Best Self Family Post

New Year, Fresh Start: Setting Meaningful Goals

1/3/18

Happy New Year! It’s the perfect time to set our resolutions and think about how to make the most of the upcoming year. Setting goals is healthy, it helps us feel focused and productive. That feeling of accomplishment when we achieve a goal, instills happiness and confidence. Get together as a family to discuss the value of goal setting and start seeing progress, with these tips!

Include Everyone

Encourage everyone in your family to set goals. Examples of goals for younger children can be to get ready for school by themselves or pick up their dishes after each meal. Creating and reaching goals at an early age is beneficial for your child’s development. It helps develop necessary skills like planning for the future. It can also give them a sense of purpose and higher self-esteem!

Set Short Term Goals

Setting daily, weekly and monthly goals in addition to long term goals can be helpful. Break down your goals into steps that are achievable. For example, if your long term goal is to be accepted into college, your short term goals could be to attend current school (daily goal), finish 1 college application (weekly goal), finish 3 college applications (monthly goal) or improve grades (monthly to semester goal). Short term goals can help you maintain motivation, especially from the confidence you feel by achieving goals more often.

Include Different Parts of Life

Write down your goals for different parts of yourself or your family life. Setting goals as a family can be particularly helpful for children, who benefit from seeing everyone working on goals at the same time (especially if they have been acting out). Help your children set their personal goals by choosing from different aspects of life, such as: relationships, learning, hobbies, spirituality and health. Ask them to choose 2-3 areas and start by writing “my school goal is __________” or “my friendship goal is __________”.

Be Detailed

Now, pair your goals with specific actions you can take to achieve them. Be as detailed and as specific as possible. For example, instead of “get fit”, change your goal to “improve fitness by exercising 2 times a week for 1 hour.” Making your goals measurable and concrete will help you achieve your goals more easily.

Track Progress

Find ways to track your overall progress and be sure to praise yourself for each step you take toward that goal. For example, write down what actions you took each day in a journal, on paper posting somewhere you can see, or in the notes section of your phone. This helps keep your goals easily accessible to you and remind you to keep your efforts consistent.

Reward Yourself

When you achieve a goal, reward yourself! Rewards can be as simple as crossing it off of a list or keeping a sticker chart. It can also be something larger like giving yourself a manicure, having a movie marathon, buying some flowers or going out to dinner. It is hard to meet your goals, it takes ambition and dedication. You deserve the opportunity to feel good about your accomplishments!

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