For this blog assignment I want you to choose a real goal that you have. Make it a medium to long term goal (so something at least 1 year away or longer). Using what you know from Chapter 8, how could you go about making it more likely that you will achieve that goal? Be specific in terms of the concepts from chapter 8 and how your application of them to your goal.
My Goal: I hope to gain a job in the nonprofit sector at an agency whose mission is to serve military families and soldiers.
The reason I have set this goal is because I have created discrepancy. I am proactively setting a future, higher goal for after I graduate at the end of next summer. Getting a job is a difficult thing to do. You have to put effort into the search and preparation phases, and then comes the nerve-wrecking interview. Then if you get the job, what if it turns out it isn’t the job for you?!?! It’s a scary thing. I am setting small goals to accomplish that will help me to accomplish this larger goal and that will direct me on my course of action. I have also set this specific goal because I have been studying Nonprofit Management for going on four years. I am in the process of gaining a certification in nonprofit management and leadership, and have been active in a student association that educates on and give experiences for working in the nonprofit sector.
In order to accomplish this goal, I must first get an internship next summer (which I actually have to do to finish my LYHS degree) with an organization supporting this mission. In order to gain an internship I need to research organizations that might host an intern. I then need to find contact information and start making connections. I need to network with people “in the know”. I am currently in this phase. I set deadlines for myself to draft emails, have family edit them, and when I would send them out. I have been talking to people about this goal, and when they ask about my progress toward it, I continue to be motivated by them to be persistent in my pursuit. I have also sent emails to the White House and to Iowa senators and some other organizational directors. Hopefully I receive messages back from those I’ve contacted, which will satisfy my need for feedback, as it will signify my progress in relation to my goal, and positively reinforce my motivation.
Next semester I will take a seminar class during which I will finalize my internship placement and will become educated in professional etiquette. During the internship I will hopefully learn a lot about the sector—what it’s like working in this type of job, whether it’s the type of job I would be good at and happy doing—and gain skills that will make me more marketable as a potential employee. I will then use my contacts that I will have gained by then to search for and land a job as described above.
I have many goals I would like to meet in the next year. I am always setting up goals for myself but failing at them. The reason this occurs is because I never plan out how to attain my goal. Diets are my number one problem and goals that I fail at. The reason I always fail at diets is because I always tell everyone once a week that my diet starts on Monday. I’m basically setting myself up for failure because I want people to know I want to lose weight but it’s more of a game and makes me feel better by just saying I will start a diet.
The number one goal I would like to achieve this year and for next is getting accepted and starting grad school. I am interested in school counseling; at UNI they have a great grad program for that area of study. I am constantly thinking about my future and what I want to do. It is a big decision and hard to decide on. I feel like more school is probably the best answer for me right now. There is a discrepancy between where I am at now and where I want to be. I know that I want to have a well-paying job someday though. To meet that goal I need to attend grad school because I have no idea what I will do with my BA degree in psych. Also getting a job is not an easy task anymore. You have so many things you have to go through in order to get the job that you actually want. I’m not ready currently to be out in the real world yet.
For me to achieve my goal of completing grad school I will have to start by breaking down my long term goal into multiple short term goals. The first short-term goal I’d like to complete is getting into the carriers for psych class. This will help me for next semester when I have to apply to grad school. It will teach me fundamental things I need to know. The GRE is something most people do to get accepted into grad school. Luckily here at UNI the GRE is not required to get accepted. I hate big tests so this takes a big weight off my shoulder. If I want to look at other school though, I will have to complete the GRE. Another thing I will do is take a practice GRE to see how well I do and then I can possibly take the real one here in the future. The steps I have to take just to apply for grad school include getting three professor reference letters that I will have to ask to get, completing a cover page and resume, writing my own paper to tell why I’m the best pic for their school, pay the fees , and apply. I plan on getting all of this started over Thanksgiving break. Everything has to be completed by February 1st for the school counseling program. I already got started on my goal by researching it and knowing what I have to have done.
Once I am in the grad program I have to keep good grades and work extremely hard. I am terrified to go to grad school. I also feel burnt out of school, but I know it is necessary for me to go. Once I complete this major goal I’ll be on to the next goal which will be finding a good job. That is a whole other area which I will have to look at later. This chapter about goals from our readings will actually help me set my goals better. I feel more confident in achieving these long term goals that I have now.
michellek- Don't be terrified of Graduate School!! From your blog it sounds like you know what you have to do and when you have to have everything in by. You have already broken everything down into short term goals. You are on the right track!
Maybe instead of looking at it like "I have to have all of this stuff submitted by Feb. 1st" maybe do some of these things each month. Maybe break your short term goals down even more. It may decrease the overwhelming feeling you are having.
I'm a graduate student and I remember how I felt when I first looked into graduate school. I had some of the same frustrations you did. Really look at your short term goals, decide what program you want, and go from there.
Hope this is helpful to you!
Lexie
My Goal: To have saved up enough money to pay off graduate school when I have completed the program.
Currently this is my first year of graduate school and a year from now I will be in my third semester of graduate school or if you go out a little further, I will be in the process of writing my research paper or possibly done! When I have ended my time at UNI I would like to be able to pay off my graduate school loans, my undergraduate is already paid off.
Currently there is a discrepancy of where I am now, in debt from graduate school and my ideal state, have all my school loans paid off. The definition of a goal is whatever you are trying to accomplish, have my loans paid off when I complete school. This is difficult because I am only able to work part time as I go through school full time. Obviously I’m not bringing in as much income as I could because of the time devoted to school. But I do put effort into working extra hours when I can and am persistent about it because I always ask about extra hours and I will do this throughout the duration of my time in graduate school. So far I think I am specific in what I want to accomplish, I realize that it will be difficult, and I have set a time frame for completion.
My long term goal is to pay off my loans when I have completed school, but there is a problem with a long term goal and no short term goal. It is a long period of time before I get there and my performance toward saving money could go unattained or my commitment to saving money could decrease. So I have to make short term goals for myself first. One thing I have done is set a budget for myself monthly that way I don’t spend too much money. Some months are more costly than others due to certain bills like my car insurance that is paid twice a year. So I have a short term goal to stay within my budget. Another short term goal I have in place is my automatic savings plan set up through ING. Money gets taken out automatically from my paychecks twice a month and put in a higher interest account that I will use just for my school loans. That way it is taken out before I even get a chance to use it. So I have a goal of putting “X” amount of money away each month for school. Applying for scholarships that will help me financially will also benefit me. I have decided that I will apply for two scholarships per semester (depending on what’s offered). There are holiday breaks here and there and I have them on my UNI Google calendar so I automatically get reminders. The last short term goal I have is to work as much as I can over the summer. This will bring in more income and help me get to my long term goal. I also have other little things I do to save money, but those four are my biggest short term goals. I know what my cost is per semester for school, so I figure if I can save that amount or close to that amount per semester I will be in good position when it comes time to pay off my loans.
In the above, I have stated my goal, my plan to achieve my short term goals that will help me achieve my long term goal. Implementation intentions are already in effect. When it comes to feedback I look at my savings online and that information tells me what has been put away each month. I can also look to see if I stayed within my monthly targeted budget by what I have spent. My monthly budget may fluctuate depending on what bills are due or increase in utilities, but I try to stay within my goal of what I can spend. I also utilize my Google calendar a lot! I get reminders of when money is taken out, upcoming bills I have to pay, pay days, holidays, etc. Having all of these things in place makes me feel organized and that I am on my way to achieving my goal of paying off my student loans upon completion of my program.
My Goal: To start saving up money, so that when I'm out of school I have enough money to get a nice place (prefer a house) of my own.
I would love to be able to get enough money saved up to get a place for myself and to have a stable place to live. I'm not trying to rush into getting a place right because I'm not exactly sure where I'll get a career fullfilling job yet. However, I do want to start saving up money so that when I do find that job and security in it, I'll have enough money to get my own place.
My main goal will be to save up enough money to put down on a house or a nice condo. I'm getting over the whole apartment thing. I would set up a few small short goals for myself to help me reach this goal. One of my goals is to set a little money aside from each paycheck I have into a different savings which will be for this goal of getting a house. Each paycheck I will take a certain set amount or more if I get a bigger paycheck some weeks than others and put it into that savings account. I will also start goal striving to save money with little things like returning cans or bottles and keeping that change and letting it build up to use toward the house. I will also start trying to do little jobs to help myself make a little more cash here and there if I can.
