Imagine you are preparing for the trip of your life. You pack your clothes, put some money aside, start your car and go. While driving, you realize you don’t actually have any destination. Besides that, you don’t really know how long your trip is going to take. Will you be able to finish your trip without knowing these two variables?
Do We Really Need to Set Goals for Our Tasks?
You probably wouldn’t be able to drive forward. Having a goal is an essential part of achieving your plans and dreams at any stage of life. In order to set a goal, either for a personal plan or for something that is related to your career, you don’t need to be one of those forward-thinking people. It is true that for these people, it is actually easier to set goals, as being one step ahead is their second nature.
However, this characteristic can also be achieved by educating yourself and setting constant goals in your life. Setting a goal does not necessarily mean that you need to foresee and think about all the consequences of the steps you are going to take on the way. On the contrary, the ability to set a goal will help you realize why you want to achieve that specific thing.
Setting the Correct Goals
For example, if you set the goal to improve your grammar, you might realize that you actually like grammar more than just studying it as a subject. For some people, setting small goals like this one of improving one’s grammar helped them realize that they want to teach others what they managed to study trough goal setting. Goal setting will not only help you achieve certain tasks or become better at something but will also make you realize why you actually needed to set goals in order to do so and this way learn new things about yourself and your personal plans.
Organizing Your Study-Nights
‘’When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.’’ Confucius
There are also situations when your personal projects require more time to complete. Goal setting is the key tool you need to use in those moments. Whenever you need to study in order to pass a test, studying all the courses for that test during the night before the test is neither productive nor efficient. However, if you set small goals with one month ahead and prepare one lesson each day, then at the end of the month, all that you will need to do is have a final look at all the courses.
Moreover, all the information that you have studied during the past month will be easier to remember, as you gave it time to settle and to be understood. The difference with goals when there is a project that requires more time to be fulfilled is that you need to set extra small goals on the way. This can sound extremely difficult, however, if you start setting goals now, you will notice that this process will become automatic and won’t require much energy to maintain afterward.
8 Reasons Why Goal Setting Is Important
Not convinced yet? Let’s go through the most important reasons why you, as a student, need to have goal setting in mind when studying:
- Setting goals keeps you focused. Studying for a test might be difficult to keep focused on because of the time you need to pass it successfully. When you know that you still have one month during which you can study, there seems to be no reason for you to rush. This is when procrastination starts and you prefer doing anything but not studying. In this case, setting small goals, like studying one page every day, can keep you focused on what you need to do, that is, passing the test. Not only that, but this will also help you split the work effectively and memorize the topics you need to study for the test better.
- It improves decision making processes. Whenever you set goals for yourself, you develop a sense of separating the things that matter for you and your career and things on which you should focus less, as they don’t bring you any satisfaction in the long-term. Without noticing, you become the one in charge of your own plans and this gives you a sense of control. In the long-term, whenever you are setting goals, you actually decide whether that project is worth your energy and how much of your time you should allocate to it. In this way, you will soon notice that your ability to make decisions has improved and that you are getting better at making the right choices in life.
- You will be able to account for your decisions. The second you acquire this sense of accountability, you will think twice when making a decision and weigh your options very well. Being accountable does not imply that you should waste more time than you actually need to overthink a situation, a plan or a goal you are setting. Accountability should by no means influence your productivity in a bad way. On the contrary, you will develop a sense of responsibility, which will allow you to have more control over your plans and decisions in the long run.
- It helps you achieve the wildest dreams. We all have dreams and plans which we believe won’t become true. We are talking about those dreams that are bigger than getting a good grade on a test, that involve contributing to the society through the job you are doing, being rewarded for something, buying the house of your dreams or becoming excellent at whatever it is that you are doing. These big plans can all be achieved by setting small goals and following a map that you have personally set for yourself.
- It will make you feel more confident. The feeling of happiness and joy when you have finished working on a big project or even a small goal that you have set and achieved in a day cannot be compared to anything. Setting goals will allow you to succeed based on your own decisions and planning and this is the confidence every student needs.
- Getting out of your comfort zone. Setting goals will allow you to achieve things which you thought you would never achieve. This means you are getting out of your comfort zone.
- Managing your time better. It goes without saying, if you set goals on a constant basis, you will manage to do most of the things you need to do without stressing that you do not have enough time.
- It helps you forget about procrastinating. Procrastination is quite a popular phenomenon, mostly when there are tests and studying involved. You prefer doing anything else and not what you are actually supposed to do. However, if you have a plan and a goal for the day and you achieve that goal, you will soon realize that procrastination is now a strange thing to you.
All in all, the advantages of setting goals are quite numerous. For students, this is the recipe for success in anything from personal life to school life and even learning how to write a professional resume. Not only will you be able to measure your progress and become a determined and organized person, you will also be able to decide what is worth your time and what is not and even reward yourself for each goal achieved. Are you ready to set goals?
Lori Wade is the content writer and a career specialist for college students. She is a content marketer, sharing experience in writing, education, and self-development in her publications, for example,
https://eliteessaywriters.com/blog/how-to-write-a-resume/.
Connect with her on Twitter.
