Have you ever created a goal you wanted to achieve while mentoring? You may have a goal to remember your mentee’s birthday, or to show up to your visits earlier, you may even want to make a goal with your mentee for this school year. Whatever your goal may be, putting it into action can take a little more effort than just stating your goal. In past trainings we have discussed setting mentor goals and provided an easy Goal Setting worksheet that mentors and mentees can utilize.

Having a personal goal as a mentor, or even a goal that includes your mentee’s input, is a great way to help you stay engaged in your match as the school year progresses. When setting your goal, it’s useful to ask yourself the following questions;

• What is my goal?
• Why is this goal important to me?
• What are some steps I need to take to accomplish my goal? 
• What would my timeline look like in achieving this goal?
• Are there any potential obstacles in accomplishing this goal? How will I respond to the obstacles?

These questions are addressed on the Goal Setting Worksheet and are designed to help you chart out a path towards achieving your goal. Mapping out the steps you need to take helps put into practice great habits in not only working towards accomplishing your goal, but also achieving it. We can also take this a step further by using this goal setting activity as a way to model for your mentee how to effectively set goals as well. 

If you and your mentee decide you would like to use the Goal Setting worksheet to set as an activity during your visits, have your mentee take the lead in answering questions and filling out the worksheet. Allow them to take ownership of their goal and what steps they need to complete to achieve it. You can also encourage your mentee to create a goal with you, that you both can work towards together during the school year.