I have started this goal a bit already. I have started taking a little out of my paycheck each day to save and have been saving up change for a little bit now. It will be hard not to touch that money to use on other things but I think if I can keep my mind to it, I can reach this goal and have a quite of bit of money saved by the time I graduate or find that job and place I would like to live.
A long term goal that I have is to become the head coach for a high school varsity basketball team. I coach middle school basketball now at NU, and I love it. I am very passionate about it so I know it is something I want to continue with when I am done with school. Even though I love my coaching job now, a discrepancy exists because my present state (middle school coach) does not match up with my ideal state (high school varsity coach). The best way to get rid of this discrepancy is to set the specific and appropriately difficult goal of becoming a high school varsity basketball coach. Setting short term goals for myself will make it more likely that I will achieve my long term goal. I have already accomplished two short term goals that are related to my long term goal, and they are being a middle school assistant coach and now being a middle school head coach. The NU varsity coach asks me to come to their practices and sit on the bench at games to help out and gain more experience. Continuing to be with the varsity team is another short term goal that will help me because I am learning how to be a varsity coach and I am spending time in that atmosphere. Feedback also makes it more likely that a goal will be achieved because it documents the performer’s progress towards attaining a goal. Asking for feedback from the head coach on what he thinks I should do differently or am doing well would be very helpful in attaining my goal. The next step towards my goal would be to become an assistant JV coach. This is a step up from middle school since I would be working with high school athletes. After this, the next step would be to become a head JV coach and/or a varsity assistant coach. This would be the last stop before attaining the position of head coach. To attain these different coaching positions I will need to keep my eye out for open jobs and also have a resume that shows my experience with coaching and qualifications for the job. For the time span of this goal, I would like to move up from middle school coaching by the time I graduate college and then spend at least a year at each position until I accomplish my goal.
Goal: Get admitted into graduate school for occupational therapy after I graduate next December.
I plan to apply to graduate schools next fall for occupational therapy. I have a lot to do before I am ready to apply to grad schools. There is a discrepancy present between my present state and my ideal state. My present state is still working on my undergrad and still completing my pre-requisite coursework and not having any observation hours completed. My ideal state is having all admission requirements completed, applying to graduate schools and being admitted to them. I still feel like I have a long ways to go to reach my ideal state.
I already have an implementation intention in place to achieve this goal. The first step to achieve this goal is to complete all the pre-requisite coursework. I have completed a lot of courses already, like ethics, developmental psychology, and sociology. I am working on completing anatomy and physiology 1, and will take anatomy and physiology 2 in the spring. I also plan on taking a medical terminology course over the summer. Every grad school has different pre-requisite coursework so I have to keep careful track of which courses to take. The second step to achieve this goal is to complete all the observation hours necessary. Every grad school requires different amounts of observation hours for admission. St. Ambrose University, which I plan on applying to, requires 50 hours, which is the most out of the schools I’m applying to. So I need to complete 50 hours at a minimum to apply. I have begun the process to start observing and volunteering at Covenant Clinic, and I also plan on contacting Agape Therapy to get the hours in.
I also need to start attending information sessions at the different colleges to have my questions answered and make sure I am on track with applying to the schools. The most important thing is to keep on track with the pre-requisite coursework and get as many observation hours in as possible.
I have two goals I would like to accomplish by fall next year. First, I would like to get a job at Lutheran Services in Iowa or Tanager Place this summer. These are both place where I can build experience so when I graduate with my Master’s degree I can hopefully find a job easier. My second goal is to apply and get accepted into a Social Work program for next fall. I am a psychology major but I have found interest in the social work field and would like to apply to programs where I can express my interests.
The goal I will focus on for this blog is getting accepted into a social work program, since this is what is most important to me. To reach my long-term goal of being admitted to a social work program, I first need to reach my short-term goals. My short-term goals include: getting all A’s the next two semesters to raise my GPA, building relationships with professors, getting experience through volunteering, writing my vita, resume, and personal statement; getting three references to write me good letters of recommendation, and submitting three to five applications for different social work programs. All of my short-term goals will make me more successful when it comes to accomplishing my long-term goal of getting into a social work program. To accomplish my short-term goals I have decided to take the Careers in Psychology seminar to motivate me to get these important tasks done. Since I will be graded on my performance in this class, I am less likely to push these tasks back as I would if I was not taking the class.
There is a discrepancy of where I am working at now and where I want to be working at in a few years, and because of this I have set a goal. A goal is whatever an individual is striving to accomplish. Goals generate motivation by focusing people’s attention on the discrepancy between their present level of accomplishment and their ideal level of accomplishment. Right now I am working at the Center for Social and Behavioral Research as a telephone interviewer. Even though I enjoy my job now, I know for a fact that I do not want to work there for the rest of my life, and I know that I would like to work in a mental health unit in a hospital. Therefore, to reach my goal of working in a mental health unit in a hospital I need to finish my undergraduate degree successfully and I also need to get into a Master’s program. From reading this chapter I think I can accomplish my goals because of the actions I have already taken. The most important thing I can continue to do is to stay motivated and work hard so I can reach my goal someday.
There are many goals I want to achieve, especially next year since I am going to graduate. One of my goals for the next year is to go to graduate school. Another goal that I have is to improve in heptathlon;last year as a Panther has to be good.I have short and long therms goals: short terms goals is to improve in strength, endurance, CV every month. The long term goals in to beat school record in indoor 60 hurdles and outdoor 100 hurdles as well as improve my PRs. Those goals lead to the biggest one, which is top 5 at Nationals. Having a plan and knowing howto achieve your goals is half or more way to success.Working hard every day at practice, measuring your time, improving technique and lift weights is one, then diet, eating healthy is the key for me because I know that I am not eating right so I write down every day what I eat and have to eat variety of different food every week. I usually make a plan on Sundays for the whole week about my diet.
The first self-check and see what else I need to improve will be competition at the beginning of December.
Setting goals is the first step, then follow those steps and always motivate yourself, give yourself rewards for little goals you already have achieved.
To be successful in every field in your life, it is not enough to just set goals but after planning an action has to follows. Also, you have to know every step when and how you are going to do i, know exactly how to get on the top of the mountain. That is why people give up on their dream, because they do not have specific short term goals and it is not enough, they need to take an action.
Having a plan already motivates our behavior. Then, Setting a goal apparently is not that easy, it has to be not too difficult and too easy, and realistic. For instance, my goal is realistic and I put a bar high but not too high. I know I am able to score around 5500 in heptathlon, it is realistic, saying i can score 6000 would be an abstraction. Goal specificity is important as well; it refers to how clearly a goal informs the performer precisely what he is to do. For example, writing down my time I want to achieve. Difficult goals energize the performer and specific goals direct toward a particular course of action. Then having s feedback in my case from coach is very important, he can see what else i need to work on the most, what is already good etc.
Thus, now it is a preparation, and testing yourself at practice, my speed, cardio, strength, flexibility, then when the season starts, every competition, every week I want to achieve different goal in different events. Winning a conference is on the way to be a top five at Nationals.
I set the stereotypical new years resolution every year: to start working out more. I always seem to have good intentions to do it, but after a few weeks I lose motivation. I think the reason that I fail to meet this goal is because it is not very specific. I know that I would like to start making fitness a priority, but it always gets pushed to the side. This year I ran my first half marathon. This was a huge accomplishment for me because I have barely ran since high school. When I ran this race I focused on endurance and not time. My new goal for next year would be to run another half marathon and beat my time by at least 10minutes.
Right now I have a discrepancy between my current state and my ideal state. I would like to be running regularly and increasing speed but instead I make up excuses of why I can't run. In order to successfully meet this long term goal I will need to set several short term goals. This time, I want to train all year long instead of a couple months before the race. In order to do this, I need to set a goal of how much I am going to work out each week. Setting a specific goal makes it much more likely that the goal will be met. My goal will be to run for at least 30 minutes 3 times a week. When the time comes to follow a training plan I will set a new goal to follow the plan everyday. Last year, I somewhat followed the plan but I did not run everyday that I was supposed to run. I believe that if I follow through with the plan I will do even better. I will also document how long it takes me to run so that I can gage if my speed is increasing. There is an awesome website called mapmyrun which allows you to document when/where/and how long you run. This will allow me to hold myself accountable for meeting my goal.
