4 Setting Your Goals
Now is the time to set realistic goals to make this happen. Working toward a goal provides internal motivation to reach that goal. Setting goals for yourself:
-Focuses your sights on something you want to attain.
-Deals with the why, when, and how of our lives.
-Turns your daydreams and fantasies into reality.
-Allows you to prioritize the detailed steps needed to reach your dreams.
-Helps break down overwhelming larger tasks into smaller manageable tasks.
-Helps to manage your time more efficiently.
-Leads to a sense of accomplishment and self-fulfillment.
Short, Medium, and Long Term Goals
Every goal is made up of a number of steps. A short-term goal is a goal that is designed to be completed in a short period of time. Typically, short term goals span a few hours or days or even a week or two. Medium term goals span longer periods of time and can take up to six months to complete. Long term goals will take even longer and will be made up of short and medium goals.
All of these goal types are important! As you set and reach short term goals, you can see your progress and will be more motivated to reach your long-term goals. When you set long-term goals, you have something to motivate you and give you a sense of purpose.
Enabling Goals
Often you need to set short term goals to help reaching your medium or long term goals more manageable. These are called enabling goals because they enable you to reach your bigger goal.
Consider that you should set goals about once every two weeks to meet your longer term goal. You need to be sure that your short term goals are attainable and can be measured in a meaningful way. Once you decide on a short term goal, you should determine obstacles to obtaining this goal. Simply identifying possible obstacles will help you to avoid them when you come upon them.
Don’t forget to reward yourself when you have achieved a goal! That gives you something to look forward to and extra incentive to complete. Use something you enjoy doing rather than material objects. This way you can reward yourself as often as necessary, and you have a specified block of time devoted to your reward.
Goals Setting Basics
Set SMART goals – After you have attended a couple of classes, you can start setting your enabling goals according to your understanding of the class. Review your course outlines and write the goals down: midterm marks goals, final exam goals, study time goals etc.