The success and happiness of our children is something we all strive for. As a parent, it’s your responsibility to instill in your children a good habit of writing and achieving their goals from an early age. For more information, including a free printable goal sheet to help youngsters see and realize their goals, keep reading!
Writing down a goal increases your chances of achieving it. How much more likely is this? About 62% of the time, that’s what the experts say! Now, did you know that just 3% of the population actually keep track of their goals? Only 3% of those 3 percent actually examine and update their goals, and only 1% of those 3% actually do so. This is why it’s so critical to instill the practice of setting and tracking objectives in children as early as possible.
Simple as it may seem, writing down your goals is a critical first step toward achieving your objectives. In fact, it’s the very first step toward achieving a goal of any kind.
Table of Contents
STEP 1: WRITE
To get started right away, have your youngster fill out the MY GOALS printable below and list their goals. They can be as general or as particular as their imagination allows. You can print this page as many times as you need to get the ideas out of your head and onto paper. Use this paper first (remember, this is just the start and gives them an edge over 97 percent of the population). Encourage your youngster to set one particular goal for each area of development. It’s much better if the goal has a timetable attached to it. Print out a fresh sheet and put down their exact goals in each square after they’ve selected their personal aim in each category. Make sure it’s prominently displayed in a position where they’ll see it often. This is essential if you want to stick to your resolutions!
STEP 2: PLAN
They must now devise a strategy for achieving that objective. Suppose my child wants to learn how to play the piano, for example. However, for the sake of time, we’ll stick with that. They’d put it like this:
1. Buy a piano.
2. Look for a tutor (or an app)
3.Practice
They will be able to see how to accomplish their goal by writing out the steps. This may be used with virtually anything. “Be more compassionate and nice,” my son put it as one of his spiritual aspirations. This is how he envisions his strategy to look:
Be a More Generous and Generous Person
Make a note of the person’s name.
In order to show that you care, do something kind for them every day for a week
4.Make a list of all the good qualities about the person you’re writing about.
5.Comment on your week’s experience.
Do this with a different person for x weeks.
STEP 3: ACT
Start working on your goal after you’ve laid out your strategy. To achieve some goals takes a lot of time and effort, while others may only require a few minutes a day of your time. In this case, the most important thing is to keep going! Teach your children that consistency is more important than perfection when it comes to behavior. Tell them to go back to where they left off if they get off course.. Just keep going, it’s not a huge issue. The Compound Effect, one of our favorite books, is a great resource for this phase. After listening to the audiobook, my 10-year-old daughter has had a completely new outlook on life.
Our children participate in a fantastic youth programme at our church, which is open to anybody who wants to join and which teaches them the importance of setting and achieving objectives. In order to create the “MY GOALS” printable below, we used this source for the four goal regions. In addition to a weekly meeting for teens, there is a bi-monthly meeting for the younger children. The activities in this youth programme are aimed at fostering the development of the participants in four key life areas. Both Stacey and I have served in both groups and continue to do so. These organizations can be found all around the world, including in the United States. No matter where you are in the world, we use the same outline. Simply put, it’s all about teaching kids that they have something to contribute. A little excerpt from the book we use to teach this programme explains why it’s so critical to continually learn, enhance one’s abilities and improve oneself:
You are known and loved by your heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. The work they do relies on you. You can make a difference in the world.
You have been blessed by God with special talents and abilities. He expects you to make the most of your abilities and make a positive impact on the lives of others.
STEP 4: REFLECT & CELEBRATE
It’s critical to take a moment to reflect on your progress. That adage about hindsight being 20/20 has some truth to it. When we take a step back, we can see the path we took to get here. We can look back at the things that didn’t work out and the things that did. As a result, we’ll be in a better position to make long-term plans. Then it’s time to celebrate! What an accomplishment! They’ve just accomplished something that only a very small percentage of people do.
For our kids, learning how to establish and achieve objectives has given them a sense of purpose, and we’re confident it will for yours as well.