We learned in class that if you write down your goal you are much more likely to meet the goal. I am hoping that now that I have set a specific goal and put it in writing I will be much more successful than I was in the past. :)
Two and a half years ago I decided to set a long-term goal of becoming a Physical Therapist. I had already spent six years earning a Bachelor’s degree in English and a Masters in Teaching Secondary English, and then spent six years as a secondary English teacher, but I had come to a point where I knew that wasn’t what I really wanted to be doing. I then spent two years trying to decide what exactly it was that I really wanted to be doing. You could say that those two years helped me clearly see the discrepancy between my present state and my ideal state. I knew that I’d always been interested in the field of physical therapy, and that if I didn’t pursue it now, there would always be a sense of a “discrepancy,” which would just lead to dissatisfaction and regret. However, in order to apply for DPT programs, I first needed to take a long list of science pre-requisite courses at UNI. My first step was to fill out a FAFSA and apply for admission. The next step was to speak to an advisor to come up with a plan for what courses to take when. Since I was still working full time, I decided to start with two classes (8 credits) per semester, and with a summer course in between, was able to complete the 10 classes I needed in two years. In fact, thanks to “feedback” (i.e. getting a C- in Chemistry I my first semester back), I had to take 11 classes (re-taking Chem I last summer). Grades certainly proved to have motivational qualities, since DPT programs are ridiculously competitive, and a 3.00 minimum GPA is required for application (and a 3.5 is average for accepted applicants). In spite of the fact that I finished the pre-requisites with a 3.0, I have not given up on my long term goal! I have applied for several programs, and now it is out of my hands. All I can do is wait and hope for the best! My hope lies in the fact that I am confident in my abilities and have a high sense of self-efficacy. Even though my grades aren’t impressive, I know that I am capable and enjoy being challenged.
In addition to the pre-requisite coursework, I was told that many DPT programs demand a certain number of hours of volunteer/job shadow/observation hours in a variety of settings as part of their application requirements. The University of Iowa, I was told, required 300 hours (which I recently learned is actually about 100). I had to coordinate and schedule about 10 hours of observation per week in order to accumulate the 300 hours I thought I needed by the time I began the application process. This whole endeavor has required quite a bit of backwards planning, starting by looking at the various programs out there, their specific requirements, scheduling classes and observation spread out over two years, re-taking a course, actually completing the application, writing the essays, writing the supplemental essays for each program that requires one, visiting the schools, and now, waiting. While I’m waiting, I’m taking three courses that were “recommended but not required,” and plan on doing some additional observation in specific clinical settings (Children’s Hospital & VA Hospital in Iowa City, and a Holistic PT clinic in Waverly). Of course there is always the chance that I won’t get accepted into any of the programs I’ve applied to, in which case I’ll have to re-evaluate my goals. Will I want to reapply the following cycle? Should I look into PT Assistant programs (not likely, as I would continue to feel dissatisfaction at the discrepancy between that and earning a DPT, which is my ultimate goal)? Three of the biggest incentives for me in reaching my goal are 1) to have succeeding in reaching my ideal state/goal! 2) To earn a paycheck that will make all of my years of education worthwhile and 3) to spend my time doing something I enjoy and find fulfillment in. If all else fails, should I chalk it up to a valiant effort and pursue photography, which I’ve also considered for many years? I guess this entry is to be continued….
One of my goals is to work out more and eat healthier than I am now. I found out I have outrageously high cholesterol due to genetics and have been recently put on medication to bring it down. I do not want to be on medication at the age of 21, so it is my hope to bring the number down on my own, even though no one believes I can do it. Currently I have a discrepancy in that my present state falls short of my ideal state. I currently work out at Farrell’s Extreme Bodyshaping gym. It is a six day a week, intensive resistance band and kickboxing program. Unfortunately, I pay a large price a month to be a part of this program, but lack the motivation to go all six days. My goal is what I am striving to accomplish and that is to work out more to lower my cholesterol number and eventually be taken off the medication. This goal is pretty difficult to accomplish because cholesterol is very stubborn. This is a lifetime goal that I have to establish and maintain. This requires a lot of effort, which increases my performance. Goal specificity comes into play because I have to get my cholesterol checked very often. This clearly informs me on how well I am (or am not) doing at working out. This draws my attention that I need to work out more, harder and eat healthier. This being a difficult goal, energizes my behavior to work hard when I am kickboxing. The motto at the gym is “work out at level 10.” If I don’t see sweat on the floor, I tend to punch and kick harder (sorry, gross). My feedback would be my cholesterol results. This documents my progress in relation to working out. Also, the number of pushups, situps, etc. is recorded and retested. If my numbers increase, I know I am improving my strength and stamina. Goal acceptance also comes into play because the goal is difficult in that I must make this a life time goal. The participation is somewhat lacking, but I am improving now that I have a friend working out with me. The credibility of those assigning the goal, in a sense, my doctors. They usually know what they are talking about. Extrinsic incentives would be eating healthy throughout the week, but allowing myself one free day to eat whatever I want. This way, I am not depriving myself of what I love to eat, but not overindulging and ruining all the work I put in. I started working out with Farrell’s in January to lower my cholesterol number before going on medication. This was getting my goal started. I then persisted for a good ten weeks and improved a lot, including lowering my cholesterol 50 points, on my own, when no one believed I could. I finished my ten week program and signed up to be a year long member. Although my motivation is not the same, I still feel great when I go work out, I just need to persist and go all six days of the week to make healthy improvements in my life.
My goal: I want to buy a newer car than the one I have that is practical with good gas mileage and yet not too expensive but still more reliable than the one I have.
I have a car now that serves its purpose fine for the time being but it is getting very old and this last winter it had quite a few problems dealing with the cold and kept breaking down. I have incongruity or discrepancy between what I want my car to be like and how it is now. Since I plan on traveling a large amount after I am done with college this year, I would like to have a trustworthy car so I don’t have to worry about breakdowns or potential problems due to old age of the car I have now. The gas mileage I have is fairly decent now, around 22-27 mpg I believe, but since there have been so many new developments in improving that I would want to get a car that has high 30s or even low 40s for gas mileage. I think of this as “feed-forwarding” since I want to get something that has more than what I have now.
I feel like my goals difficulty is fairly high. I have to find the right car for me, I need to have enough money to get the car, over the past few years I have been building up my credit in order to possibly get a loan if I need it, and I need to find a place to buy it from and make the deal. These all are smaller goals that I have in order to help increase my achievement chances and as I get further along each time I achieve one of the smaller goals my persistence and intrinsic motivation will be increased.
Since I feel my car my die, I have been using implementation intentions to help prepare for my possible necessity to purchase a new car. I have been talking with my brother and sister about my wanting to get a new car and asking their advice on the decision. The helped by telling me their experience with car purchases and telling me about a person they know that could possibly get me a deal on a car since he is a dealer. They also asked me about my price so that helped me to focus a little more on what I wanted.
Overall, I feel that my long-term goal is very specific for my needs and what I want to have happen. I have the “what” defined with all the specifics I have for the car, I know that it is going to be somewhat difficult since I need to find all the specifics of what I want in the car and since it is a big purchase, and I have the feedback I am looking for with how I want to go about getting the new car and my implementation intentions.
I set many goals for myself every day and write lists to make sure I accomplish these goals. I find that by getting goals I get a lot more done and a lot more out of myself than I would any other way. My main goal as of now is to get my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and possibly go to graduate school so I can get a good job. This goal is something I have wanted ever since I was old enough to understand anything about college and the job world. I have been working on this goal already for years and still have a ways to go. I’m definitely farther ahead than I am behind in accomplishing this goal which just influences me to work even harder because I’m finally almost there.
One reason why my goal is more likely to be successful is because I plan absolutely everything out. I make sure that I have short term goals that lead up to the long term so I don’t forget what I’m looking for in the long haul. By setting smaller goals on the way I feel successful that I am getting somewhere with the goal and I don’t give up. At first I made plans to get good grades in high school so that I could get into the college of my choice. After I did this, I made goals to get accepted into the college I wanted. After this, I made goals to be able to afford college. After this, I made sure to keep getting good grades through college so I could receive scholarships to better afford college. Later, I made goals to be involved in activities on campus so I can build up my resume. Now I am working on keeping my grades up and staying involved so I can have a better chance of getting into graduate school or a good job after school. My next goal I am working on is planning if I want to go to graduate school or not, and once I figure that out I will make short term goals to get me to and through that all the way until I get the job I want. By setting this short term goals that lead to my long term goal I still feel accomplished and keep going rather than giving up because the end result seems so far.
