The 6 Keys to Successful Money Goals.

‘Set It and Get It’ for Teens

How many times has your teen excitedly announced a bold plan for buying something they ‘absolutely must have’, only to let the goal drift away after a matter of days?

Do their friends roll their eyes when they announce (yet again!) that they are going to get fit, give up desserts or even earn lots more money?

We all logically understand that setting goals is beneficial – they help us make use of our potential and create a life we enjoy. But time and time again we stumble when trying to reach our goals. Did we make them too hard? Are we being unrealistic? Were we truly passionate about the end result?

Wouldn’t it be awesome to know exactly what steps are required to achieve any goal?

If your teen is ready to get different results by doing things slightly differently, then share with them Set It and Get It – the six keys to help them reach their money goals!

1. Their goal must be written down
With just thoughts in their head, your teen has nothing but wishes and daydreams. As soon as they commit their ideas to paper, they are telling their subconscious mind “This is the result I want you to produce.”
When the goal is written down, their mental filter system is activated which makes them aware of the opportunities, resources and people available to turn their goal into reality. Even if your teen struggles with words they can cement a goal with pictures and drawings. A goal on paper is a goal almost half-finished!

2. They will be rewarded for being specific

A goal absolutely must be specific. If your teen writes “I want more money”, how does their subconscious create that? Finding a coin behind the couch cushion achieves that goal. So does receiving a small pay rise or receiving a huge inheritance. “I want a new car” could see the adolescent squeezed into a hatchback when they were dreaming of a chunky off-road truck!

Help your teen describe in precise language what they want to achieve, and give it a time-frame. A goal without a deadline is still just a dream. A time limit lets them monitor their progress and can give that sense of urgency to keep them moving!

How will it feel to achieve the goal? Will they be proud, excited, happy, relieved…? They should write that down too, describing the entire goal as specifically as possible.

3. Goal setting is a skill and a discipline
“I tried goal setting once but it didn’t work!” Huh? That’s like playing your first ever round of golf and deciding that you’re no good at it! Like any skill, developing mastery at goal setting takes practice, practice and more practice. But it is learnable!
We should teach the process of goal setting in great depth at school. Will understanding the secrets of goals accelerate your teen’s success? Sure it will! Will it save many of their dreams from the dusty ‘maybe one day but probably not’ shelf? Yup!

4. Beware of overestimating and underestimating
Let’s say your teen reads a how-to financial literacy book or goes to a seminar… they get fired up… they’re convinced that they can actually bring their money dreams to life… so they enthusiastically set some inspiring goals… a couple of weeks pass… nothing seems to be happening… their action list doesn’t look to be getting any smaller… the first little flicker of doubt appears… before a month passes they’re kicking themselves for actually thinking they could reach the goal… and so another dream dies a lethargic death.

This is a common scenario, because people regularly fall into the trap of overestimating what they will achieve in the short term. Yet they also underestimate what can happen in the long term. Just like your teen’s money growing in the bank thanks to compounding interest, their little baby-steps and mini-successes in the next 12 weeks will have an enormous pay-off over the next five years!

5. Their WHY is more important than the HOW
Will there be days when your teen would rather stay in bed or watch TV, instead of working towards their money goal? Oh yes! Will there be people who stomp all over their dream with words or actions, hoping your teen will join them in the crowd of mediocrity? Absolutely!

The one thing that will get your child through these trying times is a compelling, vivid, super-strong reason WHY they want to achieve their goal.

“Because I should” and “He/She thinks it’s a good idea” are completely useless reasons. Encourage your teen to get personal – why is it important to THEM? Uncover the emotion behind the dream and help them list the benefits of achieving it.

The stronger their Why and the more compelling reasons they have, the greater their chance of reaching the goal. It’s the Why that will keep them going when that little voice says “It’s not worth it – just give up!” It’s their Why that gives them courage when they don’t know what step to take next.

6. They don’t need the HOW to begin

The biggest brake to your teen reaching a money goal is the belief they can’t begin until they know exactly how they’re going to achieve it. Life isn’t like that! How do we get good at a sport? We play it! Do we always win? No – but we always lose if we never step onto the field.

When working towards a goal, something is always better than nothing. Even by taking a tiny, seemingly insignificant step, the often-daunting journey to achievement has begun. Yes, change can be stressful for your teen and stepping into their courage zone makes their heart race, but confidence comes from action. Even if the action doesn’t produce the results you expected, at least they’re off the mental couch and have taken the first step. Work with your teen to build on that energy!

Without action, their dreams will never become real. They will never have a 100% failsafe plan for how to reach their money goal, so encourage them to just start where they can – today!