So here we are in a New Year. Tougher and more self-aware from having made it through a tumultuous last year. Hopeful for a better year in life and in school. Yet also present in the reality of imposing obligations with a truer sense of how fast time really flies. That said, where should you start with getting ahead of yourself this year so that the goals that you set truly are achieved when you get to Dec 31 and look back.
Clarity breeds extreme focus and allows you to set achievable goals. Often what prevents us from making progress, minimizing stress, and staying out of the self-perpetuating loop of self pity, doubt and imposter syndrome, is all of the brain chatter and scatter that exists in our head. Our brains are so full of things that we need to do, why we can’t get them done, what will happen when I’m exposed, and so on and so on. There is a constant list of things to do, checklists that are looming over our heads, and requests on our time and energy for seemingly important and good things. Taking all of this brain noise into goal setting often leaves us with a list of outstanding and lofty goals, that we are proud to see. But that in reality, were not realistic and will leave us in a few months feeling horrible because few of the goals are achieved. We can plan all we want but many things are out of our control. Unexpected things happen. And this is the context we have to work within.
Thus, I’m convinced that one of the first steps to making achievable goals and really chartering a path for a successful year is to get our thoughts organized. Organizing our hopes with our plans with our life with our work helps us to gain clarity on what is most important for us to accomplish in any given season. It helps us to recognize that we’re human and there are only so many hours in a day, so with that in mind if we only had so much time what are the most important things that we can do with our time. Who are the people we really should spend our time with?
Well, here’s a quick exercise to get you started with planning those goals.
Grab a blank piece of paper or open a blank document (something about actually writing with a pen helps with the flow).
Now, let’s start with a brain dump. Write out all of the things. What I want to do this year? What do I have to do? What milestones do I need to achieve? Get it all down on paper.
Take inventory of everything you’ve just filed. Add. Take away the things totally are unreasonable (i.e., will take more than a year to achieve, can’t happen unless you miss sleep for 300 of 365 days this year).
Now that that’s all out. Let’s break up the year into your semesters. Now let’s put those goals that are later in the year in that time period. Those goals that are continuous go into every semester…like eat healthy, sleep better, read journal articles.
Need to see an example goal:
Publish 5 papers towards my dissertation.
Want to see a better way to break down and establish this goal:
Submit 3 papers on my dissertation work by Dec. 31st.
Specifically, Submit “Title of paper 1” by May 15, 2021.
Specifically, Submit “Title of paper 2” by August 31, 2021.
Specifically, Submit “Title of paper 3” by December 15, 2021.
After you’ve organized your thoughts and captured specific and achievable goals, then review. Too many goals. What are the most critical ones to achieve that will move you forward? Prioritize those and then structure your time each week to complete the tasks that are necessary to achieve those goals.
Until next time,
Renã Robinson, PhD
Photo by Markus Winkler from Pexels
