For the Strength of Youth: Making Choices: Lesson 172

Setting Goals

Effective Goal Setting and Achievement

Although many people have been blessed by setting and accomplishing goals, others may set goals aside or become discouraged when they fall short. The Lord wants us to become even as He and Heavenly Father are (see 3 Nephi 12:48). He will help us as we strive to learn and grow. This lesson can help students draw closer to the Lord as they learn to set and accomplish their personal goals with His help.

Student preparation: Invite students to ponder long-term and short-term goals they would like to achieve. They could also ask people they know what they have learned about setting and accomplishing goals.

Possible Learning Activities

Goals and choices

Consider beginning class by drawing the following diagram on the board. Invite students to do the same in their study journals.

Students can write their answers to the following questions next to each stick figure on the right.

• What do you hope to accomplish within three months from now? within one year? within five years?

  Invite students to ponder the following questions. Willing students could then share their answers with the class.

• What thoughts or feelings do you have as you think about these goals? Why?

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want you to become your very best self—eventually becoming even as They are (see 3 Nephi 12:48). In today’s lesson, seek the guidance of the Spirit to see how They can help you set and accomplish your personal goals.

The Lord’s help

Read the following statement by Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, looking for what you learn about setting and accomplishing our goals:

The help we can receive from the Lord in our goals and righteous pursuits is unlimited, and He supports us in any good and righteous endeavor. … I invite you to consider ways to pursue righteous endeavors in your own life, no matter your circumstances. I assure you that the Lord loves each one of us and He is always there to help us, regardless of the situation we are facing. (“Goals, Growth, and Progress—Recent Messages from Prophets and Apostles,” [digital-only article], Liahona, Jan. 2023, Gospel Library)

• How can Elder Soares’s message apply to setting and accomplishing our goals?

  While students may use different words, help them see that the Lord will help us set and accomplish our righteous goals. Consider writing this truth on the board.

  Then write The Lord on the board, above the diagram from the beginning of the lesson, and ask the following question.

• What difference does it make for you to know the Lord will help you as you set and seek to accomplish your goals?

  It may be helpful to explain that we can set goals in many areas of our lives, including goals for our education, relationships, and physical health. Any effort to grow, improve, or progress in a Christlike way can be a righteous goal.

  Some students may feel discouraged about setting goals because they feel as though they fail at them more often than they succeed. To help these students, consider asking the following question.

• When we fall short of our goals, why is it important to remember the Lord loves us and is there to help us, as Elder Soares taught?

You could invite students to read 2 Nephi 4:17–21, 26–28 and look for how Nephi turned to the Lord when he felt he fell short.

For an example of how the Lord can help us accomplish our goals—even when it seems impossible—consider using Abraham’s example. Students may have already reviewed this story in Lesson 22: “Abraham 1.” If so, you could adjust the below activity to meet students’ needs.

Several years before his call as the Lord’s prophet, Abraham was raised in a land of wickedness and idolatry. Even his own father determined to “take away [his] life” (Abraham 1:30).

Read Abraham 1:1–2, 4, looking for goals that Abraham had set for himself.

• What did you find?

• Considering Abraham’s circumstances, how difficult might it have been to achieve his goals?

The Lord miraculously saved Abraham’s life and promised to help him accomplish his righteous goals (see Abraham 1:15–20).

Read Abraham 1:18–19, looking for how the Lord would help Abraham.

• How might Abraham’s experience influence how you think about your goals?

• How have Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ helped you or someone you know set or accomplish a righteous goal?

Goal-setting process

Provide each student with the handout “Principles for Setting and Accomplishing Goals.” Students can also access this information by going to page 151 in Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2023).

Students could study the handout individually and then discuss their answers to the questions below in pairs or small groups.

Review the principles on the handout and prepare to answer the following questions:

• Which parts of this process do you do well? Which parts are the hardest for you? Why?

• What might it look like to involve the Lord and seek His help throughout this process?

After enough time, a few students could share their answers with the class.

Practice goal setting

If time is available, consider helping your students practice setting and accomplishing goals using this process. They could do the following activity in their pairs or small groups. Or you could go straight to the section “Your goal.”

