Setting Goals on Your Education

As a new batch of students arrive in their first year and we move into our course on personal development one of the earlier topics we talk about are setting goals.

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Wow-logo-clear (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We identify SMART GOALS


To a very large extent, setting educational goals is an easy task. The daunting task lies on sticking to the goals that you have so set. It is important to set goals that are attainable. Goals that you can live up to once that lead you to a solid future.

 

The first step of setting educational goals is to be specific. You should not generalize the goals but rather be specific and to the point. For example do not talk of that you want to graduate in less than three years but rather on a specific note talk of how you plan to graduate in the three years.

 

Another thing is to make the goals achievable. Do not set up goals that go beyond the time that you already have. For example if you are working on a full time basis and you have fore example a family that you are supporting it may not be realistic to say that you want to graduate in 3 years. But if you talk of four years, this may sound achievable.

English: Picture I made for my goals article

English: Picture I made for my goals article (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

The goals should also be realistic. It may not make for example for you to say that you want to be an actuary while you are very poor in mathematics or you do not like Math. The goals that you set should augur well with what you are capable of doing. If you are not ready to undertake what achieving your goal will entail then consider not setting this goal. Having knowledge of this well in advance will help you from going out of track.

 

The goals that you set for yourself should also be jotted down. Keeping them in your mind to some extent may be dangerous. When they are written down you are sure of not forgetting them. Put them in a place that you are able to see them every other day. This ensures that you are abreast with them and that you do not deviate. Your goals should be measurable. You should be ableto measure your achievement as you move forward.

It is important to also mention to someone else that goals that you have set. This way you will have someone who always be asking how you are doing. If you have someone who knows your goals you will in some way feel the compulsion to complete your education.

 

You should also take time to undertake research of the educational goal that you want to set up for yourself. This is important to ensure that you are setting attainable goals.

 

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I love Quotes!

I love Quotes!

Yes I do and I use them all the time with my classes.

I find that quotes are a wonderful way to start   a topic in personal development as they usually gets the creative thinking started and  open up the discussions in the classroom.

Lets take for example the subject of discipline. This is a skill that we talk about as being essential towards achieving the grades and the goals we have set in our course. An earlier article I wrote talked about the small steps of discipline we need to do on a daily basis to move us towards these goals.

To start this topic I could use the following quote

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.

The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”

– Jim Rohn

It is very interesting to use this quote as it shows an unbalance in the end result with whatever route you take.  The disciplined route is far less painful than the non disciplined route which could result in failure.

We can use this analogy with past exams. Was there any subject that you just failed and if you had just disciplined yourself to do that little bit of work you may have just passed.

Lets look at this from another angle …our diet. In class last week we were talking about our diets and I was listening to  many of the class tell me about the amount of salt they take with each meal. They sit down at the table and shake salt all over their food before they even taste it. Now unless all of us have been living under a rock we should know the problems with too much salt…heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke etc and  in the supermarkets the processed food that is available already has a high level of salt  in them to increase storage life and make them taste better.

When we discussed this issue I was assured by the students that it would just be impossible to reduce the salt they put on their food as it would just not taste the same.

Well not initially I informed them….  but it only takes a few weeks for your taste buds to adjust ( teacher has an answer for everything)

So lets look at me. (for a change)

I have been taking sweeteners in my coffee for some time, I do not know when or why I started but I do know that it is something I should not do. So last week I stopped. Did my coffee taste the same?…….No…..but I kept having my normal daily coffee and I persevered with the no sweeteners.

Viola ……today 10 days later I did not even notice the taste….just a nice cup of coffee.

So back to the salt.

Just like the quote says we can go through the temporary pain of discipline in adjusting our tastebuds to a new taste of less salt or we can not discipline ourselves to make that change and  take the risk of possible effects on our health  later and regret we never made the changes.

The choice is ours …..simple

Remember:

Action is the foundational key to all success”

– Pablo Picasso

If you are like me and enjoy quotes then I have placed a free book on my site here.

