Community Tool Box - Section 6. Youth Goal Setting

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Youth Goal Setting
Tools & Checklists	Contributed by Lorraine Claassen Edited by Kate Nagy

Tools

Tool 1: A contract for your relationship
Tool 2: Action plan form
Tool 3: Youth concerns review Part One, Two, Three

Tools

Tool # 1: A contract for your relationship

A mentor/protégé contract is a tool for discussion. Since communication is essential to any relationships, it can help you clarify expectations on many issues before conflict arises. Use this contract in the following manner:

Respond to every question with your preferences. Being honest now will save time and hurt feelings later.
Examine and discuss your differences, focusing and understanding the reasons behind answers that are different from yours.
Try to agree on a way to compromise or resolve those differences now, before conflicts arise.
Write down your agreements.

Mentor/protégé contract

1. Relationship

2. Personal

3. Education

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Tool # 2: Action plan form

Initiative:	Date:
Action step or change to be accomplished:
What actions or changes will occur:
Who will carry it out:
By when (for how long):
What resources are needed:
Communication (who should know what):

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Tool # 3: Youth concerns review

This is a questionnaire that asks the youths to evaluate certain aspects of their lives such as family and social relationships, school achievement, and personal capacities.

The purpose of this guide is to help protégés think about their dreams and goals and how to reach them. The protégé may complete this by him or herself or with a mentor, parent, friend, or someone who cares about him or her.

The questions in the first part ask the protégé to think about personal resources and the challenges to be faced. The second set of questions is supposed to help identify what is important to the youth and what he would like to change. Then you he chooses the most important goals and think about how to meet those goals.

PART ONE:

Dreams for My Life

Spend some time thinking about your dreams for your future, or your goals in life. Some of these may be short term (you want to do them in the next few months or a year). Others might be longer term (you will need more than a year to accomplish them).

1. How would you like your life to look overall?

Start by thinking of the big picture. What are your dreams and goals for your life in general? Write down your ideas here.

SOON:____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

LATER:____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

2. What do you see yourself doing in the following areas soon? Later?

Now think about specific areas of your life. Write down your short-term and long -term goals in each of the following areas.

A. How far do you hope to go in school? What type of education do you want?

B. What kind of job do you hope for?

C. What are your dreams for health? For security and being safe?

D. What kind of family life do you hope for?

E. What kinds of friendships and personal relationships do you hope for?

F. What types of fun and recreation do you hope for?

G. What are your dreams for living on your own or being independent?

H. In what ways do you hope to be involved in your community?

I. What sort of spiritual life do you hope for?

My Assets and Strengths

Skills and Experience:

Take a few minutes to think about your skills and experiences. Please circle the items from the list below that identify skills and experiences of which you are proud. Then write down an example or an explanation for each item you circle. At the end, write in skills and experiences that you value, but are not listed
.

EXPLANATION/EXAMPLE

1. I can read well _____________________________________________________________

2. I can write well _____________________________________________________________

3. I can speak a different language _________________________________________________

4. I am good at math ___________________________________________________________

5. I can use computers __________________________________________________________

6. I can drive well ______________________________________________________________

7. I can paint or draw ___________________________________________________________

8. I can organize things __________________________________________________________

9. I can fix things ______________________________________________________________

10. I can play with children _______________________________________________________

11. I can care for children ________________________________________________________

12. I can play sports ____________________________________________________________

13. I can build things____________________________________________________________

14. I can cook ________________________________________________________________

15. I can sew/knit/crochet _______________________________________________________

16. I can grow plants ___________________________________________________________

17. I can target shoot well _______________________________________________________

18. I can hunt well _____________________________________________________________

19. I can talk with friends and family ________________________________________________

20. I have lived in other countries __________________________________________________

21. I have held a job ____________________________________________________________

22. I can play a musical instrument well ______________________________________________

23. I can do arts and crafts well ___________________________________________________

24. I care for animals well _______________________________________________________

25. (add your own)_____________________________________________________________

26. (add your own)_____________________________________________________________

Personal Qualities:

Take a few minutes to think about your personal qualities. What characteristics do you have? How do you act toward others? Please circle the items from the list below that identify personal qualities of which you are proud. Then write in an explanation or example for each item you circle. At the end, write in any personal qualities that you value, but may not be listed.