Another way my goal is more likely to be successful is because it is very specific. I know exactly what I want to do and make sure to think long and hard about everything before I do it so I don’t waste my time. I make sure to plan every step very detailed and make lists so I don’t lose track of where I am on my journey.
All in all, I feel that my long term goal to get my Bachelor’s Degree and possibly to go grad school is definitely going to be accomplished because I am very organized about my goal setting, make short term goals to get my through till the end result, and am very specific and detailed about my goals and know exactly what I want to do before I go through with it.
This year, my goal is to get accepted into a guidance counseling or school psychology graduate program. I am graduating in May and I really enjoy the school setting, but I do not want to be a teacher. Talking to people about their problems and issues is something that I have always liked to do, so that is why I have set a long term goal into being a guidance counselor or a school psychologist. In order to do this, a plan definitely needs to be made. In order to accomplish this goal, I am going to have to make a lot of short term goals. My short term goals are to look into programs and decided what schools I want to apply to, sign up and take the GRE, write a statement of purpose, write a resume, start volunteering, look into doing research with a professor next semester, and finally apply and get accepted into a graduate program. So far this week, I have started looking into different grad programs, sign up to take the GRE, and apply to volunteer at the hospital in Waterloo. I will fulfill my short term goals of writing a statement of purpose and resume when it is assigned in our careers and psychology class. By January 1st, I want to have applied to 4-5 graduate programs (unless you think I should apply sooner).
There is a discrepancy between my present state and my ideal state. My present state is a close to a blank resume and my ideal state would be to have it full. I have changed my major 3 times in the span of 4 years and studied abroad in Spain for a semester. I do not yet have the volunteer work or have done any research to put on my resume like I would’ve liked to. I started my freshmen year as a psychology major, then switched to education, then to communicative disorders, and now back to psychology. I will still graduate in the 4 years that I am supposed to, but because I have changed my major so many times, I feel very rushed and not as confident in apply to grad schools.
Although there are some discrepancies and difficulties, I really am motivated to accomplish this goal. Being a school psychologist or guidance counselor is a field that I really think I will enjoy and in order to do that, going to grad school is my only option. I am really excited/nervous to get feedback from all of the grad school’s I apply to, to see if I have been accepted!
The long-term goal I wish to meet is getting accepted into a graduate program in the state of Iowa. The reason I want to stay in the state of Iowa is because my mom’s health is poor, and if I had to move far away for graduate school I would not get to spend as much time with her as I would wish to. This goal is something I have wanted for a while. Ever since declaring my major in psychology, I knew I would one day have to attend graduate school. One concept from the chapter that I believe is at play in my life is the test-operate-test-exit model. This model explains that there is incongruity between the present state and the ideal state. This causes a person to act and change the environment until it is what they want it to be. My current state is finishing up my undergraduate degree here at UNI but my ideal state would be to attend UNI’s graduate program and obtain my MSW. Because of this incongruity, I will strive to get as close to the ideal state as possible. This is also the idea of discrepancy. Everyone has a present state and an ideal state. However, there are two different types. The type of discrepancy I am faced with in my goal is discrepancy creation. This is the idea that people look ahead and plan for the future. Because my goal is almost a year away, I will be able to plan accordingly and hopefully have a better outcome. I will be forced to set high “short term” goals that will ultimately lead to the larger goal of getting into graduate school.
In the chapter it also explains the importance of setting difficult, but attainable and specific goals. In order to meet both of these criteria I will probably have to re-phrase my goal. For instance, getting into graduate school is hard in itself so that would cover the difficult portion. In order to meet the specific criteria, I might want to say that by April of 2012 I want to be accepted to at least one graduate program in the state of Iowa. Because so many colleges offer Masters in Social Work, and because I have worked really hard during my undergrad this goal should be attainable. As noted in the book, difficult and specific goals lead to enhanced performance.
Another concept that I think is vital to the success of my goal is feedback. If I am able to get feedback during the process of applying for graduate school I will be more motivated. If I am given feedback, I am able to keep track of the progress I am making. I can do this by keeping track of all of the schools I have applied to. If at one point I realize I am not putting enough effort into applying for graduate school I could face goal-performance discrepancy. This is when feedback shows that one is performing lower than expected and they become dissatisfied with their performance. This can give the person a small push to work even harder toward their goal.
Finally, because my goal is a long-term goal, it is important to receive positive feedback and reinforcement for some of the small term goals. These goals could include: taking the GRE, graduating with a high GPA, and becoming a member of an elite club related to my major. While doing those things, if I receive positive feedback I will be more committed and motivated to reaching my long-term goal.
My goal: I want to be accepted into a Masters program in Psychology for the fall term of 2013.
The first thing I have to do is have several short-term goals to help me achieve this long-term goal. I need to keep my GPA up, which means I need to study hard and focus on my school work. I need to strive to get the best grade I can on tests and assignments to help keep my GPA up. I also need to be looking at different colleges with my specific psychology program that I am wanting. I need to see what all their requirements are, maybe even visit the college, talk to some professors in my program, and hopefully talk to a graduate student in that program. I need to study for the GRE and the Psychology GRE. I also need to look into internships and research opportunities.
Chapter 8 also talks about goal striving. I need to think more about my goal as a whole. It says “focus on it, visualize it, see the new you with goal in hand.” I need to start picturing myself in the graduate program. I have been hearing about how hard it is to get into grad school, which scares me to death. Instead of thinking how hard it is going to be to get into the program I need to see myself already in the program and how it will affect my life overall. I also need to focus more on how I am going to attain the goal, which would be all of my short-term goals I listed first.
I need to have an implementation intention. I talked about all the short-term goals I have to help me obtain my long-term goal, now I just need to be more specific with when and how I am going to obtain the short-term goals. For example, Friday October 28 I am going to look up all the different colleges I am interested in and find out their requirements. To do this I will go to the computer lab in the morning.
When I first set this goal I did not know what I had to do to apply to graduate school. I took a semester of classes in high school so I am ahead in my college schooling. I will be a senior next semester and I only need six more classes to graduate. When I first made this goal I was never told about what all had to be done so even though I am ahead now I am really far behind for getting ready for graduate school. I almost decided to quite my goal but once I set the implementation intentions I decided that I was still going to strive to obtain my goal.
I hardly ever set goals; I have never been a goal driven person. I always go with the flow and know the general outcome I want to achieve. If I do set a goal, I end up skewing it as time goes on to make myself believe I accomplished it. However, one main goal is to spend time in Africa working in an orphanage.
I have encountered many obstacles in order to obtain this goal. One tactic in obtaining this goal is planning and using the Test-operate-test-operate model. This model has basically been my storyline for this goal. In this model, a person goes through the test process in which is to compare the present stat against the ideal state. Next, they move to the operate state where one plans a sequence of actions when there is a mismatch between the present state and ideal state. I have run into this problem many times over the last years. For instance, my original plan was to travel to South Africa through the Study Abroad program. I would be able to work in the orphanage while immersing myself into the culture. Ideally that sounded great, but my present state as a student hindered that ideal state. I would never be able to be able to take a semester off while still wanting to graduate on time with a double major. In the end, I revisit the test portion of this to create a new plan; the cycle starts over again.
One way to overcome this problem is to find the discrepancy in my goal and reality. In this case, I need to find how I can accomplish my ideal state of going to Africa without over powering my present state of being a student. Recently, I have lost motivation to stop working towards this goal because I have run into so many obstacles, but also because it is a long-term goal. As the book states, people lose motivation with long-term goals because they don’t see the feedback, or positive reinforcement instantly like people with short-term goals. One way to fix this is set short term goals, such as small things to accomplish in order to obtain traveling to Africa like picking a place to go and talking to my parents. After I accomplish these small steps, I can begin to plan for the bigger picture.
One goal that I have had for a couple of years is to improve my run time. One of the physical requirements for police officers is to be able to run 1.5 miles in 15 minutes. This is kind of a big goal for me because I have never really been a runner. When I first started walking (I knew running was not going to happen right away) I felt kind of depressed by how much I couldn’t do. My first time walking I could only really do four laps in about an hour (I used the street going through the cemetery to do my running on because I knew no one would be using it at 7 in the morning and it was closer to my house then the nearest track. This was also before we got a treadmill but I knew that one lap around the cemetery was ¼ of a mile. I made a plan to go workout in the morning so I would be fully rested and not mentally exhausted from being in class all day. The only days I could really do this was on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when I didn’t have to be to class until 9 am.
