Last year, we all set some pretty marvelous goals. Some of us wanted to spark a fresh sense of engagement in our chapters. Others of us wanted to reach new heights in our recruitment efforts. In addition to this, we set some extraordinary personal goals. Perhaps you wanted to improve your grades and academic motivation? Or, maybe you wanted to get more involved in community service and environmental programs?
Regardless, today I will give you tips to keep moving forward in pursuing reliable goals. As time progresses, we often get lost in our goals and lose motivation to accomplish them. However, the school year isn’t over yet, and it’s worth knowing that there is still time to show improvement!
Here are my tips and tricks to staying motivated even in times when you don’t feel up to it!
- Create a Vision Board- We all have our goals, but there’s something special about writing it down and constantly reminding ourselves of our aspirations. One way to accomplish this is by creating a vision board! This provides you with the creative opportunity to decorate your poster using your own imagination. Even if you aren’t the artsy type, the important thing here is to make sure you write your goals down so you can be reminded of what you desire to accomplish.
- Chunking- In today’s society, we prefer to accomplish things that can be done immediately. Many times we see our effort as meaningless if it means it won’t yield prompt, noticeable results. By chunking, you can set checkpoints to work towards your goals. You can create a plan in which you break up studying for an assessment or set a date that you want a particular aspect of a goal accomplished by. For example, if your chapter wants to recruit 20 new members by April, your goal can be to recruit to recruit 10 of these members by mid-February.
- Change Your Perspective on Setbacks- Failure, setbacks, and obstacles––they all happen. As much as we don’t like them, we shouldn’t see them as something that will destroy our possibility of accomplishing our ultimate goal. Instead, we should appreciate the lesson we learn from them. Perhaps you had a goal of obtaining a certain goal in a class this year. If you didn’t obtain that goal during the first semester, learn from your mistakes. Now you know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to learning and studying course material. The key is to get it right this time, because after all that is better than giving up in entirety.
- Mind Over Matter- As cliche as it sounds, your mindset is key in reaching your goals. In all situations, even when it seems as if procrastination may prevail, you must keep your goals in your head. Remember, your work today can still yield results later. If you change your mindset to believe you can overcome the obstacles, you will be so much closer to obtaining your goals!
With these tips, I hope you learned something new about effective goal setting. Remember, obtaining goals won’t necessarily come easily, but, with hard work and determination, it is possible to obtain reliable goals. As second semester progresses, continue to keep these tips in your mind as you work diligently to excel to new heights in your aspirations!
