STARTING FRESH WITH SMART GOALS

Classes start for most of you this week, and if there’s one thing everyone has in common during these first weeks, it’s Good Intentions. These good intentions are necessary but often insufficient. The first step toward improving the chances of those intentions translating into academic success is fine-tuning them into SMART goals. The second step is to plan how to realize those goals, and the third step is to implement the plan.

Setting SMART goals

The concept of SMART goals may be familiar to you, as it is well researched and has permeated industry, academia, and personal life planning. Take an hour or so at the beginning of this week, and think of your academic goal for the term. That goal should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, and Time-bound.

Specific. Some examples: “I’m going to get a 4.1 average this term.” “I’m going to pass all of my courses this term.”  “I’m going to get the 3.8 that is required for admission to my targeted program so that I can apply in March and be admitted this fall.” “I’m going to fulfil the requirements of my academic probation and be off probation for next term.”

Measurable. The only way you can know if you are on track to meet your goal is to track or measure how you’re doing. This can be doing a running tally of your grades. It can be a checklist to determine how close you are to meeting your goal criteria.

Achievable. Your goals need to be realistic, given your circumstances. If you are on academic probation, shooting for a 4.0 GPA may be setting yourself up for failure. If this is the term you are going to become a new parent, targeting to complete six courses may be setting yourself up for academic or health or relationship failure. It’s good for your goals to be a stretch, as long as you are not reaching so far out that you risk falling off the ladder. Here is where you think of possible hurdles and barriers and how you might meet them or adapt your goal to take them into account.

Relevant. Your goal needs to fit into the broader picture of your academic and career plan and needs to be congruent with your values. Certainly meeting admission or certification requirements has career relevance. Choosing between the emphasis you place on different courses may also be relevant to your value system. For example, getting a near perfect score on WHMIS exams would be more important for the safety of yourself, future coworkers, and customers than getting a 95 on your English term papers. For getting into grad school, however, those English term papers may take a higher priority than the mandatory pass/fail second language requirement.

Time-bound. Well of course.

There are other models of SMART goals. In one model, the A stands for Actionable and the R for Realistic. If the model I’ve described here doesn’t fit, browse the web and adapt what feels right for you.

What is important is that you recognize you are the master of your goals, not the other way around. If you don’t meet a goal to the extent that you aimed for, you are not a failure. Worst case, a low grade in a course means that you figure out what to do next.

How are you going to achieve these goals? 

What you need to know:

Meeting your overall academic goal translates into meeting the requirements for each course. The syllabus and the broad hints dropped by your instructors as well as input from academic advisors and possibly department heads are your guidelines. 

What you need to do:

Near the end of this week, take the syllabus for each course with information from your instructors to set a SMART goal for each course. The individual requirements (quizzes, papers, projects) are short-term goals or objectives that you will plan for and schedule throughout the term, starting this weekend.

On the weekend, plan and schedule in pencil what you have to do for each course, marking deadlines on your wall calendar. As the term progresses, you will adapt your schedule and incorporate the other aspects of your life balance, such as social interaction, exercise, rewards, family, health, and self-maintenance. 

Working the plan

You have clarified what you want to achieve now. You have outlined what you need to do to achieve it. You have a plan scheduled for implementing the necessary actions. Good. This is much further along than mere good intentions.

Like any marathoner, the proof comes in the running. In the academic marathon, what will keep you going is keeping on going, best supported by

• Time management, that is, daily and weekly review of scheduling
• Frequent reinforcers, self-endorsement, and rewards
• Adjusting goals and scheduling as marks come in and life happens
• Maintaining the academic athlete–hydration, nutrition, mental and physical health, social connection
• Using resources proactively–learning support centres, study groups, counselling
• Learning and using tools that are effective for your course requirements
• Learning and using academic tools that work for your learning and study style

This is a very short sketch from goal to action to accomplishment for the term! Let me know how it goes.

Whether this term is a remediation term or you are good to go but looking to up your game, you may find an academic strategist useful in keeping this all moving toward meeting your academic goals. If you are interested in discussing how coaching over the rough spots and gaining skills to fill in for the soft sports could work for you, connect with me in the form below or directly through email: [email protected] 

The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS PLEASE DIAL 911.