. It poses 8 prompts for students to answer:
To see this activity and the worksheet attached to it, click here. 8 Activities to Think About Goal SettingThis list of activities to help students think about goal setting comes from the Supporting Transition and Education through Planning and Partnerships (STEPP) Program, a program designed to help students with learning disabilities succeed in college. It’s not just helpful for students with learning disabilities though—the activities can be helpful for anyone who wants to improve their goal setting skills. The activities include:
These 8 activities will give your students a great head start on thinking about their goals and how they plan to reach them. Click here to see these 8 activities and other helpful tips and tricks on goal setting for college students. Recommended Books on the TopicTo learn more about goal setting for children and students, check out these six popular books on the subject:
Then we have an additional article where we take an in-depth look at the best goal-setting books. 3 Recommended VideosIf you don’t have time to read a full book at the moment but want a little more knowledge about goal setting for children, give these four videos a try: Setting Goals – McMasterUTVCashVille Kidz Episode 11: Goal & Goal Setting – CashVilleKidzGoal Setting Growth Mindset – Michelle TurnerA Take-Home MessageIn this piece, we described goal setting for children, explained why it’s important, and provided some resources to help you teach your children or students about goal setting. I hope you found this piece helpful and that you have some ideas about how to encourage successful goal setting and striving in your children or students. What are your thoughts on goal setting for children? Does it need to be approached in a different way than goal setting for adults? How do you think it’s best to get started? Let us know in the comments section! Thanks for reading, and happy goal setting! We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free.
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