Career & Life Coaching

Goal setting is essential for building a successful life. However, teaching kids how to set and achieve goals is not part of most school curriculums, nor is it taught in most homes. Many parents never learned the techniques of goal setting, and are still struggling with their own. You don’t need to know it all. While you develop your own goal-setting skills, you can also be helping and encouraging your children to develop theirs. Goal setting is a life-long skill. It helps your child to focus their unique gifts and talents, it helps to cultivate and strengthening your child’s self-worth, and equips them to lead a life full of meaning purpose, and direction, regardless of the professional or personal paths they choose.

Things to consider when setting goals with your kids CAREER – school grades, skill development, future plan (ambition); PERSONAL- character development, and personal growth (self-image, sense of responsibility, ability, sefl-esteem), appearance; HEALTH – exercise, diet, over-all well-being, balance; COMMUNITY – commitment to serving others (volunteer work); FINANCIAL – understanding the value of money, earning, saving; FRIENDS – expanding their circle of friends, choosing friends wisely; HOUSEHOLD – chores, contribution to building home life; RECREATION – hobbies, relaxation, fun activities (movies, parties, etc.) ,

Things to remember Expect resistance; Be firm; Look for performance, not perfection; Kids need to see the end before they begin (incentive – what will happen if…); Kids need rewards; Kids need praise.

Results As kids learn how to set goals and experience the difference goal setting makes in their personal destinies, it will encourage them to take action. They will begin to create lives for themselves that they want and “Dare to live their Dreams!” As your kids become more aware of greater possibilities in their lives, and tap into their respective talents they will develop a stronger sense of self and of their contribution to society.

Goal setting doesn’t have to be an arduous task. In fact, setting goals can, and should, be fun. You can experience feelings of fulfillment, and success, but I requires commitment on your part – acknowledging your fears ( the worst case scenario), taking risks, allowing for challenges and detours, and most of all, giving yourself time.

In the words of Gladys Tabor; “We need time to dream, time to remember, and time to reach the infinite. Time to be.”

Your goals should be “SMART”

“S” - Specific
“M”- Measurable
“A” – Attainable
“R” – Realistic
“T” - Timely

Goal setting is most effective if you lay out a pathway for achieving your goals. This allows you to determine the steps you need to take to be successful, and see your progress.

Goal Setting Process

Start your goal setting process by creating a list of your dreams (things you would like to do). These dreams will become your goals. How do you do this?

From your list of dreams pick the ten most exciting things (these are now your goals) and add dates that you would like to do them by. For each dream (goal) go back and set intermediate or half-way goals. List short-term goals that will contribute to your accomplishment of the intermediate goals.

There is no limit to the number of goals that you set, just make sure they are realistic and attainable, and that you are committed to them.

Things to Consider: What are the ten places you must visit before you die?

What ten events would you really love to experience firsthand? (events that would be so awesome that you would talk about them for the rest of your life)

What ten skills would you most like to acquire (personal and/or professional)?

What five things would give you the greatest sense of accomplishments in your business life?

What ten things would give you the greatest sense of accomplishment in your personal life?

What would you like your family to experience over the next five years? (private school, trips, etc.)

What type of physical shape would you like to be in?

How much money would you like to earn per year? (what amount would provide your family with everything you need, plus enough left over for savings).

What does your dream home look like? (location, no. of bedrooms, bathrooms, decor, etc.)

After putting dates to your ten most exciting goals and setting intermediate goals, your short term goals are now the goals you want to achieve this year.

Short term Goals

List 10 of the Biggest Opportunities/Goals for 2003 that you can commit to.

This includes all areas of your life, family, financial, career, business, social, your body, learning, personal development, environments, recreation, adventures.

A Successful Environment
In order to achieve your goals, you must set yourself up for success. To do this, you want to make your life as friction free as possible. This means taking an honest look at the things or elements in your life that you may need to let go of, or restructure, that will simplify your life and allow for the success and fulfillment you so deserve.

Consider the following questions and see if/where you need to make some changes in order to achieve your goals.

Social/Emotional
Who are you going to spend time with who will encourage you, provide strength when you need it and who will help you evolve?

Physical Environment/ Activities
What will you use (physical and virtual) to keep you focused and on track? Look at your Daily Habits; Where do you need to make adjustments (additions, deletions), and what is working for you?

Something to remember:
A goal is a landmark to use as you move forward in life. It is a way of measuring progress and evaluating the effectiveness of your actions. Not reaching your goal by a target date is an opportunity to re-evaluate your strategies, commitments and the goals themselves. If you discover that you are not committed to a goal (which is OK), it may be that it is not something you really want. If this is the case, recognizing it allows you to put your energy into something you do want, and that you can be committed to.