Goal Setting for Teens

Look throughout the world at those who have achieved the most in life. People like Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Warren Buffett. These are the people who have stretched their imaginations to unforeseen levels. They have dreamt at levels we have never imagined.  Their visions for what was possible was so far beyond anything any ordinary person would envision. Many people believe they have gotten lucky. The reality however, is that its that simple skill, of dreaming big, that has guided them to their success, fame, and fortunes.

You see, no one in this world has ever created or accomplished anything without first seeing it in their mind. The greatest achievers in human history have been those with the biggest and boldest goals and dreams. Life as we know it wouldn’t be what it is today without those individuals. But you too can be one of those people who shape the destiny of the world. Through your dreams, goals, and desires you have the power to create something just as extraordinary as the great leaders listed above. Through your dream, through your imagination, your mission and vision will come as soon as you release your perceived limitations, and allow your heart to drive your mind to your dreams.

Imagine what it will be like, when you look back on your accomplishments; when you have the opportunity to turn to all those who told you that you could not accomplish your dream. What will it feel like to turn to those people and smile, as without saying anything more, they know by that twinkle in your eye, you accomplished all you set out to achieve.

True leadership originates in a dream. A vision that calls you to action, that puts you in your unstoppable state of defying every odd that’s against you. The greatest leaders know only the standards set by their dreams of what is truly possible, and the best time to start dreaming big is now. No matter where you are in your life, it is never to early or late to broaden your vision of what’s possible.

Big dreams are where it all starts, from your earliest dreams of becoming an astronaut or baseball player, to your dreams of owning your own business, writing a book, or owning your dream car or home, if you do not dream of it first, you will never actualize it into your life.

In order to succeed with long term goal setting, then you need to be aware of the most common mistakes and pitfalls that can ruin your best-laid plans. Check your goals, and see where you may have hit a roadblock.

1 Sticky Goals:
It’s easy to get plugged into a goal, and even though it’s not working, you hang on to it out of sheer habit or willfulness. That sets you up for procrastination and frustration. Rethink the goal by concentrating on the big picture – the direction you want your life to go – instead of the specific way to get there. Maybe the goal to own your own business is about wanting to spend more time with your kids, instead of more money. Maybe the goal to write a bestseller is really about wanting recognition for your talents, not fame. Focus on the feelings that you are after instead of the one-and-only way to get it.

2. Floating Goals:
These goals are floating around in your head, usually masquerading as a wish list. Writing down goals (and strategies and actions) takes them out of the *wishing* category and gives them roots to grow. It’s no longer just a pipe dream in your head. Now you can simply filter all decisions (big and small) through your goals — does it contribute to my goal, or detract from it? Example: You have a goal to write a best selling romance novel, with a strategy of writing one chapter each week for 36 weeks, and your action is to spend 1 hour per day towards each chapter. If you don’t schedule – AND PROTECT – that 1 hour each day, it’s more than likely that you’ll get to the end of each week wondering why you didn’t get more done.

3. Contradictory Goals:
This is a common mistake in goal setting–two or more goals with opposing results. Marriage counselors see it a lot in people who want the benefits of being married without giving up the single lifestyle. Or maybe you have a goal to spend more time with your family, but you have a job you want to do well at that requires a lot of face-time. Contradictory goals will frustrate you to no end, because you’ve given yourself an impossible task. Evaluate your goals in light of their relationship to each other.

4. False Goals:
These are goals that involve chasing money, approval of others, etc. If you want to become a doctor just to win the approval of someone in your life, that’s a false goal. Or if you want to become a doctor just because of the money you’ll earn, that too is a False Goal. You’ll find yourself constantly looking for external motivation to keep you moving forward. Or you’ll find that no matter what you say your goal is, you just can’t move forward on it. It may be that it’s not an expression of the authentic you. Find the courage to tell the truth about what you really want in your life.

5. Blind Goals:
No matter how nicely laid out the goals, strategies, and actions are, if you don’t SEE them and review them, and let them become part of who and what you are and do, on a daily basis, you’ll lose track of them. The job, the errands, the latest TV show, worrying about money, worrying about kids, worrying about the economy will all crowd out your time, thoughts, and energy. They may remain in the back of your mind, but you won’t gear your life towards them. Instead, write them out, blow them up to poster size, put a sticky on the ‘fridge, frame them for your office – anything, and anywhere that you’ll see them regularly.

Check your goals for these pitfalls, make a few adjustments, and you’ll be back on the success road sooner than you think.

Goal setting is an important part of making progress no matter what you are trying to do. Small incremental steps are needed to both boost confidence and to measure progress. No company can go from nothing to a powerhouse overnight. There are a multitude of tiny steps in between. This is how we run our company. We know that we aren’t the most successful company on the planet, but we have a vision in our heads of where we want to be in 2 years. The only way to reach that huge goal is to set smaller goals along the way for us to achieve. I like to think of it as a ladder. If you’re climbing a ladder up to a high point, you can’t take one step and skip the rest to the top. It’s impossible to do this with a ladder, and it’s impossible to do this in business. There is no easy way to reach the top; it takes hard work and discipline.