When I started I didn’t feel like I had any real incongruity about my present state or ideal state. I knew that it was going to take a long time before I could get to the state I wanted to be. But I had confidence that I would one day reach it. Although the goal difficulty was very high for me personally, I knew it couldn’t be an impossible goal to reach since it was set by the state for all police officers. If it was impossible, we wouldn’t have any police officers.
Since I was running alone, I really didn’t have anyone there to motivate me. I was (and still am) the only one in my family that really works out (in any sense of the word), so I didn’t have a lot of support. I wasn’t getting negative support (criticisms) but I worked out when everyone else was waking up and getting ready for work and school. By the time I would get back, everyone would be heading out for the day while I jumping in the shower to start my routine for getting ready for class. So I came up with my own way to get feedback, I started recording my number of laps and how long I was exercising. It took weeks before I saw any improvements. But the great thing was that I didn’t just see improvements on my spread sheet that held all of my data. I felt improvements. By the end of the semester I could jog my first lap and sprint the last ¼ of my last lap. I also improved by going from doing four laps in an hour to twelve laps in an hour.
The only real mental motivator I had to keep going was my music. The night before my first exercise I went through all of my playlists on my iPod and put together a list of songs that were very upbeat. I used this upbeat rhythm to keep in pace with so I would be less likely to slow down. It was really hard to stay persistent in the beginning because I got tired much sooner than I thought I should. It became easier when jogging for long periods of time became easier.
Unfortunately, my endurance went down after the end of the semester for a couple of reasons; (1) snow - I didn’t have a treadmill at the time and I wasn’t that excited to run and end up with frost bite, (2) different class schedule – the next semester I had a different schedule and runs were a lot harder to fit in, (3) job – after my first year in college I got a job that required me to be on my feet for six hours. My first roadblock was fixed when someone my Dad works with gave him a treadmill that no longer worked. That is until my dad fixed it and now it works just fine and has for about three years. The other two roadblocks I still struggle with, but I have joined a workout class this semester that has gotten me back on track with increasing my endurance. Over the summer when I did find time to jump on the treadmill, I could go four miles in one hour. Not a bad time but I still have room to improve.
This goal is not just a long-term goal it is a life-time goal. In the state of Iowa, police officers are tested yearly to make sure they stay physically fit for their job. Once I reach my goal, I will have to keep it maintained for as long as I am an officer (if that is where I go after college).
I am currently a junior here at UNI and one of my goals is to graduate with my degree in psychology and gerontology by May 2013. I have set this as a goal for many reasons. The first reason is due to finances. I couldn't really afford anymore schooling after 4 years. Another reason for this goal is because I want my parents to be proud of me, and if my brother can do it, so can I. Lastly, I would like to graduate by May 2013 in hopes of avoiding discrepancy. If I was still in school while most of my friends were starting their careers I would feel a great deal of discrepancy. My current stage in life would not be up to par with y ideal state and I would also be "behind" most of my peers. This type of goal would be an example of discrepancy creation because according to the book I would be "proactively setting a future, higher goal." The discrepancy creation has triggered my motivation for this goal and I have began arranging fewer steps to take in order to acheive my bigger, ultimate goal of graduating by May of 2013.
The first step, one that often gets overlooked, is to write dowm my goal. I keep a journal and I have written that goal several times in it. This is a very important step to goal setting, contrary of popular belief.
The next steps involve going to my advisors to ensure that I am on course with where I should be. Going to be advisors will provide me with feedback. This feedback will let me know where I stand with my goal and it will let me know how much effort I will need to put in the goal in order to achieve it.
Since this goal is rather easy and basically expected of me from others, I also want to graduate by May of 2013 with a cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher. This addition to the goal will raise the goal difficulty which will ultimately keep me more motivated and increase my quaility of performance.
As time passes, I will continute to keep in contact with my advisors, study, but probably most importantly evalute my perforance. These evaluations will provide me with more feedback and allow me to change any behaviors if needed.
As George Miller, Eugene Galanter, and Karl Pribram found out, people have mental representations of the ideal states of their behavior, environmental objects, and events. I have quite a few mental representations of ideal behaviors and circumstances that I would like to engage and exist in. Because I am kind of a cynic I would say that I have quite a few "incongruities" in my life although most if not all are nonsensical.
A goal that I would like to achieve in life is to open up a camp for underprivileged youth.
This goal is not one that is easily achieved, so I would consider my goal difficulty to be relatively high. It is fairly specific, but not enough so that it can be accomplished in a specific way. So, the type, size, and location of this camp could all change as progress is made towards accomplishing the goal. As far as goal acceptance goes, because I am the one setting the goal and am intrinsically motivated to complete it my level of Goal acceptance should be high. A high level Goal Acceptance is key in accomplishing goals.
In order to accomplish this goal several things have to happen. The most important factor to completing a goal is FOCUSING ON HOW TO ATTAIN IT. If I devote the majority of my attention on how to attain this goal it is nearly impossible for me to fail. Once this step is in place, it is a lot easier to focus on implementing changes to make the goal happen.
Implementation intentions are important for me to accomplish my goal. In order to open a youth camp, I need credibility, funding, purpose, among other things. In order to establish credibility and funding, I need a degree in college. In order to get a degree in college I need to pass all of my classes. In order to pass all of my classes I need to complete my assignments, study for tests, and attend class. These goals can all be afflicted by volitional problems like distractions and difficulties.
If I can use implementation intentions to focus on my work I will succeed. If an assignment is hard, my intention is to speak with my professor or spend more time on the material in order to complete it. If I have a long-term paper to write, I need to implement blocks of time in my schedule to specifically focus on the writing of the paper. If I am sick and miss days of class, I need to return to class and meet with my professor to continue working on the material.
These implementation intentions help me to create habits so that I can get started everyday focusing on my goal. They also facilitate my persistence and finishing of my goal so that when I meet roadblocks and distractions, I have already predetermined how to handle them.
My goal requires the setting and attaining of several small daily goals.
Youth Camp
Credibility Funding Purpose
Degree Temporary Position Savings
Education Resume Temporary Job
Studying Completing Homework Attending Class/Work
etc.
etc.
It all goes back down to daily individual goals that work towards the main goal. If implementation intentions are specific enough, any obstacle can be avoided and success is imminent.
I have had many goals running through my mind all semester long, ones without putting forth the effort to accomplish. I have always enjoyed athletic activities ever since I was young. In high school I participated in cross country, track, and basketball. Even as a freshman I would spend my time playing basketball and running at the WRC. It has come to my attention more and more as each week passes how I have let some of my favorite hobbies slip away from me. I am experiencing incongruity with the physical fitness level I know I ought to be and how I see myself in my present state. In order to reach my ideal state of mind, I must first come up with a plan. My plan is to work on corrective motivations. There is inconsistencies overtime that have diminished and behaviors I need to adjust to follow through with my plan to become more physically active. During this process I want to eliminate these inconsistencies by using the WRC much more, besides we don’t have to pay for the use of any equipment there. I am aiming for a discrepancy creation, one that looks for future outcome and higher goal achievement. This is the motivational factor pushing me to achieve success. I must first devise a goal setting strategy. Using goal specificity allows me to make my goal more specific and allows me to work on weekly accomplishments for results. There has been a lot of goal difficulty as well. I need to evaluate my schedule between work, school, and social events to maximize my goal effort. Being conscious of surrounding factors that impede the opportunity for me to accomplish my set goal provides me with an understanding that I need to specifically write out on a piece of paper what it is I want to achieve. This will start as a short term goal, which tends to increase intrinsic motivation, but would ultimately like this to be a long-term, rest of the year and longer goal. I believe that in my goal pursuit it is important to have consistency because it more strongly correlates with the situation and behavior. Placing an exercise routine in my schedule should ultimately help with that consistency.
Terms: incongruity, corrective motivation, discrepancy creation, goal setting, goal difficulty, short/long term goal, goal pursuit.
I have never been good about making goals. I never saw the point of making them. In grade school when they would make you write a goal I never really actually set a goal. I would just write down something and forget about it. I have set a few goals, not really realizing it though, and when I did achieve it I felt very good about it. Goals where I just want to do really well on a test or a paper and I achieve it are very satisfying. After setting a few of those I have come to the realization that goals are very good for you. I am much more motivated to actually do something I would not normally be very motivated to do.
My goal is to graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology in the next year and a half. This has always been a goal of mine for the duration of my college career. I want to graduate with my Bachelor’s and maybe later on in life go to graduate school if I decide there is something else I want to do. I have been working on this goal for two years already, but I have only been really working hard on this goal for a year.
