Why should we set goals?

Today we discussed setting short and long term academic goals.

A short term goal means that you hope to achieve it by, for example, the end of next week or the end of the quarter. A long term goal is something you hope to achieve by the end of the year, by the time you graduate, or even by the time you turn 30.

Your goal, whether it is short term or long term, does not have to be a large, complicated idea. It could be as simple as getting an A in the class or even getting an A on my next assignment. Of course, it could be more ambitious, like getting into my first choice of college. Either way, as long as it is something you believe you can do, something that will make you happy, and is something that keeps you moving forward, then it is a good goal to have.

So why is goal setting important? For me, personally, I set frequent short term goals because I need to know where I'm going. I have trouble thinking of what I should be doing by next week, so keeping track of my goals helps keep my stress down and helps me manage my time, which is very important.

Setting academic or career goals also helps build confidence when your talking to your teachers, advisors and supervisors. In fact, one of the most popular interview questions is "Where do you see yourself in five years?" When supervisors know you have a plan, they have trust in you to get the job done, and having the trust of a supervisor can go a long way. This is true no matter what career you have.

But what happens if you don't meet your goals? It's ok. Really. If you don't reach a goal, it does not mean that you failed. When that happens, look at two things: achievements and improvements.

When pursuing a goal, you may have many smaller achievements that you may not realize happened. For example, say you got a C on an essay so your goal is to get an A on your next one. You then get a B on your next essay. You didn't reach the goal you intended for, but you did achieve a higher grade: you kept moving forward. What happens if you still got a C or even a lower grade on that next essay? In both cases you should ask yourself what did you do differently? What improvements could you implement to help you reach that goal? Identifying and understanding what you did wrong is a way to improve and shows that you're thinking about your learning process.

It's important to understand that whether your goal is short or long term, you are the one who decides when you have reached it. There's no physical time limit; the world won't explode because you didn't reach your goal in time. Set a new time.

It is also important to understand that sometimes what makes achieving that goal worth it is the challenges you face in that pursuit. Think of it like a rollercoaster. Roller coasters are not a straight track; that would be boring. The best rollercoasters have loops and turns and moments when you feel like you're heart is going to beat right out of your chest, but when you get to the end and look back on it, it wasn't scary; it was fun and you were glad you did it. Now, I'm not saying that reaching your goal is always going to be fun. It might be hard, challenging and stressful. But when you look back on all the twists and turns, the moments that you didn't plan to happen, you realize that they were all responsible for getting you to the point you're at today. That's the best part.

"We all change, when you think about it. We're all different people all throughout our lives and that's ok. That's good. You've got to keep moving so long as you remember all the people that you used to be."

~ Doctor Who