A similar way that I look at goal setting is in weightlifting. Weightlifting is a hobby that I have enjoyed now for over a year. It’s lots of fun and it keeps me in shape. Goal setting is a crucial part of any weightlifter’s training. If I wanted to lift a heavy weight that was beyond my ability, I can’t just lift it anyway. My body simply won’t allow me to do this. The way I can do it is to lift slightly heavier weights each time until my muscles have adapted sufficiently. These smaller increases are goals that lead me to my much bigger goals. Each time I reach these smaller goals, my confidence increases and it drives me to my ultimate goal. This can be applied to sports, business or anything else in life. I feel this confidence drive me in business. When I set a goal of increasing the number of people in my network by 10 in one month, and I make it, it makes me wonder if I can do even better. I find myself wanting to top myself each and every time. Every small goal that I achieve gives me more drive to do better.

We’re all feeling pressured these days. We’re making do with less. We’re on call 24/7 Our email inboxes are overflowing
So – no surprise – we’re getting bombarded with guides to manage our time more efficiently. Visit any bookstore and you will find dozens (maybe hundreds) of titles with “time” in the title. Surf the Internet for “coach” and you’ll soon learn the truth: more people hire coaches for time management than for any other reason.
So why are so many of us still feeling frazzled and frustrated? Most time systems offer band-aid solutions to the life equivalent of a broken leg…or patching a flat tire with chewing gum. For real time management change, you have to dig deeper. Here are 10 reasons most time management systems fail — and what you can do instead.
(1)”One-size fits all” systems.
Your life is unique – so why should your time management system be like everybody else’s? For example, one “expert” advises all her clients to focus on marketing during the day. Gym and grocery-shopping should be reserved for evening, she says. But some people actually work better in short bursts of purposeful activity. They thrive on interruptions. Others need a solid block of time or they accomplish nothing. Which are you?
(2) Ignoring your motivation.
Does this scene sound familiar? You visit friends who have teenagers. After dinner the teens are supposed to take out the garbage. “We’re too tired,” they protest. “Can’t it wait till tomorrow?”
The parents almost give in…till the phone rings. After a brief conversation, the teens are headed out the door: “A party! Just a few blocks away – let’s run!”
We haven’t changed much, whether we’re 14 or 64. When we’re highly motivated, action seems effortless. Somehow we manage to get everything done.
(3) Waiting to reward yourself till you’ve “earned” it.
Experienced trainers and psychologists recognize that offering an unexpected treat can be a powerful motivator. Feeling deprived and resentful will be counter-productive. Often when you’ve been working hard to solve a knotty problem, the solution will come only when you allow yourself to take a break.
(4) Focusing on task instead of purpose.
Time management systems often focus on scheduling and organizing tasks into charts, folders and lists. But you take control over time when you ask, “Why is this item on my To Do List?” and, “Do I really need to do this?”
Over and over, I’ve heard people discover the big secret: Often when you ignore an incoming message or call, the problem resolves itself. And when you skip a meeting, the world doesn’t come to an end.
Of course, you have to be careful. You can’t ignore messages from clients (most of the time). If you work for a company, the decision to skip meetings can be hazardous to your career.
But I urge everyone to ask. “Pete” was supposed to send his department head a monthly report. He would need at least a day to compile the numbers. One day Pete forgot to send the report…until the middle of the next month. He realized he hadn’t gotten a follow-up warning or reminder. So next month, he deliberately ignored the report. Nobody noticed for the next year, and by then Pete had been promoted: he was known as a productive go-getter around the company.
(5) Listening to the critics.
“Connie” was feeling depressed: her boss had labeled her “disorganized.” True, her desk was cluttered and she sometimes came back late from lunch. But Connie ran a complex department and she rarely missed a deadline.
Connie’s challenge was to talk to herself encouragingly. She can’t give in to calling herself “lazy” and she can’t afford to accept the “disorganized” label.
To take charge of time, begin with the way you talk to yourself. Name-calling and insults won’t help. Feeling strong and powerful is the first step to solving your own unique time challenges.

