According to the US Office of Personnel Management, setting hard goals increases an individual's persistence and thus transfers effort into commitment and motivation. This ultimately leads to increased performance, especially if the goals are set at a high level1
Based on this information, goal setting has a direct correlation with commitment, motivation, and performance. If that’s true, this is a skill kids should have. Here are some suggestions to keep in mind as you lead your child through their goal setting venture.
Let Them Choose Their Own Goals
Being committed to a goal provides motivation to completing the tasks. Children are more likely to develop motivation if they set their own goals. It doesn’t matter how many goals you set for a child – if they are not motivated to complete them, it won’t get done. Start with letting them choose.
Talk About Possibilities
A goal is something that will be challenging for a child to keep them motivated but not completely out of their reach. By using your responses from the discussion above, you can help establish which one of those goals could realistically come to life. Take this time to do a little research to determine how much they’d need to save to reach that goal.
Discuss the ‘Why’
To be committed to achieving a goal, it’s important to help your child understand the purpose of them. When you cast this vision, it allows for children to internalize and self-regulate their feelings regarding them.2
Setting SMART Goals
Establish the habit of setting SMART goals – SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time bound. When you use SMART, your child can create clear, attainable and meaningful goals, and develop the motivation, action plan, and support needed to achieve them. Learn more here.
Stepping Stones
One of the benefits of SMART goals are setting small milestones your child can achieve regularly. By achieving these smaller goals, it will keep them focused and build the child’s confidence in continuing to work toward that goal.
Review and Celebrate
After the goal is achieved be sure to take time to review the accomplishment with your child. What worked well? What can they do better next time? If the goal is out of reach, consider extending the deadline.
It’s important to provide positive reinforcement for successes, even if partial. Be sure to congratulate your child and celebrate what they have achieved.
1 Setting Goals
2 Goal Setting For Kids