EXPLANATION/EXAMPLE

1. I am caring of others __________________________________________________________

2. I am courteous/respectful of others _______________________________________________

3. I am religious/spiritual _________________________________________________________

4. I am kind to others ___________________________________________________________

5. I am cheerful toward others ____________________________________________________

6. I am tolerant of others _________________________________________________________

7. I can be trusted by friends and family ______________________________________________

8. I am loyal to my family and friends ________________________________________________

9. I am helpful to others __________________________________________________________

10. I am friendly toward others ____________________________________________________

11. I am responsible ____________________________________________________________

12. I am sensitive ______________________________________________________________

13. I am loving ________________________________________________________________

14. I am up-front with people _____________________________________________________

15. I am direct ________________________________________________________________

16. I am honest ________________________________________________________________

17. I am shy/quiet ______________________________________________________________

18. (add your own)_____________________________________________________________

19. (add your own)_____________________________________________________________

20. (add your own)_____________________________________________________________

My Challenges

Take a few minutes to think about possible barriers or obstacles that may be holding you back from doing things you want. Please circle the items from the list below that identify those barriers or obstacles. Then write down an explanation or example for each item you circle. At the end, write in any barriers or obstacles that you encounter, but are not listed.

EXPLANATION/EXAMPLE

1. It's hard for me to read ________________________________________________________

2. It's hard for me to write ________________________________________________________

3. It's hard for me to add or subtract ________________________________________________

4. It's hard for me to find the time to do some things _____________________________________

5. It's hard for me to get organized __________________________________________________

6. It's hard for me to get places ____________________________________________________

7. It's hard for me to pay for things I want_____________________________________________

8. It's hard for me to make new friends ______________________________________________

9. It's hard for me to understand what people say and do _________________________________

10. It's hard for me to talk with some people __________________________________________

11. It's hard for me to get people to understand me _____________________________________

12. It's hard for me to stay out of jail ________________________________________________

13. I experience discrimination ____________________________________________________

14. I experience violence ________________________________________________________

15. I experience abuse or neglect __________________________________________________

16. I experience drug or alcohol abuse ______________________________________________

17. I experience poverty _________________________________________________________

18. I experience a disability _______________________________________________________

19. I experience fear ____________________________________________________________

20. (add your own) _____________________________________________________________

21. (add your own) _____________________________________________________________

22. (add your own) _____________________________________________________________

23. (add your own) _____________________________________________________________

Please take a few minutes to look back over the last section where you circled your strengths and abilities. Keep those qualities in mind as you go on to Part Two.

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PART TWO:

Youth Concerns Survey

To set goals for yourself, you may work by yourself or with a mentor, parent, or friend to answer the questions that follow. Please go through each issue in every area and answer the following questions:

Next to each issue in the list are two columns where you circle your answer:

In the left-hand column, circle "No" if you don't care about the issue; or circle "Yes" if you do care about the issue.
In the right-hand column, circle "Yes" if you would like to do better at or with the issue; or circle "No" if you don't feel you need to do better at or with the issue, or if doing better at or with the issue is unimportant to you.

At the end of each section under the heading "Other", you will find space to write down any other issue that you think is important.

