How Students Can Use Goals to Set Priorities

It’s common for students to have many different, and sometimes conflicting, goals. Goals may include:

- Being made sports team leader (i.e. quarterback)
- Getting admitted to a great college
- Making money through a part-time job
- Being voted homecoming king/queen
- Mastering a musical instrument
- Being the best yearbook editor in the history of the school
- Winning a scholarship for college
- Being chosen as valedictorian
- Spending a much time as possible with friends
- Volunteering with a local charity

Start by writing down a list of at least 5 goals. Some will seem very important, and some will be less important. The important thing to realize is:

Your Goal List defines what you spend your time on.

Working from your Goal List, set priorities. Go through the list and pick the most important goal on the list. What is the one thing that you most need to accomplish? Note that the wording is what you “need” to accomplish, not what you “want” to accomplish. Everyone wants to master the piano like Mozart, or be a quarterback like Brett Favre. The focus should be on the one thing that will further your future, and in doing so, allow you the opportunity to achieve some of your other goals.

Chances are your top priority is going to be getting into a great college. That doesn’t mean that your other goals aren’t important – they’re very important! They may support your primary goal, or they may afford other rewards like personal satisfaction and personal development. But now you know what your top priority is, and you can firmly fix that in your mind. When you’re confronted with a tough choice between two activities, you can simply ask yourself:

“Which activity will help me achieve my top priority?”