Five reasons why setting practical goals is important to your student’s success
It’s the start of the new school year. Nerves, excitement (the students) and relief (parents after 7 or so weeks of school holidays) abound.
The start of school also means that it’s time to set goals for the year. To many students, goal setting feels cringe – worthy and forced. Maybe you’ve heard your children complain, “Why do we have to do this every year?” “What is the point of goal setting?”.
Goal setting is a very important process that helps keep students focused, motivated and moving forward. And once they master the art of goal setting, it can be applied to all areas of your child’s life.
What are goals?
Before we get into why practical goals are important to student success, let’s talk a bit about what exactly goals are.
Goals are things you want to do. They often need commitment and hard work in order to be achieved. The best goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timebound). Some examples of SMART goals are:
- Save $300 by the end of April
- Go for a 30-minute run 3 times a week this year
- Read 2 books a month in 2023
If you’re having problems getting your rangitahi on board with goal setting, here are 5 reasons why setting practical goals is important to your child’s success.
Prepares students for the future
To set goals, rangitahi need to think about their future. What do they want to do? What are the skills they need to get there? Goal setting also lets students figure out their study motivation on their own terms (instead of your reminders, which if we’re being honest, probably don’t sink in).
Boosts self-confidence
If your rangitahi are new to goal setting, start out small.
For example, if you have a reluctant reader, try setting a goal of reading 3 pages a day. Once your child starts to achieve their goals, they will feel more confident in their abilities. In the long run, this confidence boost will allow your child to tackle trickier, more long-term goals with renewed determination.
Teaches students good time management skills
Good time management skills are critical for students both at high school and beyond. They are basic requirement to getting stuff done (well) on time. Once your rangitahi have set their goals, they can figure out how much time and resources they need to commit to achieve their ambitions.
Increases resilience
While it would be fantastic if your children achieve all their goals, the reality is that sometimes, there will be set backs. The path to success is never smooth. But with your help, your student can use setbacks as a resilience building exercise that will help them learn to persevere.
Helps students to focus and find a sense of purpose
Having goals will give your student something to work towards and clear path on how they can get there. Once your child knows what they need to do to achieve their goals, they will be more focused and motivated to spend time on activities that help them reach their goal.
Next steps
If you’ve managed to get your child through the goal setting process congratulations! That is the first big hurdle out of the way.
But what happens next?
Keeping up motivation is one of the big factors that will allow your student to achieve their goals. If you your child struggles with procrastination, catch up on our article, How to help your child avoid the pitfalls of procrastination.
Or maybe you feel like your high school student’s study skills could do with some help? Our Study Skills and Strategies workshop is the perfect solution. This workshop is run every term and provides high school students with practical, explicit strategies to improve academic performance.