List in your study journal several examples of righteous and worthwhile goals teenagers could set for their lives.

Then choose one of these goals and, using the principles on the handout, create a scenario in which an individual could realistically do each step. Consider how you could involve the Lord in this process.

You can use the following scenario as a model:

1. Jayden asks Heavenly Father for help setting a goal. He decides to study the Book of Mormon daily for 10 minutes.

2. He decides to wake up earlier so he can study before school.

3. After one week, Jayden notices he keeps sleeping in. He prays for help.

4. After two weeks, Jayden feels like he failed in his goal. He asks Heavenly Father to help him feel His and Jesus Christ’s love for him. He feels encouraged and decides to try again, trusting Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will help him. He decides to intentionally go to bed earlier each night so he can wake up more easily.

After enough time, invite some students to share their scenarios.

Your goal

The following activity is one way students can make a plan to involve the Lord with their goals. They could write their goals and plan in their study journals or on the handout.

Ponder your own personal goals using the first step from the handout. To do so, you could reflect on your drawing from the beginning of the lesson.

Write one or two goals you would like to accomplish. Create a detailed plan outlining steps you would like to take to accomplish them. Be sure to include in your plan how you could involve the Lord with your goals.

Encourage students in their efforts to accomplish their goals and remind them of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s help. Consider reading again Elder Soares’s statement and sharing your testimony of what he taught.

Additional Resources

How can goal setting bless my life?

Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches the following:

Learning to set goals and make plans can bless you throughout your life. It can help you make and keep covenants with God, serve faithfully in the Church, pursue education, grow in your employment, and build a strong family. (Preach My Gospel [2023], 147)

What if I want to improve but cannot see my potential?

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles testified:

I believe the Savior Jesus Christ would want you to see, feel, and know that He is your strength. That with His help, there are no limits to what you can accomplish. That your potential is limitless. He would want you to see yourself the way He sees you. And that is very different from the way the world sees you. (“Jesus Christ Is the Strength of Youth,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 9)

What if I fall short of my goals?

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, then a member of the First Presidency, explained:

When it comes to setting goals … [w]e almost certainly will fail—at least in the short term. But rather than be discouraged, we can be empowered because this understanding removes the pressure of being perfect right now. It acknowledges from the beginning that at one time or another, we may fall short. Knowing this up front takes away much of the surprise and discouragement of failure.

When we approach our goals this way, failure doesn’t have to limit us. Remember, even if we fail to reach our ultimate, desired destination right away, we will have made progress along the road that will lead to it.

And that matters—it means a lot.

Even though we might fall short of our finish line, just continuing the journey will make us greater than we were before. (“The Best Time to Plant a Tree,” Ensign or Liahona, Jan. 2014, 6)

Supplemental Learning Activities

Aligning choices with goals

To help students see the importance of their choices as they pursue goals, consider sharing the story told by Elder Quentin L. Cook in the video “Choose Wisely,” from time codes 3:51 to 4:52. You could invite students to look for problems they notice in this young man’s choices.

You then could ask questions such as the following:

• In what ways might this young man’s choices affect his goals?

• What advice would you give the young man to help him accomplish his goals?

Ponder your own goals. In your study journal, write down advice you would give yourself to help you accomplish your goals.

God’s example in setting goals

To help students see the importance of setting and accomplishing goals, invite them to read Moses 1:39 and look for Heavenly Father’s work and glory. You could then ask what Heavenly Father did to accomplish His work and glory. Students may share answers such as He created the world, preserved our agency, provided a Savior, and instituted saving ordinances.

Or you could display or draw the following diagram of the Creation:

Students could divide Moses 2:1–27 among themselves in pairs or small groups, matching each day of the Creation on the diagram with the scriptural verses that correspond with it. After this activity, ask the following question:

• What can we learn from the account of the Creation about accomplishing goals?

Students may share answers such as it took time, everything was accomplished according to a plan, and much effort was involved.

• How can you apply what you learned to your personal goals?

A work in progress

For an example of someone who set and accomplished goals, consider showing the video “A Work in Progress” from time codes 1:33 to 5:04. You could show the video after discussing the handout, inviting students to look for examples of the goal-setting process.