How does that saying go, again? “A dream without goals is just a wish.” As it turns out, this saying is absolutely true. And there’s no time better to learn about this than as a teenager. As a loving parent, keeping your teenage son or daughter on the right path in life is one of your greatest responsibilities. While there are many different aspects to consider, the concept of goal-setting is among the most crucial. After all, it’s almost impossible to follow the right route if you don’t first have your eyes focused on the destination, which is why teenage goals are so important for youngsters.
Here are 10 top tricks to help your son or daughter create and work toward their teenage goals in style.
1. Create Goals That Can Be Controlled
When helping your teen work towards their goals, it’s important that they set goals that they can actually control. Goals such as wanting to be the top of the class at a subject won’t work as the outside variables of how other students perform can’t be controlled. Therefore, it’s better to set a goal based on the personal grade average or achievements.
2. Set Realistic Goals
Some people say “shoot for the moon; if you fail you’ll still land among the stars”. In reality, nothing discourages a teen from following their goals quite like the feeling that they aren’t good enough. Goals should be used to help your teen unlock their full potential and become the best that they can be. Realistic goals help them do it.
3. Break Goals Into Bitesize Pieces
Even as an adult, the thought of taking on a marathon would frighten you. However, starting with a 5k, then a 10k followed by a half marathon before finally reaching the marathon seems far less scary. Use those sentiments to help your son or daughter set goals that can be broken into milestones along the way.
4. Write Goals Down
Talking about ambitions and dreams is one thing, but it’s very easy to keep them as little more than fantasies unless they are physically written down. It’s the simplest of ideas yet can have a telling impact as it forces your teen to actively start pursuing the goal. Given that the first steps are often the hardest, this can make all the difference.
5. Have Deadlines
You also want your son or daughter to throw themselves fully into their goals. Without deadlines, they can quickly fall into the trap of putting things off or making excuses for continued failure. With a deadline in place, your teen will be forced to take action. On a separate note, this teaches a valuable lesson that will serve them well in many aspects of life.
6. Make A Checklist
Writing down what they want to achieve is one thing, but it’s perhaps even more crucial to think about the ‘how’. A checklist that includes all of the steps needed to achieve the goal is vital. If your teen wants to buy a car, for example, their checklist will include items such as getting a job and finding a competent driving instructor.
7. Add To The Checklist
Building a plan that includes actionable tasks is a vital step along the road to success. Nevertheless, even calculated plans are likely to miss out on one or two items. Likewise, the goals may evolve as your teen’s life situation changes. So, even when the checklist has been created, they must be encouraged to revise it as and when required.
8. Work Towards Multiple Goals
The teen years will fly by. Therefore, your son or daughter must not fall into the trap of focusing solely on one goal. They should chase targets in education, recreational hobbies, and their health as well as other areas. In truth, getting this balance right in order to pursue all of their goals will truly put them on the path to success.
9. Review Completed Goals
When a goal has been completed, it’s important for your teen to analyze the situation to confirm whether the desired results have been achieved. If it has failed to improve your teen’s life in the way that they wanted, it might be necessary to go the extra mile or set a slightly bigger goal. The pursuit of continued progress is vital.
10. Celebrate
It’s important for your teen to set goals and strive for more. Nevertheless, the purpose of hard work is so that you can enjoy the rewards. Your teen should be encouraged to give themselves a pat on the back for achieving their goals. The whole work leading to reward ideology won’t only incentivize them in the short term. It will inevitably set them on the right course for life.