As Spid learned in Spid the Spider Has a Day Off, it is easy to get distracted on the simplest of journey’s let alone your journey through life. So do your kids have clear goals in life? If not, help capture their imagination and inspire them to greater things with this fun goal setting activity!

Why bother setting goals?

Setting goals helps focus effort and fuel momentum in life, in other words, it encourages a ‘growth mindset’.  Setting and measuring progress towards a goal also helps assess the need, and potential for, self improvement. In turn this helps children put in place cognitive and behavioural strategies and adapt plans to address any shortfalls. In short, the reason to set goals is to help realise a host of benefits:

  • clarity of purpose
  • meaning in life
  • confidence
  • focus
  • direction
  • simplicity, a filter, ease of doing things
  • energy or drive
  • to make things happen
  • to unlock the potential of your heart
  • a sense of accomplishment
  • charisma
  • to learn and grow
  • to promote a sense of self-mastery and self-worth
  • a longer life
  • joy

What is a goal or objective?

A goal or objective is a target that someone is trying to reach or achieve. For example, it could be the end point of a race or something that a player is trying to do as part of a game.  It is something to work towards with drive and determination.

What is an appealing goal to set for your next school term?

Goal-setting is the process of taking active steps to achieve your desired outcome. When setting goals think about something that is appealing or beneficial to do. Then it will be more motivating to achieve!

Good goals are also SMART. A SMART goal is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based. There is no right or wrong answer for the time-target for a goal. It is simply to help you reach the goal, and then if the goal is met earlier, a new goal can be set.

A school term lasts around 3 months so this is a reasonable time-frame over which to set, manage and hopefully achieve a goal. So ask children to think about what is appealing and reasonable to them to achieve this coming term? Then to write that down. You can revisit progress towards those goals during the term.

What is an appealing and challenging goal to set for your life?

The start-point for setting life-goals is to think about your dreams and desires. What are you interested in? What do you wish you could do more of? How would you like to spend the rest of your life? So encourage your children to write down as many hopes and dreams as you want on a piece of paper. Or alternatively, to visualise their desired future, what would their life look and feel like in say 20, 30 or 40 years time?

When it comes to setting life goals, Martin Luthor King advocates setting big goals you are passionate about. In the business world, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras, in their book, Built to Last, reveal that the most successful businesses set ‘Big, Hairy Audacious Goals’.

Why big goals? If you have big goals, this more profoundly affects your thinking and behaviour. It affects the way you speak, it affects what you wear, it affects the way you look, it even affects your posture and even the way you shake hands. And even if you only make it half-way to a big goal, you are likely to have made more substantial progress than to a small goal!  So encourage your children to feel unlimited or unconstrained … we’re talking about their lives, and helping them lead them to the full.

How to achieve the goal? For starters, write down the life goal under the term goal and post it on your bedroom or classroom wall. It will act as a daily reminder to supercharge and guide your day. With big goals it will also help to break the challenge down into individual activities that need to be undertaken to progress towards the goal, like planning steps on a journey.  Like Spid, children will also need drive and determination.

  • Download our discussion prompts on goal setting
  • Download our discussion prompts on goal setting

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