As your students enter the classroom, ask them to write on the whiteboard any goals they have for themselves and their lives. (If your class is meeting online, you can share your screen with a blank document, asking teens about their goals and typing their answers.) Goals should be short term and long term (example: graduate with a certain GPA, get an after-school job, attend a specific university, become a surgeon, marry and have six children, etc.). Once everyone has had a chance to contribute, discuss:
- What determines what kind of goals you set for yourself? (Answers might include: seeing someone else be successful in an area and desiring the same thing for yourself, talents and skills, personal interests, etc.)
- What does it take to see a goal become a reality? (Answers might include money, opportunity, determination, skill; accept all reasonable answers.)
Let’s check out a video that offers helpful guidelines for setting—and achieving—your goals. Play the following video for your students [1:48]:
Setting SMART Goals
People come up with and pursue goals for various reasons—and while their reasons may make sense to them, they might not make sense to the rest of us. For instance, we may not understand why a friend would want to train for a marathon by putting in the long hours of rigorous training that kind of goal requires.
Sometimes, we put our hopes and dreams into goals that will never satisfy, whether it be money, fame, power, or relationships. We get desperate to have or achieve something that just can’t make us happy—it can leave us feeling frustrated and unfulfilled. Let’s take a look at someone who tried it all—he set and accomplished every goal that came into his head. Let’s find out how that worked out for him.