To accomplish my goal I have to work hard, which I have been doing very well about. To accomplish that I will make short term goals. I have a test on Friday in one of my classes, so my short term goal for that would be to get an A on the exam. I will go about that by studying a lot. If I can accomplish these goals it will give me more motivation to keep making these short term goals and to accomplish my long term goal. Eventually with all my goals I should be able to achieve my long term goal of graduating with my Bachelor’s Degree. My goal is going to be very successful because it is achievable if I work hard enough. It is also going to be successful because it is pretty specific. I know what I need to do and in the time frame I need to do it in.
There are a lot of goals a person can make, some long term, some short term. I have a number of goals I would like to make, like getting better grades and making dean's list. In my current set of mind, it's a battle between the present state and the ideal state. Present state represents a person's current status of how life is going . While ideal state represents how a the person wishes life was going.
My ideal state would be having a job as a counselor, a therapist, or a social worker, as long as I'm there helping people in some form or another; that's my goal. A goal is whatever an individual strives to accomplish, big or small. But to get to my ideal state, I have to get into grad. school if another opportunity doesn't present itself. There's a lot of goal difficulty, how hard a goal is to accomplish, and in this case, grad. school isn't easy or many more people would be getting their Masters. In order to get there, I have to use some goal specific tasks. Goal specific referring to how clearly a goal informs the performer precisely what I'm doing. In this case, I have to go through a series of steps to get where I need to. Find the program I want, find the schools I want to go to with that program, learn what the requirements are to ably and be chosen, meet those requirements; vita/resume, GRE score (sometimes), 3 recommendation letters, transcripts and more depending on the program. All of it can be overwhelming. But gradually I have gone through some of these steps with some sets back and many stressful situations, but have come through more motivated.
All for the hope to be accepted into the graduate school that is on the top of my list. Hoping that all my implementation intentions bare fruit that I'm accepted in reaching my goal. The feedback, especially positive feedback out of this experience will further motivation me I'm sure to achieve better grades and propel me closer to my goal. Unfortunately, in the case of negitive feedback, it will be quiet the punishment. Knowing my hard work wasn't good enough can be a blow to a person motivation.
To get me to my ideal state, I think I need to follow my goal setting process a bit more directly and persist further on those steps to get to where I want to go. Establish what my extrinsic motivations are, the incentives outside myself that are motivating me reach my goal. As well as the intrinsic motivations, the inner incentives of myself that motivate me to reach my goal. It also couldn't hurt to dwell on my options for work if I do not make it into graduate school; a back-up-plan. Also making sure that distraction and interruptions that get in my way are overcome and I get back down to work. I feel that is the biggest challenge in this goal and overcoming the fear of the negitive outcome of my goal.
Terms:present state, ideal state, goal, goal difficulty, goal specificity, implementations intentions, negitive and positive feedback, motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic motivations
My long term goal is to finish my last three semesters with at least a 3.5 GPA.
The biggest way in which I will attain this long term goal is to set many short term goals along the way. The goals I have set include completing all reading assignments and homework assignment by the time they are due. In the past I haven’t always done the readings in various classes because the seemed irrelevant. Since I have started this semester I have noticed a marked increase in my understanding of course content. Another goal is to attend class everyday. This has also helped tremendously because many of the classes we have here at UNI are based mostly upon lecture content. Finally I have started using a planner to keep all assignments and due dates straight. It keeps me from forgetting things and in general allows me to make better use of my time.
Goal striving is another important part of my plan. When I feel overwhelmed I visualize how I will feel if I just ignore the thing which is causing my anxiety. Then I try to visualize how much better I will feel if I just buckle down and get the work done.
Something that has really helped me is the feedback I have been receiving from my loved ones. My girlfriend is very supportive. When I am struggling she always encourages me and gives me feedback about how proud she is with how hard I have been working. My parents also give me much more positive feedback about the work I have been doing. Overall this feedback has helped to increase my motivation and helps to keep me trying.
The biggest thing that inspired me to set this goal was the discrepancy between my actual and ideal states. I found my actual state to be someone disappointing so I started thinking about my ideal state. I decided that my ideal state would be finishing out my college career with a higher level of achievement than I started with.
Overall I feel that I have followed the important factors in goal setting. My goal is specific, difficult yet attainable, attractive to me, accepted by me, and I have a plan implemented for how I will achieve this goal. Overall I feel very optimistic about this goal and believe that I will achieve it.
My main goal is to travel the world. The ideal state for me would be backpacking throughout Europe this upcoming summer or next year for a few months. However, based on my present state, and not being financially stable I feel that I will only be able to afford to do a mini vacation next summer to somewhere within the United States.
The discrepancy reduction for my goal would be the fact that I just lost my job due to our business not providing enough sales to keep it open. Therefore, the environment depicted how poorly the performance as a whole was, and now because of the loss of my job it is keeping me from my ideal state. In other words, my current state of unemployment does not match up with my ideal state of having money to spend while backpacking throughout Europe. This goal is providing "goal difficulty" because it is harder to accomplish saving up for an extended trip when I do not have a job.
First, a short term goal in order to accomplish this is to find a new job. Second, when I do find a job, my next goal will be to budget my money wisely. I will create a budget sheet with an estimated amount for my plane ticket, personal expenses, visa, medical, travel etc. Based upon this budget sheet I make, I will take a sum of money from my checks each month and put them into a savings account to finance my trip.
In addition, I will look for feedback from other travelers that backpacked throughout Europe to pick up some tips and cheaper ways to travel. I feel this feedback from other travelers will provide more motivation because if they can do it, so can I. Therefore, this goal will not seem as difficult or impossible, and the feedback will cause encouragement, and make it seem more meaningful. I will be intrinsically motivated to accomplish this dream trip, and not let obstacles, or criticisms come in my way.
Terms used: goal difficulty, feedback, discrepancy reduction goal setting, present state, ideal state, intrinsic motivation, criticisms
My goal is to become fit enough to run one 300 meter shuttle in 63 seconds and another in 65 seconds with two minutes rest in between them. A 300 meter shuttle involves running 25 meters at about 80% twelve times. It is a rugby drill that select-side teams use during their tryouts to gauge rugby fitness. Athletes who are truly fit are able to use the first 300 as a 'warm-up' and run their second about 2 seconds slower.
Right now I can run the first a 300 in about 67 seconds. On the second I score around 75. Although a few seconds does not sound like that much to shave off your time, it is in fact quite an accomplishment to cut off even just five seconds. It takes not only a lot of effort but also a lot of time to be able to do so. This makes my goal challenging and therefore more motivating than an easy goal. This goal is also specific, I know what my times are now and what I want to get them down to. This makes it easy to measure as long as I have someone willing to time me with a stopwatch. Timing with a stopwatch provides feedback allowing me to measure my progress. The feedback allows me to stay motivated during my progression toward my goal because recording my progress will provide me with the confidence I need to achieve it. My goal is also realistic because I know that it is possible to cut off that much time as long as I am committed and stick with it. I have been training for rugby and for my own satisfaction for a few years now so I know I can make the time and that it is within my realm of possibilities. All of these factors make it so I will be more likely to accomplish my goal than if it was ambiguous, difficult to measure, did not create feedback or if it was unrealistic. These factors should also improve my self-efficacy, or my belief that I am capable of performing the tasks I need to in order to attain my goal. As of right now I have high self-efficacy because my past achievements give me confidence that I am capable of doing this. My self-efficacy also makes me able to put in more effort than if I did not have as much confidence in my abilities.
Another way I can make it more likely to achieve my goal is by making my goal open and known to others. I can do this by telling the other girls on my team the times I would like to accomplish. Telling other people allows them to not only hold me accountable but also to encourage me to keep going when the training gets tough. These two factors improve my goal commitment. Another factor that will improve my goal commitment is how there are others on my rugby team that are striving to achieve similar times on their 300s. Working with others will inspire me stay committed on days when I feel less than motivated to continue performing the tasks I need to in order to continue progressing toward my goal.
