Drive Strength or personal motivation is attained through goal setting. Goal setting is a major ingredient for success. The author Mark Twain once said, “Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” Twain might have said the same thing about success in life. Everyone talks about it, but very few do anything to ensure their success. Many people just dream, and it takes more than dreaming to make dreams come true.
Many people who do not achieve their dreams fail because they lack motivation or drive strength. Think of success as doing the things that those who fail do not do. Those who fail consistently do not set specific goals. By keeping goals vague not setting deadlines, these people believe that they are being successful simply by avoiding failure.
In this post we will cover the following topics to help you teach your students proper goal-setting:
- Decide on a goal
- Write it down
- Make a plan to achieve it
- Take action
- Characteristics of a good goal
Decide on a goal
The first step to teach your students is to set a clear goal and then firmly achieve it. Dreams, wishes and high hopes are okay, but think about what you really expect to get. Anticipation helps create the reality of life. Here are some tips to teach them:
- Decide what you want.
- Write out the goal.
- Develop a plan.
- Expect it to happen.
- Don’t make excuses.
Write it down
After they decide on a goal, have them write it down. The goal statement should be written in simple, direct language. Successful people know what they want and can clearly state their goals to themselves and to others. In order to write a good goal statement, use the following rules:
- Use an action verb.
- Make the statement measurable.
- Set a date. For example: by Dec. 12, next year
Make a plan to achieve it
Each person is where they are today because of the choices they made in the past. Many people are not fully satisfied with their lives or careers. The series of choices that brought them to where they are may not have been the result of careful goal setting and planning.
Teach your students that the best way to accomplish anything is to make a plan for what they intend to do. Teach them to think ahead about the likely outcomes of their daily actions. By doing so, you can teach them to avoid a lot of the pain and misery that many people experience in life.
Take action
Teach your students to take action. Goal setting requires you to decide what you want and make a plan to achieve it. Goal setting requires action, but more than that, it requires constructive action. Proper goal setting lets us start where we are today and begin to move to where we want to be.
To do this effectively, you need to ask your students, “How well do you understand”…Yourself? Your wants? Your needs?
Characteristics of a good goal
A good goal has certain characteristics. Here are three important characteristics to teach your students:
Realistic. It is important that you set a realistic goal that can be obtained. Realistic goal setting is the basic, first step toward achieving your goals. Here are some questions to help you decide if your goal is reachable or not.
- Are the resources available to achieve the goal? (money, motivation, time, etc.)
- Do you have a basic understanding of what it takes to achieve your goal?
- Are you committed to this goal?
Measurable. How can you tell when you have reached your goal? If the goal is not measured, it will be hard to tell if it has been reached. Here are some examples of unquantified, non-measurable goals:
- have the best grades
- have the most friends
- be the best athlete on your team
Set a timetable. A timetable is the attachment of a date or time limit for achieving the goal. Learning to change a timeline is just as important as setting a timeline. Successful people sometimes have the habit of underestimating the time it takes to reach a goal. When setting timelines, allow for any unexpected changes that may occur. Changing conditions or circumstances may cause difficulty in meeting a timeline. If this occurs, it is important to not give up on your goals. It is better to simply change the timeline so you will still be able to achieve your goals.