Now it's your turn to answer the questions:

		I care about...		I would like to do better at...
	Education and Training
1.	getting a high school diploma or GED	Yes	No	Yes	No
2.	having good grades	Yes	No	Yes	No
3.	getting a college degree	Yes	No	Yes	No
4.	going to tech/trade school	Yes	No	Yes	No
5.	passing a specific class	Yes	No	Yes	No
6.	getting to the next grade	Yes	No	Yes	No
7.	having better attendance	Yes	No	Yes	No
8.	having good test scores	Yes	No	Yes	No
9.	joining in extracurricular activities	Yes	No	Yes	No
10.	learning and understanding things	Yes	No	Yes	No
11.	having the skills I need to get a good job	Yes	No	Yes	No
12.	getting along with my teachers	Yes	No	Yes	No
13.	getting along with my classmates	Yes	No	Yes	No
	Other (be specific)_________________________ ________________________________________	Yes	No	Yes	No

	Work
14.	getting part-time work	Yes	No	Yes	No
15.	getting full-time work	Yes	No	Yes	No
16.	getting on-the-job training, or becoming an apprentice in a job I want	Yes	No	Yes	No
17.	getting a better job	Yes	No	Yes	No
18.	getting another job	Yes	No	Yes	No
19.	starting a business	Yes	No	Yes	No
20.	being at work on time	Yes	No	Yes	No
21.	doing better at my work	Yes	No	Yes	No
22.	getting more done at my job	Yes	No	Yes	No
23.	getting along with my boss	Yes	No	Yes	No
24.	getting along with other workers	Yes	No	Yes	No
25.	getting more respect for my work	Yes	No	Yes	No
26.	getting a raise	Yes	No	Yes	No
	Other (be specific)__________________________ ________________________________________	Yes	No	Yes	No

	Health and Safety
27.	Exercising more	Yes	No	Yes	No
28.	not using tobacco	Yes	No	Yes	No
29.	not doing drugs or drinking	Yes	No	Yes	No
30.	feeling good about myself	Yes	No	Yes	No
31.	eating well (eating healthy food)	Yes	No	Yes	No
32.	eating less junk food and fast food	Yes	No	Yes	No
33.	Avoiding STDs and HIV/AIDS	Yes	No	Yes	No
34.	not getting pregnant or getting someone pregnant	Yes	No	Yes	No
35.	not getting hurt or killed	Yes	No	Yes	No
36.	not hurting or killing anyone	Yes	No	Yes	No
37.	being able to go to a doctor	Yes	No	Yes	No
38.	being able to go to a dentist	Yes	No	Yes	No
39.	looking and feeling good	Yes	No	Yes	No
40.	getting vaccinated against diseases	Yes	No	Yes	No
41.	not feeling sad or badly about myself	Yes	No	Yes	No
42.	wearing seat belts or a bike helmet	Yes	No	Yes	No
43.	getting enough sleep	Yes	No	Yes	No
44.	not driving drunk	Yes	No	Yes	No
45.	not riding with a drunk driver	Yes	No	Yes	No
	Other (be specific) _________________________ ________________________________________	Yes	No	Yes	No

	Relationships
46.	having more friends	Yes	No	Yes	No
47.	making better friends	Yes	No	Yes	No
48.	having friends who are good for me	Yes	No	Yes	No
49.	being more accepted	Yes	No	Yes	No
50.	being more assertive	Yes	No	Yes	No
51.	Communicating better	Yes	No	Yes	No
52.	spending more time with adults	Yes	No	Yes	No
53.	being around people who care for me	Yes	No	Yes	No
54.	spending more time with friends	Yes	No	Yes	No
55.	having different kinds of friends	Yes	No	Yes	No
56.	being a better listener	Yes	No	Yes	No
57.	being a good friend	Yes	No	Yes	No
58.	being a good sister/brother	Yes	No	Yes	No
59.	getting along with people	Yes	No	Yes	No
	Other (be specific) _________________________ ________________________________________	Yes	No	Yes	No