The final thing I need to do to make it more likely that I will achieve my goal is to clearly define the date I want it to be accomplished by. I can make sure I am able to achieve my goal within this time table by setting progressive short-time goals with specific dates and times. My plan for my goal is as follows:
2 months = 66, 73
4 months = 66, 71
6 months = 65, 69
8 months = 64, 67
10 months = 64, 66
12 months = 63, 65
Terms: specific goals, challenging goals, feedback, self-efficacy, goal progression,clearly defined goals
I have a mental representation of an ideal state of having a career as a therapist. However, my present state career is working as a Service Coordinator at a non-profit agency, working to help individuals with mental illness live independently in the community. The mismatch between my present state and ideal state has created incongruity. The incongruity is triggering my motivation, which is providing me with the energy and direction that I will need to reach my ideal state of becoming a therapist. The incongruity/discrepancy between the present-ideal state create motivation, not the ideal state. The discrepancy I am experiencing is discrepancy reduction,. Discrepancy reduction occurs when an aspect of the environment provides feedback about how well or how poorly the person’s current performance level matches up with the ideal performance level. After researching graduate schools, I have received feedback that the average GPA of students accepted into the MSW program is 3.5. Since I currently have a cumulative of 3.4, the feedback I received is telling me that I need to raise my grades to perform at the desired level.
Goal setting allows an individual to enhance their performance. A goal is whatever an individual is trying to accomplish. My long term goal is to earn my MSW, which would allow me to represent my ideal state of being able to become a therapist. Only goals that are difficult and specific increase performance. Difficult goals energize an individual and specific goals direct the individual toward particular action. My goal of earning my MSW is difficult because graduate school acceptance rates are low compared to the number of applicants. My goal is specific in terms of determining what type of degree I plan to earn and what I plan to do with my degree. Another crucial aspect needed in order for goal setting to be effective is feedback. Feedback allows people to keep track of any progress toward their goal. Without feedback, performance can seem unimportant or uninvolving. The feedback that I am currently receiving are scores on tests/ assignments in the classes that I am enrolled in. I will also receive feedback from my GRE score. Further feedback will also be given to me after I apply to various graduate schools. Once I am enrolled in a MSW program, I will receive feedback from tests/ assignments to inform me of my progress in earning my masters degree. Another important factor when increasing performance is goal acceptance. Only internalized goals improve performance, because accepted goals correlate to commitment.
Many times long term goals receive insufficient opportunities for feedback and reinforcement. To allow more opportunities for feedback and reinforcement, a long term goal should be broken down into various short term goals. So, in regards to my long term goal of earning my MSW degree, I could break the goal down into several short term goals. Some examples of potential short term goals are: taking the GRE this week and performing well, maintaining a GPA of at least 3.5 at UNI, applying to six graduate schools, graduating UNI in May, attending graduate school in the fall, maintaining a graduate school GPA of at least 3.5, finishing graduate school-earning MSW degree.
According to chapter 8, focusing on the goal actually interfered with goal attainment. The chapter suggests that individual’s should focus on how to accomplish the goal (Process Stimulation) instead of focusing on outcomes/goal content. Process stimulation involves planning and problem solving, which creates action. For example, when trying to achieve my short term goal of performing well on the GRE, I should think about effective ways to study for the GRE instead of just imagining myself receiving a good score. So, I could start out by taking a practice test online, determine which areas I need to improve on, and study the areas that need improvement every morning from 5:30 AM-7:00 AM until I take the test. Purely focusing on success does not produce productive goal orientated behavior. Failing to develop specific action plans is a major reason why individual’s do not obtain their goals. After an individual has chosen a goal, implementation intentions must be planned. Implementation intentions create a link between goal directed behaviors and situational cues, causing the behaviors to occur automatically. Many times implemented intentions link goal directed behaviors to a specific time and place. In regards to my short term goal of performing well on the GRE, I could create a plan that would require me to study everyday from 5:30 AM-7:00 AM in my computer room. I could also apply implementation intentions to my goal of applying to graduate schools. For example, I could create a plan to complete one applications to a graduate school on Monday’s and Friday’s at the library after work, until applying to all of my graduate schools of interest. Implementation intentions allow a person to exclude distractions, finish uncompleted goals, carry out goals, determine the action they will take when difficulty arrives.
Goal: Raise my GPA and graduate with good grades.
When it comes to achieving this goal I have to first look at it for what it is. Right now (my present state) my grades are slacking and my GPA is only average and I want to get to a 3.5 GPA (Ideal state). When I assess the goal difficulty I notice that the material isn't what is difficult for me. What is hard for me is the motivation to get to class and do all the assignments to the best of my ability. In the past (I have been doing very well in this semester to not allow half assed assignments be turned in) I have rushed an assignment not caring what grade I could get as long as I got something. So when it comes to goal difficulty I know that I have the ability to do the assignments I just need to keep a positive attitude. Goal Specificity is pretty clear on this one; do the assignments and the readings, do them well and to the best of my ability, turn them in on time and keep up with all the material. Oh! And never miss class. Its not hard to see what I need to do and it always seemed too hard for me before but this semester I have worked harder than I have ever and I realized its not hard and I know exactly what to do. Ive accepted this goal as something I need to do and I really want to achieve it. I get feedback everytime I get a paper or assignment back and it gives me the motivation and encouragement to keep up the good work and lets me know that I am doing the assignments right, it helps me from getting overwhelmed. I know I have a habit of laziness so I know the most important thing to do is keep up with the work and focus, focus focus!I will spend all my time devoted to studying, spending extra hours at the library and not allowing myself to procrastinate.
My goal isn't really over the next year, since I don't have much impact after I send in my application other than managing to graduate from UNI. Nonetheless, it is an important and realistic goal for me and I wanted to write about it more than some other goal that didn't matter as much.
My goal is to apply to law school and get into the Iowa law school for fall of next year. First off, I would specify my objective: to apply to Iowa law school this winter in attempt to gain attendance in fall 2012. My goal difficulty is at optimal challenge to me, since it is difficult but not unattainable in light of my accomplishments (honor societies, academic certifications, dean's lists), my abilities (critical, logical, and analytical thinking skills), my experiences (debate team, debate team judge), and my access to resources (professors to write letters of recommendations). To specify my goal, I will define apply to Iowa law school in winter as "I will send in a completed application form to Iowa State Law School by February 1st, 2012". I will assess my performance at the beginning of each month until February first, starting in November, so that I stay on track and complete my application in time.
Next are the sequential steps in the effective goal-setting process. First, I will check on my goal acceptance by making sure that I myself have personally endorsed and accepted the goal, rather than relying on external factors to make me complete it. Next I would figure out possible plans, strategies, and courses of action to make sure I attain my goal. This would involve planning to ask for my letters of recommendation early, strategizing to compile an effective resume to submit, and planning my course of action through all of this. After that, I would create implementation intentions, and plan on how I will actually implement this plan into my life and plan the times and places in which these actions will take place. Finally, i will find a way to provide myself with feedback along the way so that I will be able to assess whether or not I am effectively working to achieve my goal.
My goal is to be accepted into a PhD program in two years. The discrepancy between my current state and my ideal state is quite clear – I am currently in my first semester of a Master’s program, with much to accomplish until I have gotten to the point where I am viewed as a student who has met all of the qualifications for pursuing a doctorate. When viewed in the long-term, this goal seems overwhelmingly difficult, which is why it is more effective to outline more specific short-term goals.
These short-term goals include settling upon a master’s thesis and an advisory committee to provide me with feedback as I write it, which I am currently in the process of doing. Once these goals have been met, I will define even more specific aims dealing with how much research and writing I would like to complete each week. Fortunately, I will have a built-in structure for receiving feedback on this work, as I would like to meet with my thesis advisor around 3-4 times per month in order to monitor and ensure my continued progress. A further implementation intention would be to set aside regular time blocks (around 2 hours) five or six days a week in which I am to do nothing but thesis-related work. Finding intrinsic motivation to write regularly in addition to the extrinsic force of my advisor would provide motivation for me to stay on track in completing the thesis.
Another short-term goal is to familiarize myself with the doctoral programs themselves. As my research interests become more specific, so too should my list of potential schools. Many of these universities may have specific criteria for consideration, such as specific GRE scores, research experience, or GPA. Therefore, I must be willing to adjust accordingly. One way to preempt any sort of conflicts in these areas is by making sure that I am putting out my feelers for both research opportunities here on campus and potential academic conferences that may be valuable for me to attend or at which I could present research. Because all of these situations are so variable, the most important thing for me to do is to take time to reassess my situation on a regular basis. I would say that in addition to having routine daily goals, it is just as important that I reflect upon my situation in the broader context at the beginning of each week.
