Summer is a great time for college students to relax after the busy school year and difficult finals. It is also the perfect time to evaluate progress on your goals and start planning for the future.
Reasons to have goals:
- Increased motivation. When you have a set goal and have actively mapped out how you will accomplish it, you’re more likely to want to work towards it and mark off your action steps as they’re completed.
- Improved performance. You know the end goal and why you’re reaching for it, so you’ll put all your effort in. You’ll naturally grow and improve at the tasks as you put more effort into them.
- Reduced Stress. People are often involved in many groups and organizations, in addition to their schoolwork and jobs. With all these opportunities comes stress over deciding what needs to be done first and what you can or can’t do with time constraints. Having goals will help you accomplish what is most important to you.
Questions to think about when making your own goals:
- If you could do anything in the world, what would that be?
- What are smaller things you can accomplish within your goal that’ll help you track your progress?
- How long will it take to achieve reasonably?
- How will doing it benefit me?
How to make an action plan:
- Use the questions above to start brainstorming and figuring out your goal.
- Once you have the goal in mind, consider what makes that a reality. Everything that goes into it would be considered your small goals!
- Create a timeline for each of the small goals you found that will help you achieve your bigger goal.
- Reward yourself for achieving those smaller goals because you’re progressing towards your professional development.
- Eventually, you’ll reach that main goal and will have gained a great deal of knowledge in the journey to it.
- For example, your main goal may be to learn a new language. Small goals might include studying every day for ten minutes on an online platform, going to cultural events once a month, or reading a short story in that language by the end of the year.
Don’t limit yourself only to what you think is possible because everything was impossible until somebody proved that it wasn’t. Ultimately, you create these goals to better yourself, so if your previous plans are no longer working, you can change them! Adaptability will help you go a long way in your personal and professional life.
If you’d like to learn more about goal setting and its benefits, research it. Here are some links on the psychological benefits, questions to ask yourself and SMART Goals. Make the last 213 days of the year count!
Questions?
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