	Family
60.	getting along better with my family	Yes	No	Yes	No
61.	staying away from sexual or physical abuse	Yes	No	Yes	No
62.	being treated well at home	Yes	No	Yes	No
63.	getting to know my family better	Yes	No	Yes	No
64.	getting angry without being violent	Yes	No	Yes	No
65.	using discipline without violence	Yes	No	Yes	No
66.	using discipline that is fair and consistent	Yes	No	Yes	No
67.	making rules that are reasonable	Yes	No	Yes	No
68.	having my family show me they care about me	Yes	No	Yes	No
69.	showing my family that I care about them	Yes	No	Yes	No
70.	having family traditions and celebrations	Yes	No	Yes	No
71.	doing more things with my family	Yes	No	Yes	No
72.	being able to talk and share my feelings with my family	Yes	No	Yes	No
	Other (be specific) __________________________________ _________________________________________________	Yes	No	Yes	No

	Recreation and Leisure
73.	enjoying my free time	Yes	No	Yes	No
74.	having more free time	Yes	No	Yes	No
75.	playing more sports	Yes	No	Yes	No
76.	spending time doing things I like to do	Yes	No	Yes	No
77.	spending time doing arts and crafts	Yes	No	Yes	No
78.	spending more time outside	Yes	No	Yes	No
79.	having safe, late-night activities to do	Yes	No	Yes	No
80.	finding a hobby	Yes	No	Yes	No
81.	joining an organization	Yes	No	Yes	No
82.	meeting people with the same interests	Yes	No	Yes	No
83.	trying something new	Yes	No	Yes	No
	Other (be specific) ___________________________________ _________________________________________________	Yes	No	Yes	No

	Independent Living
84.	living on my own	Yes	No	Yes	No
85.	developing my own interests	Yes	No	Yes	No
86.	managing my money	Yes	No	Yes	No
87.	learning how to enjoy being alone	Yes	No	Yes	No
88.	being able to get around (such as on a bus, bike, train, etc.)	Yes	No	Yes	No
89.	taking better care of my stuff	Yes	No	Yes	No
90.	paying my bills on time	Yes	No	Yes	No
91.	reducing my expenses	Yes	No	Yes	No
92.	finding a good place to live	Yes	No	Yes	No
93.	planning better for future bills	Yes	No	Yes	No
94.	getting things I need around the house	Yes	No	Yes	No
95.	getting food for my family	Yes	No	Yes	No
	Other (be specific) ___________________________________ _________________________________________________	Yes	No	Yes	No

	Community Involvement
96.	volunteering or becoming a volunteer	Yes	No	Yes	No
97.	being a good neighbor	Yes	No	Yes	No
98.	helping others	Yes	No	Yes	No
99.	getting involved in solving problems in my community	Yes	No	Yes	No
100	knowing more about my community	Yes	No	Yes	No
101	using more community resources (such as parks and recreation programs)	Yes	No	Yes	No
102	Voting	Yes	No	Yes	No
103	participating in community activities	Yes	No	Yes	No
104	changing/influencing my community	Yes	No	Yes	No
105	helping others get involved in the community	Yes	No	Yes	No
106	being a good role model	Yes	No	Yes	No
	Other (be specific) ___________________________________ _________________________________________________	Yes	No	Yes	No

	Spiritual Development
107	joining a church/mosque/synagogue	Yes	No	Yes	No
108	being more active in my religious group	Yes	No	Yes	No
109	practicing my faith better	Yes	No	Yes	No
110	understanding my religion better	Yes	No	Yes	No
111	showing that I care about other people	Yes	No	Yes	No
112	being more accepting of others	Yes	No	Yes	No
113	treating others as I want to be treated	Yes	No	Yes	No

**Once the youth has finished this section, a mentor, parent, or other caring adult should help them with the following sections.

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PART THREE:

Instructions for Identifying Possible Personal
Strengths and Problem Areas

Recognizing Personal Strengths

These are issues that the youth should feel proud of and needs to work on to maintain and protect.

After the youth has finished answering the questions in part two, it is time to select his or her strengths and concerns. Go back to the question section and help the youth find the items where he or she circled Yes (indicating that he or she does care about the issue) and No (indicating that he or she doesn't feel the need to do better at the issue). These items are personal strengths. Go back to the questions section and use your protégés responses to help him or her identify his or her personal strengths.

