New Semester, New Possibilities: Using “SMART Goals” Formula to adjust learning goals
Summer vacation passes swiftly. For freshmen, the change might be both exciting and daunting. For other students, it may be a new experience – to build on past accomplishments, to explore different academic and personal interests, or to approach the year ahead with a fresh perspective!
Have you set any goals for this semester yet? If not, you might want to check out the following tips to help you set SMART goals.
How could setting goals benefit us?
According to research, setting clear and appropriate targets can let us:
- Have a clear sense of direction and concentrate towards your goals
- Be more confident and perform better
- Release stress and anxiety and boost one’s incentive in accomplishing their goals
- To assess ourselves objectively and allow us to gain a sense of achievement
After knowing all the great benefits of setting goals, you may ponder into your future direction and expectation. Everybody can have different goals, some broadening their horizons by participating in lots of activities, some focusing more on academic studies, some focusing more on their personal growth and social circle.
You may focus on one aspect to develop yourself or you may also set targets in different facets of life. The most important thing is that you find your own direction and goal.
How to set clear and appropriate goals?
When you are thinking how you may set targets for yourselves, you may make reference to the “SMART Goals” formula:
| Specific | Goals must be specific and clear, avoid fuzzy and ambiguous targets. The clearer your targets, the easier you can manage your own progress and measure your own results, knowing when to achieve what targets.
For example, if you simply use “serving the community” as your goal, it may be too vague. Think more on how and who you are to serve and the nature of your work. Set clear targets, like “I want to be an outreaching social worker”. |
| Measurable | You also need to set objective indicators to measure if you have achieved your goal.
For example, saying that “I want to exercise more” cannot help you examine if you have achieved the target. But if you quantify it “I will exercise three times a week, half an hour every time”, then it will become a measurable target. |
| Acceptable | When you set goals, you have to think if those are what you wish to accomplish, or is it simply others’ expectations on you. Set a goal that satisfies your needs and enhances your betterment. |
| Realistic | Set practical goals according to your personal strength. Too high and impractical targets will only bring disappointment.
It would be better to start out with some goals that you feel confident about, and then gradually raise your demands according to your progress. An example would be like this: ‘I want to improve my GPA from 2.8 to 3.0.’ |
| Time Frame | Set a time frame for your goal. Do not expect to achieve your goal very quickly. Goal pursuit may be done in a gradual and orderly manner, step by step, to be completed in several phases. Also, the completion date should not be too far in the future. |
Try to make use of the ‘SMART Goal formula’ and set short-term and mid-term goals for this semester. List the expected difficulties that you may encounter and the means by which you can clear these obstacles and achieve your target. You may share with some trusted friends your goals and find psychological and spiritual support from them.
Hope that you can kick off a good start and strive to accomplish all your set goals!