11 Goal Setting

Goal Setting and SMART Goals

There is no doubt that doing well in college is a sizable challenge. Every semester you have to adjust to new class schedules, instructors, and classmates as well as learning objectives and requirements for each course. Along with that, you may be juggling school with work, family responsibilities, and social events. Do you feel confident that you can attend to all of them in a balanced, committed way? What will be your secret of success?

Choosing a meaningful purpose gives your life direction and creates inner motivation. Many students have not defined a personally meaningful purpose for being in college. If you remain unfocused, you are more likely to drive from rather than to academic success. By taking advantage of the opportunity to look closely at what you want and by having the opportunity to choose personally meaningful outcomes you would like to achieve in college or in life. You foster this discovery and creation of internal motivation for yourself that can positively impact your persistence in the face of life’s inevitable challenges.

Success Begins with Goals

A goal is a desired result that you envision and then plan and commit to achieving. Goals can relate to family, education, career, wellness, spirituality, and many other areas of your life. Generally, goals are associated with finite time expectations, even deadlines. A well-written goal can help be a “map” so you know what you need to do and by what time it needs to be completed.

As a college student, many of your goals are defined for you. For example, you must take certain courses, you must comply with certain terms and schedules, and you must turn in assignments at specified times. These goals are mostly set for you by someone else.

But there are plenty of goals for you to define yourself. For example, you decide what you would like to major in. You decide how long you are going to be in college or what terms you want to enroll in. You largely plan how you would like your studies to relate to employment and your career.

Below is a set of questions we can ask ourselves at any turn to help focus on personal goals:

1. What are my top-priority goals?
2. Which of my skills and interests make my goals realistic for me?
3. What makes my goals believable and possible?
4. Are my goals measurable? How long will it take me to reach them? How will I know if I have achieved them?
5. Are my goals flexible? What will I do if I experience a setback?
6. Are my goals controllable? Can I achieve them on my own?
7. Are my goals in sync with my values?

As you move through your college career, make a point to ask these questions regularly.

One of the goals of this course was to introduce you to the idea that planning is a life-long activity. Chance will always play a part in what happens to you in life, but you can increase the likelihood that you are in control of your destiny and have the capabilities to achieve your goals. Planning what you want to accomplish in life and determining your objectives and goals gives you many advantages.

Goal setting is extremely important in deciding how you plan to pursue your education and future career choice. It is the broad statement of purpose we make about what we would like to accomplish. Objectives, then, are the specific steps used to accomplish goals.

As you start to set your own goals, it’s important to note that there are long-term, short-term, and mini/micro goals.

• Long-term goals usually take 3-5 years to achieve.
• Short-term goals take 1-2 years to complete.
• Goals can be also written as “mini” and “micro.” “Mini” goals are written for 2 – 3 months. Daily goals are called “micro”.

Watch the following overview of Smart Goals.