Goal Setting guide for students
When you start your first job, college, small business or other important new venture in life, it can be scary — and exciting! The possibilities seem endless and the future looks so promising and bright. But as with any challenge, there are also hurdles you’ll need to overcome to make it to the other side… the side of success.
One of the greatest challenges you may face is the temptation to give up if things don’t go as planned from the very beginning. No one likes feeling defeated or like they’ll never succeed at anything; but that’s exactly what happens when you continue to lower your expectations instead of raising them.
Even though you have no control over every aspect of life, why not take charge of your own destiny by setting goals for yourself?
Defining goals
First, you’ll need to set some specific goals. Many people make the mistake of trying to control everything in their lives, but that’s not a healthy way to approach things. Instead of trying to control everything, you should set goals that are specific and measurable.
A goal that’s too vague, or one that doesn’t have a specific measurement, will be impossible to achieve. When setting your goals, you’ll want to make sure you’re clear on what you want to accomplish. You can’t achieve anything if you don’t know where to begin.
A great way to get started is to look at your passions and your strengths. If you know what areas you’re good at, you’ll likely be able to find ways to use them to your advantage.
Why is goal setting important for students?
Goal setting is important for many reasons, especially for students that are just starting get ahead with their goals. Goals setting is crucial because it can help you stay focused on your primary goals, and also it can help you find motivation to achieve your goals and it can help you track your progress as you work towards your goals.
Goal setting will also help you stay in touch with your dreams. You may not know exactly what you want out of life yet, but setting goals for yourself can help you discover your passions and strengths, and can help you discover new areas of interest, which can then evolve into something BIG. You never know what life have in store for you.
Setting specific and measurable goals can also help you stay motivated as you work towards your goals. You might find it easier to stay focused if you have an eye, or at least a preliminary image on what you’re trying to accomplish.
How to set goals for students
When it comes to goal setting, many young people make the mistake of trying to control everything in their lives(which is impossible BTW), but that’s not a healthy way to approach things. Instead of trying to control everything, you should set goals that are specific and measurable.
A goal that’s too vague, or one that doesn’t have a specific measurement, will be impossible to achieve. There are many different types of goals, and knowing which one is best for you can help you save a lot of time and energy on unproductive goals.
People who set goals that are too general or ambitious tend to perform less well than people who set goals that are more specific and realistic, and study after study prove that this is the case. If you want to be a great baseball player, setting a goal of hitting .400 isn’t going to help you achieve your goal. Instead, make a goal that is more specific and realistic like hitting .350.
This will encourage you to take action and improve your performance over time. Another thing that people often do when they are setting goals is to make them overly ambitious or too broad.
They may have grandiose dreams of becoming the next Elon Musk, Bill Gates or playing in the NBA but if they don’t know exactly how they plan to get there then it is probably unrealistic for them to attain their goal. Instead, make small steps towards achieving your ultimate goal by starting with one day at a time.
Set small, measurable goals
Small, measurable goals are great because they can be accomplished with little effort and they are a great indicator that you are heading towards the right direction. For example, if your goal is to run a 5K race, set a smaller goal of just running one mile the first week, measure your time and try to improve it with every attempt.
You don’t have to run a certain time or distance, and you can easily break your goal down into smaller chunks if you don’t accomplish it the first time. Each week, break your goal down even further until you’re ready to move on to the next goal.
Small goals are great because they can be accomplished with manageable effort and you can increase your goals once you have attained what your initial goal was. One of the most important things to remember when working towards a small goal is that it should be SMALL!
Even though some tasks might seem like a big deal, if you break them down into smaller and more achievable chunks, you’re more likely to reach your goal.
Small goals also help you to focus on what’s important. They can help you to get out of the mindset of “I have to do this” and instead focus on “I can do this”, they can help you to focus on what’s actually important and what’s manageable or realistic.
When you start to feel overwhelmed by the task at hand, it can help to take a step back and realize that the small goal is actually important. If the task is too complicated, you can try to break it down further into even smaller goals.
If you want to learn a systematic approach to achieving your goals, check out our Future Self Mastery Course. It will trach you everything you need to know about achieving your life goals.
Another benefit of setting small goals is that they are easier to track. For example if your goal is to lose weight you can keep track of your weight loss and overall health improvements by recording everything from how much you weigh each day, to how much water you drink and how many minutes you exercise each day.
Once you get used to this technique you can start applying it to any other area of your alive that you would like to see an improvement.
Set long term life goals
Long term life goals, on the other hand, are goals that are farther out than the initial, smaller goals. Like the name suggests, they are goals that are bigger than the initial goals and can be achieved in the future. For example, if your small, initial goal is to run a 5K race, set a stretch goal of running a 10K race.
Long-term goals provide a way for students to clearly articulate what they hope to accomplish in the future by connecting their current situation with a desired outcome. They also help students identify areas in which they need improvement and where they can start making progress towards achieving their goals.
Finally, setting long-term goals can help students build resilience and confidence as they see progress being made towards their goal and realize that they are headed in the right direction.
It’s important to remember, though, that these goals don’t have to be necessarily related to academics. They could just be things like “becoming healthy” or “getting a good job after graduation.”
The key is to make sure that they’re meaningful to the individual undertaking them and that they’re achievable in some way or another.
Create a motivation plan
Motivation plays a key role in any goal-setting and achievement strategy. It’s the mental energy that propels you forward when you feel like giving up on your goals. Motivation can come in many forms—from inner strength and confidence to external rewards and recognition.
Whatever form it takes, it must be strong enough to overcome any obstacles you face along the way. This is a crucial step in any goal-setting or achievement strategy. Without motivation, it’s impossible to achieve your goals or improve your performance.
The key is finding the right kind of motivation for you, whether that means self-confidence, external rewards, internal milestones, or something else entirely.
Once you’ve identified your inner drive, keep it strong by regularly reminding yourself why you want to achieve your goal and why it’s important to do so.
No matter how much you try to keep yourself motivated, you’ll feel a lot more like doing something if you have a specific plan in mind to keep you motivated.
Whether you want to keep yourself motivated by setting a specific, measurable goal or creating a motivation plan, there are a few key things you’ll want to include in order to stay motivated.
- – Set a specific goal.
- – Choose a goal that is measurable and that you can easily break down into smaller goals.
- – Set a schedule.
- – Break down the work you have to do into smaller tasks that you can do in a certain time frame.
- – Reward yourself.
- – Reward yourself for accomplishing your work and for staying motivated.
Conclusion to having goals as a student
With the right strategy and a steady effort, anyone can reach their goals. Setting goals can help you stay focused and on track with your plans for the future. You can set small, measurable goals or stretch goals that are farther out, and you can choose a motivation plan that suits your needs best.
Once you’re set on your goals, it’s important that you stay motivated. A good goal setting strategy will assist you in this process, so make sure to follow it to the letter.
You may have your goals for success set in stone, but you want to make sure that there are no roadblocks making it difficult for you to reach those goals.
Roadblocks are things like external factors, such as a new job, or internal factors that each person experiences differently.
If you feel stuck, doing a little self-exploration can help you identify what’s keeping you from moving forward. Once you have that information, you can make changes that will help you reach your goals faster.
If you need help identifying your goals and creating a roadmap to your goals, that already has helped hundreds of students check out our Past, Present and Future Self Mastery Program.