Reaching Your Goals – A Book Review

The Ultimate Teen Guide – A Self-Help Book by Anne Courtright

Aug 19, 2009

In this new book, the author systematically leads young adults through a series of creative approaches to gaining self-knowledge and achieving goals.

Throughout the chapters of Reaching Your Goals, published by Scarecrow Press in 2009, Anne Courtright clearly scaffolds writing and art activities that will help teens persist in a plan to succeed. Throughout the 263 pages, Courtright, who has worked with youth, insightfully crafts her prose in a conversational style, citing some examples from her own life story. The content of the goal-setting material is divided into four parts, each addressing a step in a logical progression of self-discovery.

Part One-Ready!

In Part One, Courtright encourages the reader to set up a system for recording goals. Her directions stipulate the necessity for keeping a “goals notebook” , and she guides the process with “No Sweat Exercises” recurring throughout the chapters. Photos and drawings of teens, as well as inserts of their comments, stimulate the reader's thinking. A wealth of professional references to other helpful publications give additional resources to explore.

Part Two-Get Set!

After a system of reflection is in place, Part Two cites examples from popular books and recent films and TV shows of teen interest that support the author’s advice. These underscore a need for the teen to think independently and learn his or her strong points by using journaling and creative imagery in the form of picture maps, gaming, and the spiritual component of meditation. Advice centers on avoiding peer pressure and negative self-talk.

Part Three-Goals!

With a dose of reality mixed into the planning, this section, addresses the need to set long-term and short-term goals, while heeding the signposts of life. These are the people and events that teens encounter day-to-day. Along with this advice, comes the necessity to adjust plans as life’s happenings put a roadblock on the path to goal fulfillment. As in other sections, Courtright discusses preparing for life’s work. Here she treats the possibilities of going to college or pursuing some other training program.

Part Four-The Reward Goes to You

In Part Four, Courtright spells out the results of managing to stay on course in spite of setbacks and detours along the path to success. The metamorphic process of setting and pursuing goals pays off as the young adult emerges from the process with new insights.

Along the way, some teens may need the guidance of a counselor or a parent to profit from this guide and its many resources. Read independently, or used as a class text, Reaching Your Goals sets young adults on a path toward self-discovery. Courtright ends by saying to teens, “If you believe in your dreams, you will meet your goals.”

Reaching Your Goals is Anne Courtright’s first book. Besides writing for teens, she draws and paints and works with young adults who love to do the same. Courtright also illustrated Tina Schwartz’s book, Organ Transplants: A Survival Guide for the Entire Family published by Scarecrow in 2005.

The copyright of the article Reaching Your Goals – A Book Review in Personal Growth Books is owned by Mary Dunn. Permission to republish Reaching Your Goals – A Book Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.