How To Achieve Your Goals in Senior High School

We all have big goals: graduate high school with good grades, go to our dream university, pursue our dream career, travel the world, or even save enough money to buy a new gadget.

Goal-setting is important. It fuels our ambitions. It keeps us motivated and focused on achieving the things we want to achieve. Without goals, life is like a boat aimlessly sailing in the sea.

But let’s face it, getting our goals done can be challenging too. No matter how determined you are to conquer your goals, it can still take some time before you can actually start taking action. Why? Because big goals can be overwhelming. So how can you overcome these big, scary goals? Break them down into smaller actionable steps!

As early as senior high school, goal-setting can help you be accountable to your actions. It pushes you to be proactive and overcome obstacles that come along the way. Goal-setting in senior high school can help you develop fundamental skills such as critical thinking, time management, and responsibility.

5 steps on how to achieve your goals in senior high school:

Goals can be inspiring, but they can also be demotivating. To prevent this from happening, you need to set a specific and realistic plan. On a piece of paper, write down what is your dream. It can be as simple as “buy a laptop.”

Think of this dream as climbing on top of a mountain. You cannot reach the top of that mountain with just one big leap. You need to make smaller steps.

1. Set a specific goal.

For example, if you want to buy a laptop, this is a good start. Still, this is not yet a clear goal.

Maybe after some thought, you realize your spending habits are preventing you from saving enough money for a laptop. So with this, you can narrow down the idea to “manage my expenses.” From this more specific idea, you can come up with a concrete statement such as “I will manage my expenses to save enough money for a new laptop.”

2. Map out your steps.

Now that you have your goal, start writing all the things you need to achieve it. Your list may include making a daily budget, limiting your expenses (e.g. keeping your savings first before spending, avoiding impulse buying, bringing your own baon at school, and downloading a money tracker app), and looking for ways to generate money.

3. Create your timeline.

After laying out all the smaller tasks that will help you reach your goal, build your timeline. Determine which tasks you can already do without scheduling. Know which task needs to be accomplished first in order to do the next step.

4. Set a timeframe for each task.

Once you have listed down your action plan, decide when you want to reach your goal. Give yourself enough time to achieve your goals. Some tasks may consume more time than the others so make sure you allocate enough time for each step. For example, you can download a money tracker app right away. However, developing a habit of wise spending isn’t something that you can do overnight.

5. Gather your resources.

Before you start working towards your goal, think of all the things you need to make your goal happen. Aside from money management apps, you can consider reading blogs about financial literacy.

You can also share your goals with your parents or someone you trust. They may be able to give you the assistance or motivation you need.

In general, the way to effectively reach your goals is to break them into smaller, achievable steps. Your goals may seem big and daunting but if you keep your focus on smaller goals, you won’t be intimidated by your dreams.

Enjoy the climb and take the opportunity to learn from each step. Soon enough, you’ll be able to reach the top of the mountain and see how far you’ve come.

Go, you can do this! We’ve got more resources to help you turn your dreams into reality! Visit our Grown-up Guide blog page now!