When a baby tries to impact the world around him, this is the earliest form of goal oriented behavior. And his experiences will start to shape his self-belief - whether he believes his actions will produce results or not.
This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to "spoil" your baby and give in to his every demand. (I could (and often do!) argue that it's not possible to "spoil" a baby anyway).
For example, suppose your 6 month old is crying in his crib at nap time and demanding to be picked up. How you react is very important. If you completely ignore him, this experience indicates to him that he is helpless and cannot change the world around him, or your reaction, by his own actions. But if you were to walk into the nursery and speak to him, lay him down and stroke his head, then his action (crying) has produced an outcome and therefore has been successful. He may not have achieved his ultimate goal of you picking him up, but he has created a result and can learn from that.
Similarly, goal achievement for older children does not have to be all about getting the ultimate result that they want straight away from the first action they take. Teach your child that when he takes an action and gets a result, even if it is not quite the result he wanted, he can learn from that outcome and then take more action. This is how to empower your child for goal setting and achievement.
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