3.1: Defining Goals

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Introduction

An important part of being a successful student is defining your goals and developing a plan to meet those goals. Your goals are the overarching principles that help guide your decisions and help you make your plan for success. Goals are broad, general ideas about what you want to accomplish.

Objectives then, are the smaller, more defined steps you take to meet your goals. Objectives are more specific than goals. They must be measurable. For example, the objective “to learn more about project management” is not measurable. How would you determine if you met that objective?

Objectives should be realistic as well. For example, let’s say you set the objective of taking five classes per term for the next two years to meet your goal of graduating with a bachelor’s degree in project management. However, you also have a full-time job, which requires you to travel, and three children under the age of five to care for. Would this be a realistic objective? Likely not.

The first step of setting and attaining appropriate goals is to define the areas in which you want to create goals.

Identifying Goals

An important part of setting goals is to figure out the areas of your life where you can set goals. You should write goals in several areas of life. People who set goals in only one area of life— such as their career—may find that their personal growth becomes one-sided. They might experience success at work while neglecting their health or relationships with family members and friends.

To avoid this outcome, set goals in a variety of categories. Consider what you want to experience in these areas:

Education
Career
Finances
Family life or relationships
Social life
Spirituality
Health

Add goals in other areas as they occur to you.