Copy from part two those personal strengths that the youth agrees on:

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

Encourage the youth to celebrate and share these strengths with others!

Identifying Possible Problem Areas

To identify possible personal problem areas, the youth should go back to the question section and draw a ring around any issues where the circles are side by side.

Identifying Personal Concerns

Those items where the youth circled Yes that he or she *does* care about the issue and Yes that he or she *would* like to do better at the issue are possible areas of concern that the youth can work on to improve. Review them and list below all those items of concern that the youth wants to do something about soon. When choosing those main issues, the young person should think about the following : issues that may help the youth plan for the future issues that the youth can do something about issues that the youth is ready to work on issues that would seriously affect his or her well-being if he or she doesn't work on it	b. Prioritizing personal concerns Before the youth can begin planning to reach goals for each item, he or she needs to prioritize the problems and rank them according to their importance. The youth should rank the list of issues by him or herself, with 1 being the highest priority. After the issues have been ranked, the youth and mentor should discuss the list and why issues are in that order.
a. Areas of possible concern Go back over the questions in part two and write below those issues that the youth may want to work on: ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________	For example, an individual has ranked the following seven items: ITEM	RANK
	1. Volunteering or becoming a volunteer	6
	2. Getting enough sleep	7
	3. Being at work on time	4
	4. Not doing drugs or drinking	1
	5. Being a good friend	3
	6. Practicing my faith better	5
	7. Having good grades	2
	Item 4 will be ranked #1 priority because it had the lowest score. Item 7 will be #2, and so on.

Now it is time to rank the issues the youth has listed in part a.

First, fill in the issues listed on the previous page in part a.
Think about each issue by itself, asking the following questions:
- How important is this issue?
- Does it need to be dealt with right away or can it wait?
- Does this issue affect others as well (if so, it may be more important)

Ranking of Personal Concerns
ITEM	RANK

Planning for Action

After your protégé has finished identifying his or her goals, it's time to talk about an action plan for meeting those priorities. A good action plan helps us recognize all the steps we need to take to meet our goals. It also helps us be ready for difficulties we might face when trying to meet goals. You will want to discuss:

what actions are needed to reach the goal
who will take the actions (someone else besides the youth may be involved)
when the actions will happen
resources and support needed to take the actions
difficulties your protégé might face in taking the actions
people your protégé should talk to about his or her plans

Help your protégé make an action plan for each of the top priority issues he or she identifies. In the Examples section you can see an example of a completed action plan.

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Checklist

Here you'll find a checklist summarizing the major points in the text.

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The CTB is a service of the

The Community Tool Box

Our Mission

Youth Goal Setting

Tools & Checklists

Tools

Checklist

Tools

Tool # 1: A contract for your relationship

Mentor/protégé contract

Tool # 2: Action plan form

Tool # 3: Youth concerns review

Dreams for My Life

My Assets and Strengths

My Challenges

Youth Concerns Survey

**Once the youth has finished this section, a mentor, parent, or other caring adult should help them with the following sections.

Instructions for Identifying Possible Personal
Strengths and Problem Areas

Recognizing Personal Strengths

Checklist

Work Group for Community Health and Development

The Community Tool Box

Our Mission

Search the CTB

Youth Goal Setting

Tools & Checklists

Tools

Checklist

Tools

Tool # 1: A contract for your relationship

Mentor/protégé contract

Tool # 2: Action plan form

Tool # 3: Youth concerns review

Dreams for My Life

My Assets and Strengths

My Challenges

Youth Concerns Survey

**Once the youth has finished this section, a mentor, parent, or other caring adult should help them with the following sections.

Instructions for Identifying Possible Personal Strengths and Problem Areas

Recognizing Personal Strengths

Checklist

Work Group for Community Health and Development

Instructions for Identifying Possible Personal
Strengths and Problem Areas