Smart goals for students

With a new academic year having just begun, the one sure bit of advice that will come for students from all quarters is that they should set high objectives and lofty goals. While it is imperative that students take this bit of advice earnestly, it should be remembered that each student is a unique individual with specific abilities, personal aptitudes and distinct dispositions. Goals then naturally have to vary from student to student. No one goal can fit concisely into the academic life of all students.

However, all goals should possess certain basic attributes to make them achievable and fruitful. Research has proved that goals that are SMART, an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound, help students in the successful attainment of the goals set. So, how does a student make sure that the goals set have these SMART attributes? Given below are the culled out ways in which students can formulate SMART goals for themselves.

Goals must be specific

It is a fact that all students start the new academic year with some goals. These could range from aiming for academic excellence to shining in extracurricular activities. Whatever be the nature of the goals set, the primary factor to be kept in mind is that these goals must be as specific as possible. When goals are general, they will be less effective in evoking the total commitment of the student. On the other hand, when the goal is specific, it pins down the student explicitly and this in turn spells a greater obligation on the student to perform.

For example, when a student wishes to attain an overall higher percentage in examinations, she should break it down to the proposed increase in percentage in each of the subjects she is aiming for. This will help her focus her attention on the subjects that she has not been scoring well.

Similarly, if the student sets a goal to take a keener interest in the extracurricular activities of the school/college, he should get down to the specifics and spell in which area he would like to extend his tentacles. From sports to debating, dramatics, civic, NCC, reading and writing, there are several avenues.

Goals must be measurable

The next important factor to be kept in mind in goal setting is that goals ought to have benchmarks so as to make assessments possible. When the actual results can be compared with the estimations made earlier, subsequent progress can be made. Thus, when a goal to obtain 80% or more in a subject is set, there comes on paper a yardstick against which the result can be compared.

Further, to help in the process of achieving the goal, a journal should be maintained in which the results are to be noted. When the actuals exceed the goals set, the results will be motivating, and when they fall short, an exact number of the shortfall can be ascertained and the required steps to improvements easily chalked.

Goals must be attainable

Every student has his own capabilities and limitations. Besides he is constrained by external factors and other realities unique to him. These issues must be kept in mind while setting goals.

While it is a truism that students must be encouraged to push beyond the envelope and expand their horizon of academic excellence, it must also be understood that in order to feel motivated, goals should be realistic. In other words, they ought to be attainable. A student who is weak in math cannot set for himself the goal of a cent-percent result all at once. He should set a goal that will take him from strength to strength before he can achieve a full one hundred percent in the subject.

Successes, however small, will reinforce the student’s ability to believe in himself. It is only self-harming to set a lofty goal that will be unattainable.

Goals must be relevant

A goal that is arbitrary and that does not fit into the overall academic development of the student is meaningless. Not only will it take away the focus of the student but will also render his efforts futile, besides being counterproductive. For instance, when a student is already exhibiting a low propensity to the sciences setting a goal to get him to a proficient level in the same is not relevant.

Yet most often this is the case, particularly in our society where we all want our children to excel in everything possible no matter the child’s inclination! An irrelevant goal to improve the performance is set and when the student shows little progress it can be demoralizing for him.

Goals must be time-bound

An academic year is in effect less than 12 months. Hence the time on the hands of a student is limited. As the academic year is also ear-marked clearly into three terms in the case of schools and two semesters in the case of colleges, the availability of time to set and chase goals is narrow. A student will do well to keep the time factor in mind before setting goals. An intelligent goal is one that defines the time within which the goal is to be attained precisely.

Again, a distinction between short-term and long-term goals must also be done for greater effectiveness. Since a student’s total tenure at an institution runs into many academic years long-term goals to cover the total period at the institution and short-term goals for the present academic can be separated and planned. Either way, setting time-bound goals eliminates the temptation to put off working on the attainment of goals for the future and puts pressure on the student in taking the necessary efforts in going after his goal in the here and now.

When the above five qualities are integrated into goal-setting, they will surely increase the chance of any student who is motivated to do well in the new academic year to go after her goals with zest and purpose. So, students get those goals rolling and make sure they are SMART so that they can help you get smart in the new academic year!