Don’t give up on your dreams, or your dreams will give up on you. (John Wooden).
Goal setting is a crucial life skill that helps teenagers not only navigate their current academic, athletic, and social challenges but also prepares them for the demands of the working world. As teens begin to create and achieve their goals, they develop essential skills like time management, organization, and critical thinking. These skills are not only vital for success in school but also translate directly into the workplace, where they will need to set personal development goals, aim for career advancement, or acquire new skills to become more valuable in their chosen fields. For many teens, goals can often feel nebulous or overwhelming, making it difficult for them to know where to start. This is where asking the right questions and helping them dig deeper into what they truly want to achieve becomes essential. Whether their goals revolve around academic success, athletic prowess, or social development, it’s important to guide them in breaking down these broad ambitions into actionable steps that are both achievable and meaningful.
A common challenge for teens is that their goals often lack specificity, making it hard for them to track progress or stay motivated. This is where the SMART goal system comes into play. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, and it’s a framework that helps teens create clear, realistic goals that they can actively work toward.
Specific: A well-defined goal is easier to focus on and achieve. For instance, instead of saying, “I want to do well in school,” a teen could set a goal to “earn a 3.5 GPA in chemistry by the end of the semester.”
Measurable: Goals should have criteria that allow progress to be tracked. This could involve setting milestones, like improving grades in specific subjects or increasing study hours per week.
Achievable: It’s important that the goals are realistic and within the teen’s capability, taking into account their current skills and resources.
Relevant: Goals should align with the teen’s broader ambitions and values, ensuring that the effort they put in feels meaningful. That means your teen writes them, not you the parent.
Time-bound: Setting a deadline creates a sense of urgency and helps the teen stay on track, whether it’s a short-term goal like studying for an upcoming test or a long-term goal like preparing for college applications.
By using the SMART system, teens can turn their dreams into actionable plans, which in turn builds their self-confidence, self-worth, and intrinsic motivation. These are the qualities that not only lead to success in high school but also prepare them for the challenges and opportunities they will encounter in the working world.
The process of setting and achieving goals in high school lays the groundwork for the types of goals teens will set in their professional lives. In the workplace, they might create personal development goals, such as learning a new software program, improving communication skills, or taking on a leadership role. Alternatively, they may aim to move up within their company, requiring them to set and achieve specific performance goals. For those pursuing skilled trades, setting goals might involve mastering a particular technique or earning a certification that makes them more valuable in their field. The ability to set clear, measurable goals and work consistently toward them is a skill that will serve them well in any career path they choose.
Before teens can begin working toward their goals, they need to develop strong time management and organizational skills. These are the foundations that allow them to allocate their time effectively, balance competing priorities, and ultimately achieve their goals. A simple yet effective tool to help teens get started is a composition book or a blank journal where they can document their daily activities. By writing down their homework assignments and tracking how long they spend on each subject, they gain insight into how their time is spent. This exercise often reveals that a significant portion of their day is consumed by non-academic activities, whether it’s sports, social events, or time spent on social media. Once they have a clear picture of their time usage, teens can create an organizational plan that includes both a composition book for daily tasks and a calendar for tracking larger projects and extracurricular activities. This visual representation of their time helps them build accountability and encourages them to think critically about how they can better manage their schedules to achieve their goals. Even better, is the planner that Encouraging Teens created that has all of this in one place.
One of the biggest challenges teens face today is the constant distraction of social media. It’s all too easy to get sucked into the rabbit hole—answering one Snapchat can lead to watching a TikTok video, which then leads to browsing YouTube, and before they know it, hours have passed without any productive work being done. It’s important to discuss these distractions openly and help teens find strategies to limit their exposure during study time. Encouraging them to turn off notifications, put their phone in another room, or set specific times for social media use can make a big difference in their ability to focus and stay on track with their goals.
Encouraging teens to set their own goals and develop their own strategies for achieving them fosters critical thinking and personal responsibility. When teens are involved in the goal-setting process, they are more likely to feel ownership of their objectives and are more motivated to work toward them. It also creates personal accountability, if parents create the goal and your teen does not achieve it, who is at fault? Parent or teen? Guess who the teen blames.
Your teen will encounter hurdles and setbacks while working towards their goal. It is key to be the parent asking challenging questions and guiding your teen to think through their barriers to success. By helping them come up with their own solutions, rather than simply providing answers, you empower them to take control of their lives and their futures. Again, your teen achieves the goal with your support, not you doing it for them. Here you are the mentor and cheerleader for your teen.
Goal setting is about more than just academic success—it’s about helping teens develop the skills they need to thrive in all areas of their lives. Whether they’re setting goals for their high school years or preparing for their future careers, the ability to create clear, actionable goals and work consistently toward them is a skill that will serve them well throughout their lives.
By teaching teens the importance of setting SMART goals, developing time management and organizational skills, and navigating the distractions of modern life, we can help them build a foundation for success that will carry them into adulthood. And as they transition from high school to the working world, these skills will continue to be invaluable, whether they’re climbing the corporate ladder, mastering a trade, or pursuing their passions.
In the end, the most important thing we can do as parents, educators, and life coaches is to support teens in their journey to discover and achieve their own unique goals, helping them build the confidence and resilience they need to succeed in whatever path they choose.