Many people want to lose weight and if you’ve ever tried then you should already realize just how difficult this can be. This is equally difficult for children. Any successful weight loss program will concentrate not only on losing weight but also improving confidence levels. It can be very difficult to make overweight individuals feel good and confident because of years of teasing from peers. There are quite a few motivational techniques which can be applied to your life in order to make you more committed to losing weight.1. ProgressYou will want to know how your weight loss plans are working for you and to make this possible you should track your progress. Any good weight loss camp should weigh you every week; this will give the kids an indication of how much they have managed to lose. If they actually see that they are losing weight then they will feel much better about themselves. Some campers will keep a small journal which can be used to record your experiences and also to record how much weight you have lost each week. Even when you go home you can carry on weighing yourself, seeing that your hard work has resulted in some weight loss will help to keep your kids motivated.2. EnjoyWeight loss camps are successful because they make exercise fun and enjoyable. Exercise only seems like hard work if it is a chore, if however it is something that you enjoy then you won’t even realize that you are losing weight or doing any exercise. There are a whole host of different activities that can be considered as a form of exercise including swimming, drama, kayaking, and horseback riding. Weight loss camps will also make food choices much more fun and interesting. They teach kids that healthy foods can be fun and can taste great too. These camps will teach how to choose foods based on calories and show that by making a few good decisions in terms of your diet you can still enjoy the things that you like to eat.3. Getting HelpWeight loss camps are a great way of getting the help and support that you need to change your life for the better. The counselors aren’t the only people who offer the support. Everyone else is in the same boat as yourself and that means that they are much more likely to offer you extra support. Many kids find that this extra support is a great way to stay motivated and actually shed some pounds. Children love this support because they’re not used to it. At school they often get teased and tormented. As you manage to lose weight you will be able to improve your life and start looking better, you can also make yourself feel more confident. Getting in touch with some great new friends who have a similar problem to yourself will help with your goals.4. GoalsYou need to set yourself goals so that you can make sure you are on track. You can keep yourself motivated by looking at the positive effects of weight loss. You will have more energy, feel more confident and live a longer and happier life. You can use these goals to keep yourself motivated even when you leave the camp. If you are ever tempted to eat anything unhealthy then you can convince yourself that it’s not a good idea to eat it by reinforcing your goals. Set yourself long and short term goals to help motivate you.5. Education

You should learn about the consequences of eating certain types of food. If you eat greasy foods or lead an unhealthy lifestyle then this can have a huge toll on your life. This education should provide you with plenty of motivation to help improve your life and get your life back on the rails. Kids and young adults all need to learn about nutrition and exercise. This education will help you to understand about the differences between healthy and unhealthy foods and the consequences.

Motivation and Goal Setting delivers concise, how to information in a friendly, interactive format ideal for team or individual use. This book will help one clearly define their values, maintain flexibility by setting realistic goals, and stay motivated in the face of setbacks. With tools that can be immediately incorporated, goals will soon become realities.

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Let me begin by asking you a few questions:

Do you know how to boil an egg?

Can you change a flat tire on your car?

Do you know how to wire an electric plug?

Would you be able to clear a blocked drain?

You may well be wondering why I’m asking you these things, but just bear with me. You see well into my late teens I was unable to answer “Yes” to any of those questions. I had great parents and they did just about everything for me. In fact they still would now if I let them! And I was certainly grateful!

But it had it’s downside as I’ll explain.

I still lived with my parents when I first learned to drive and bought my first car. But having a car means you’ve got to look after it. The trouble was, because I had so many things done for me, and also when I was at school I had never had much interest in the practical subjects where you got your hands dirty, I really hadn’t got a clue about auto maintenance. But not to worry, Dad was always ready and willing to help.

Until, that is, I got a puncture when I was on a remote road far from home. There were no mobile phones in those days so I couldn’t call anyone. So it was simple; I could sit and wait for someone to come along and ask for help, or I could set about changing the wheel myself. No choice really, so I took a look at the owner’s manual to see what I had to do and I did it.

And guess what? There really wasn’t a problem and in a few short minutes I changed the wheel and was on my way. And I’ve done the same thing a number of times since. I also know how to boil an egg, wire an electric plug, and even unblock the drain. And lots more besides.

So what’s that got to do with trust?

Well simply I learned to trust myself to do those things. You see because I had always had things done for me and, when I watched others doing them, convinced myself that I wouldn’t be able to do them, my subconscious mind believed me. When I struggled with the practical things at school it simply reinforced it. My mind became conditioned to believe that I was not going to be able to do those tasks.

But when it came to dealing with that puncture I had no choice. There were step by step instructions on what to do and I just had to get on with it. I had to override what my subconscious tried to tell me and trust myself to do it. Can you imagine how great I felt when I had completed the task successfully? And throughout my life I have learned to trust myself to do new things and take on challenges. I trusted myself to become a successful presenter and public speaker, I trusted myself to go out and learn to sell to people at all levels, and I trusted myself to give up a well-paid job and start my own business. Just like the owner’s manual told me how to change a wheel, I found out how to do the other things I’ve accomplished. The help, advice and instructions were always there.

And the same is true for you! Don’t be stopped from doing what you desire by your subconscious mind. You may well have become conditioned to believe that you cannot do things. You’ve probably come to believe you have your position in life and that wealth, happiness, financial freedom or maybe just a job you enjoy are beyond you. But don’t accept it. The opportunities are out there you just have to seek them out.

But how do you take that first step? Simple, you must simply trust yourself!