LESSON 11 – SETTING GOALS FOR SUCCESS

Learning Objectives.
At the end of the session, students should be able to;
1. Understand the possible outcomes having his/her own goals in life.
2. Setting his/her possible methods and ways to achieve success in life goals.
Discussion.
The importance of goals. A goal is a target or objective of a motivated and directed
chain of behaviors. Goals come in all forms and sizes; some can be reached quite easily while
others entail more effort, careful planning and a longer time to achieve.

Since all behavior is goal oriented, it is important for the individual to set sensible, challenging,
attainable goals. The following are some reasons why setting goals are important;
1. Setting goals direct the individual’s behavior. When the individual becomes aware of his
needs, all of his behavior will be directed towards satisfying this need, thus his goal.
Behavior that will not bring him closer to his goal are then lessened or are totally
disregarded.
2. Goals, once set can determine the individual’s progress towards accomplishing it.
3. Goals serve as guides to discipline behavior.
4. Goals keep the individual busy so no time to be wasted.
5. Goals motivate the individual because it provides a purpose/lesson for his behavior.
SELF-EFFICACY
This is another concept of Albert Bandura’s social cognitive aspect of behavior. If students will
recall Bandura’s Triadic Reciprocal Determinism which is composed of the interaction among 3
factors; the environment, the person and the person’s behavior, the concept self-efficacy is
part of the person factor.
Self-efficacy is a concept that is neither biological nor hereditary. Rather, it is an attribute that
can be learned and enhanced through the following:
1. Mastery of learning and skills.
2. A good social model.
3. A persuasive environment
4. Physical fitness
5. Emotional maturity
Thus a high level of self-efficacy together with information about the extant social and physical
environment would give the individual enough confidence to proceed smoothly towards
reaching his desired goals.
MINDSET
1. Fixed Mindset. A person with a fixed mindset believes that their character, intelligence
and creativity are innate/inborn and cannot be changed or altered. In this mindset,
success means affirmation of these so-called inherited traits.
2. Growth Mindset. A person with this mindset does not bank on given qualities for them
to be successful but instead he/she wanted to be challenged. This mindset believes that
the person’s basic qualities can be learned or cultivated through hard work/effort of the
person. They know they have potentials, they only have potentials, they only have to
discover and tap it, whatever it may be.
LOCKE’S GOAL SETTING THEORY
In this theory, goals are seen as important. But what is important, for this theory is the process
and the means by which the goal is realized. This means that YES the person is able to achieve
his goal but there is still the question of what has become of him in the process of reaching it.
From Locke’s theory came the popular mnemonic known as the S.M.A.R.T. objectives.

There are 5 goal setting principles that can increase the person’s chances of reaching the goals;
1. Clarity
2. Challenge
3. Commitment
4. Feedback
5. Task Complexity

Conclusion:
It is also important for the person to set his sight on accomplishing goals one at a time
and not to have more than one goal, he should learn to prioritize so as not to sacrifice the
valuable things in life like his family and friends.