This books has 300 top quotes …enjoy!    Download here

Small Steps with Disciplines Lead To Major Achievements

Why is it that some students and adults for that matter seem to commit to what they want to achieve and others just drift and manage to do enough to keep in the boundaries of mediocrity

I think myself that it is basically down to the depth of their desire and their belief in themselves that propels the committed ones  forward to take action and move  towards their desired goals. If they do not have that belief or desire of where they want to be and what they want to do in their future careers then they drift into the mediocrity of daily life.

One method  I believe that can move us forward to where we want to be is when we set simple disciplines in the form of daily tasks. If we can find our inspiration that will ignite the desire to enable us to set up and perform small daily actions that will in turn lead us to create positive results in our lives that in effect make us unstoppable.

Lets think of this in another way ..

what is the price of creating these daily tasks compared to the price of not doing these daily tasks due to our lack of commitment?

The price is living with regret, failure,  ill heath, and poverty. All because we have neglected to carry out this daily discipline. I  have tried really hard to instill this daily discipline in my daughters by letting them see where this lack of commitment  in young people has resulted in living their lives on welfare with a few children and little money to get by. 

I love the saying …” if you continue to keep doing the same things you will continue to get the same result”

Everyone has the ability to change and change does not have to be insurmountable. All it takes is small changes daily in the way you do things and gradually you will start to see that small changes bring about major results.

So how do we start to put in action our daily disciplines.

We first of all need a clear idea of what we want for the future. Do you know what you want for your future?….You need a clear vision of what you want..I  know what I want.. It does not matter what age you are or where you are right now. I have a plan to achieve in 2 years time, I am 57 years old and I have daily tasks I do to move me towards that plan. One of those daily tasks is writing this article.

Know what you want then create a plan to guide you to invite this success into your experiences.

Set down your daily tasks. Use your willpower to perform these daily tasks and in a matter of weeks these daily tasks will become habits. These small changes will not require you to completely change everything you do they will just mean that you start practicing your new daily success tasks.

Our desire will always tell us what we want but desire will only become reality when we put the wheels in motion to turn our desire into reality .

Our daily tasks are those wheels.

Remember the saying “if you want something done give it to a busy person” that is because the person is a “Doer” they just get on with things and get the work done.

It is important for you to see a vivid picture in your mind of the person you want to become in the future. Keep your faith strong that you will achieve your dreams. Always try to do a little better today than what you did yesterday.

Do this and you will live the life you planned.

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The Most Common Mistake While Setting Goals


Goal setting is a common process to achieve success.

However, many a times, people make some common mistakes while setting goals.

These mistakes lead to not achieving the desired success and loss of all hope.

Listed below are five very common mistakes that people make while setting goals.


People often set fuzzy goals.

For instance, I want to make a big bungalow. These types of goals are fuzzy as there is no definite idea to start and about the result. These types of goals only lead to obfuscation and unhappiness for not achieving success.

The second major mistake is setting deadlines that are hard to meet.

Estimation is a mathematical analysis that very few people have the capacity to do accurately. Some people set very tight deadlines thinking to achieve success quickly. However, they do not realize that tight deadlines are hard to meet and you can easily commit a mistake due to the pressure of meeting deadlines.

 

The third major mistake is that people often set boundaries when trying to achieve goals.

Limiting yourself does not allow you to grow in terms of experience and encouragement. Only stretching yourself over the boundaries can enrich you with the qualities necessary for achievement of success.

 

The fourth major mistake that people make is that they discuss matters of importance to achieve goal with the wrong people.

They make the whole process more confusing and at times negative comments or wrong comments can make you demotivated. Further, they tend to give wrong suggestions, which make it even more difficult for you to achieve success.

 

Last but not the least, most people do not have a proper action plan to reach the goal.

In other words, you cannot call a thing goal unless you have a plan set. Then it is merely a dream. Moreover, you cannot expect to make a plan within ten minutes. It takes time, patience, hard work and a detailed research to chalk out a plan in order to achieve a goal. In most cases, a goal remains a dream because people cannot make a well-detailed plan and execute it accurately. Executing it with integrity at the right time is important in the achievement of success.

 

Thus, here you have learned about the most common mistakes that people make when achieving a goal. Only if you can learn the mistakes and keep them in mind, then you can achieve success easily.

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