The start of September has always felt like the second new year, with the end of summer and the start of the new school year. So now seems like the perfect time to address the things that I want to achieve this year. I don’t want it to be a list of the usual resolutions that are vital to office small talk in January. Those have never been useful to me. And to be perfectly honest, I doubt there are that many people that stick to their resolutions for more than a month or two. What I think is more useful is a “big picture” to do list. A list of the actual goals you want to achieve, rather than the vague intentions to get fit or be productive.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m about to start my third and final year at university, and understandably, a lot of my goals are aimed at making the most of it. My first goal is to completely overhaul the way that I study, so it’s much more effective. For the last two years, I’ve used the excuse that I work better with the pressure of a close deadline to avoid studying, leading to a panicked all nighter and hoping my computer doesn’t freeze so I can submit my coursework in the actual last minute. Or the days when I’d be finishing my reading for class on the bus to campus, instead of the night (or week) before. I get it done, but it’s far too stressful. My goal for this year is to change that. Maybe I could set timers to keep myself focused while working, or have a solid routine with allocated times for work. Another idea would be to set up accountability partners, like in a study group. I could organise a group of my course friends together to meet up and work in the same space.
That last idea would also be a good start for my next goal, which is to be more social. To be honest, apart from the odd coffee after class, I haven’t spent too much time with the friends I’ve made, and I definitely haven’t made as many new ones as I’d hoped. This is completely my fault. This year, I want it to be different, especially because I’ll have so few hours in class that there won’t be as many in-built social gatherings. To change that, some ideas might be to actually go to the meetings of the societies that I join with good intentions in the first week. Or, as I said earlier, to arrange to study with some of the people in my classes. It’s completely obvious, but I’ve always been too scared to make the first move.
Outside of university, my other goals are career related. In the first semester, I want to find some work experience, and to do that I’d need to approach the companies I’d like to work for myself. I’ve known exactly what I’ve needed to do, now it’s just a case of working up the courage to follow through and do it. The worst that can happen is that they’ll say no, right? Lately I’ve also spent a lot of time planning a few things that I can do myself, that in the short term will give me some valuable experience in the field that I’d like to work in. And in the long term, who knows? I could make a career out of it.
Really, all of these goals can be simplified into one: go for it. Making specific and achievable goals will help, I hope. That way, it’s not as intimidating as telling myself that I’m going to get fit without having done any research to see what I need to do to get there. Do you have any goals for the next year? And how are you going to start reaching these goals? Tell me, I’d love to hear from you.
Hooks, Books, and Funny Looks 