Teen Polls

Famous LDS People

Goal Setting Tips

Music Links

Ask the Therapist

Prepare for the Big "M"

Getting Rid of Bad Habits

Quotes

Service Ideas

Scriptures

To donate to The Spin and increase our ability to serve you better, please click the PayPal button below. Thanks for your support!

Goal Setting Tips

Choosing Your Future
Generally, when you are setting goals, the "experts" tell you to decide what you want to accomplish by the end of your life and what kind of person you would like to be. Some people even suggest you imagine your gravestone or funeral and what you would like people to say about you. So, a lot of times you'll hear or read that you should decide what you want to do with your life or how you'd want to be remembered after you've died. That helps you know what your long term goals are. At any rate, everyone suggests that you start with long-term goals, then semi-long term, then short term goals.

Break Your Goals into Small Pieces
No, we don't mean smash your goals and give up! Look at your long-term goals and try to cut them into 5 and 10-year goals, then into 1-year goals, then into monthly goals and so on. Eventually get to specific daily goals that help you accomplish the weekly and monthly goals. For instance, if I wanted to be a pro football player, I would set goals for what college I want to attend, how well I'd have to do in high school to get into that college (both sports-wise and academically), what classes I need to take, and so on, until I get to the specific daily goal of, say, lifting weights and studying for a certain amount of time every day.

So, you can break your goals into:

Eternal goals
Lifelong goals
10-year goals
1-year goals
Monthly goals
Daily goals

When you get to the daily and monthly goals, be really specific. For instance, if I want to be a concert pianist, and my daily goal is to practice, it might be good to also include the specifics of how long I will practice and what type of music and exercises I will practice--even what to focus on for each practice. Then, not only is your achievement more measureable, it feels easier because making it specific often makes it feel smaller and more attainable.

Some possible good goals and smaller goals that would follow (starting with long-term and going to smaller goals):

Support myself and others financially / Go to college / Do well in high school / Study / Study every day for at least 1 hour

Get married in the temple / Date (That helps, huh?) / Be friendly / Say "hi" to one new person each day

Be the kind of person people want to be with / Study relationships and communication / Serve other people / Do something nice once every day.

And so on . . .

Be Specific
When you get to the daily and monthly goals, be really specific. For instance, if I want to be a concert pianist, and my daily goal is to practice, it might be good to also include the specifics of how long I will practice and what type of music and exercises I will practice--even what to focus on for each practice. Then, not only is your achievement more measureable, it feels easier because making it specific often makes it feel smaller and more attainable.

Keep Reminding Yourself
After all that hard work of defining your goals, you don't want to forget them! Some goals are hard to remember, so you need to remind yourself what you're aiming for. Even the goals that are on your mind a lot are easier to achieve when you support yourself with little reminders. In either case, here are some options you can consider:

Write the goal everywhere--on mirrors, on papers posted around the house, etc. (if the goal's not private).

Write the goal in another language (if it's private, be certain no one else can read it or figure it out).

Set out a picture, trophy, bank--whatever reminds you of your goal in a positive way is great.

Put up quotes related to your goal, or tuck the quotes in your schoolbooks, scriptures, etc.

Put something in your backpack to remind you of your goal.

I'm sure you can think of more ways to leave yourself a reminder. Do it!

Ask someone else to remind you of your goal!

If all else fails, use the old piece of string tied on your finger trick.

Reward Yourself
It's great to reward yourself for the steps you make toward your goal. The rewards can be as varied as the number of people in the world, and each person is motivated by different things. Of course, the greatest reward is to acheive your long-term goal, but since that goal is usually quite far in the future, it helps to find ways to pat yourself on the back as you work.