My goal is to graduate in May. I have this goal because of the incongruity I feel. Incongruity comes from one being dissatisfied with their present state and wanting to get to their ideal state. My present state is not having a 4 year degree that qualifies me to be an Executive Director of a non-profit. My ideal state is being qualified as an Executive Director of a non-profit. This incongruity motivated me to set my goal of graduating in May. This means that me achieving my goal is 8 months away. Concepts from chapter 8 that will help increase the chances of me achieving my goal of graduating in May include: making sure my goal is specific and has a level of difficulty to it, setting a plan of how I am going to achieve my goal, setting up means for feedback at certain times throughout these 8 months and making sure I focus on process simulations versus outcome simulation.
Chapter 8 explains that goals need to be specific and have a degree of challenge to them. Goal specificity is how clearly the goal tells the individual what he/she is to do in order to achieve the goal. My goal specificity is to go to class every week, submit all of my assignments on time and get above a C on all of them. Goal difficulty enhances performance. Difficult goals do two things such as energize individual and direct them towards the path of action. My goal has a level of difficulty because I am sick of going to class, sick of doing homework and just want to be done which makes it hard for me to achieve my goal of graduating in May.
Setting a plan of action is very important when trying to increase the probability of achieving a goal. Chapter 8 discusses how important having a plan of action truly is. Having a plan tells you what to do and when to do it. It gives direction to your goal.
Chapter 8 also talks about how important feedback is in the process of achieving a goal. The chapter explains that without feedback performance can be unimportant and involving. This is why it is important when setting my goal of graduating in May that I have sources of feedback throughout the process. The sources of feedback for the next 8 months include, feedback from professors on my assignments, meeting with my advisor to reassure me that I am on the right track and getting encouragement from my peers, professors and family that I am doing well. This feedback will help keep me motivated to achieve my goal of graduating in May.
Another aspect of the goal process is making sure I focus on process simulation versus outcome simulation. Process simulation focuses on how one will achieve a goal. Outcome simulation focuses on the goal itself. Chapter 8 explains that the probability of one achieving their goal increases when they focus on process simulation. So, for my goal of graduating in May, I need to focus on the process. This means that I need to focus on attending class everyday, submitting my assignments on time and doing well on them. This is instead of focusing on telling myself everyday 'I need to graduate, I need to graduate, I need to graduate'.
All of the topics discussed above from chapter 8 will help me achieve my goal of graduating in May.
A long term goal I have is to attend a graduate school next year and begin working on my Ph. D. Chapter 8 suggests that for a goal to be effective, it should be difficult and specific. This is a difficult goal, and I specifically would like to specialize in Industrial Organizational Psychology. Because this is a long term goal, it should be divided into a series of short term goals to provide an opportunity for feedback. I’ve already accomplished a few of the short term goals that are necessary (taking the GRE, learning about the application project, talking to an advisor in my area to choose which schools to appply to), but I still have many more steps to take if I want to be in a school by the fall. I choose 4-5 programs I want to apply to, write a personal statement, ask for reccomendation letters, and make sure I meet the deadlines.
To complete this series of short term goals, I will need to also have implementation intentions. Implementation intentions discuss specifically where, when, and how a goal will be completed. The best way of doing this for my goal would be to decide specific “due dates” for myself. For example, I will choose my programs within the next 2 weeks. I will map out each school’s specific deadlines and determine specifically when I will complete the rest of the steps necessary to get into a Ph. D. program.
To keep motivated to meet all the deadlines I will have to impose upon myself, I will need to keep striving for my goal. Goal striving consists of focusing, visualizing, and seeing the new you associated with your goal. The “new you” is especially important in the goal setting process. When there is a discrepancy between the present state and future state, we decide to create a goal to help us achieve this “new you”. I know that I must complete a Ph. D. program to get a job that I enjoy and allows me to achieve my full potential. This will keep me motivated to persist longer and try harder than if I had no goal at all. If I can keep my behavior energized and directed, I will be able to possess the enhanced performance that is necessary to complete an Industrial Organizational Psychology Ph. D. program.
One long term goal I have is to graduate with my bachelors in Psychology from UNI as a student prepared to enter graduate school. Chapter eight describes many motivational strategies shown to be efficient means of setting and striving for long-term goals. I realize that to find a great job in the field I am interested in, one of the first long-term goals I need to accomplish is graduating with a bachelor’s degree, which is one of the steps necessary to get into graduate school. To realize this as my goal, I recognized the fact that I want the type of job that I cannot have unless I go to graduate school. This discrepancy between my present state of working as a server at a restaurant, and my ideal state of being a professor in a university setting, conducting research, and mentoring students is the driving force behind the motivation I have to be working towards receiving my degree and furthering my education and opportunity. After realizing the mismatch of my ideal and present state, I realize it is very important to start thinking about not only my long-term goal, but short term goals that I can rely to provide myself with feedback. For example, some short term goals I have in order to graduate as a student prepared to begin graduate school start with signing up for classes that are required to receive my degree, making sure I attend each and every class, studying for tests, doing my assignments and maintaining high scores in those classes. I usually make sure to utilize implementation intentions weekly. For example, I always make a checklist of each assignment that is due each week, and what time frame/ place I can work on it. Depending on what nights of the week I work, what my room mates have going on, or what other assignments I have, these specific plans to carry out my goal are very helpful and effective. There were a couple things I realized I was doing wrong when setting and striving for goals. I was very avoidance-motivated, focusing on making sure I didn’t get bad grades, rather than enjoying a challenge and approaching the opportunity I have to learn and challenge myself. Also, I would try to use outcome simulation as a strategy to help find motivation to complete my goals, and after reading this chapter I found out outcome simulation could actually hinder goal accomplishment! Now I try to focus more on approaching the challenges that I know will improve the likelihood of achieving my goals. For instance, instead of just trying to get this assignment done because I want a good grade, I am really trying to use the assignments as an opportunity to better my understanding and challenge myself. Another short-term goal I have to complete my bachelor’s as a student prepared to enter graduate school is to talk to at least one professor and get involved in some of their research so I can have some experience. I also need to study for my GRE (yikes!), apply for graduate schools, become a member of PsyChi, maintain high GPA, and get involved with Psychology club. Without setting any short-term goals, my chances of getting into graduate school and pursuing a career within the field of Psychology are pretty slim.
The main goal that I have had for awhile now is to figure out what to do with my future. Obviously this is way too broad, so I’ve been trying to narrow this down and get a more focused and practical goal. So instead my goal is to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and either get a job in my field or get into a graduate program in Iowa. I have created a discrepancy in my ideal self and my current self. I want to see myself in the field of psychology in a good enjoyable job, or in a graduate program working my way toward an even better job. However currently it’s questionable when I’ll be able to graduate, whether a graduate program would accept me, and whether I can find a job in this economy.
There are many smaller steps involved in accomplishing this larger goal. I need to begin by working hard this semester and next semester to get more out of my education and increase my GPA. This will get me closer to graduating with my BA in psychology and increasing my GPA will help with getting into graduate school and getting a job. I will get feedback at the end of both semesters to show me how well I am doing. This feedback is very important because it can energize me and increase my persistence in accomplishing my goal. Another aspect of accomplishing my goal is to meet with my adviser to make sure I’m on track for graduation and so that he can help to steer me towards the right track if I have gotten off course. This is also a form of feedback and will help me stay focused on the goal. I also need to find an internship this summer, and do some research on companies in the area who host internships so that I can gain some experience in the field. Another major part of accomplishing my goal is to look into the job market in Iowa and fully research the benefits and strengths to either going into the job market after I get my BA or continuing on to graduate school. This will be a huge aspect of my goal and thus take a lot of research and time. Once I have made the decision to pursue one course or the other I will either vigorously begin searching for a Job in Iowa and sending out my resume or start preparing for the GRE and applying to graduate schools.
I see my goal as extremely complicated and so large that I often cannot even think of it in terms of these “smaller” steps because I still get too overwhelmed. So I find that most of the time its easy to think of all of this in terms of baby steps, and for the moment simply work towards completing each assignment the best I can. Or begin researching one small thing and find what I can on that small thing rather than weighing out all of the benefits of getting a Job or going to graduate school. I have found that It’s extremely helpful to break my huge goal of figuring out my future into the smallest steps possible because it becomes much easier to focus solely on that and not become overwhelmed by the long term goal itself.
I honestly don’t have a lot of future plans at this stage which is definitely not a good thing. I’m not really one to set goals because I rarely follow through with them. I tell myself every year that I’m going to start working out and scheduling time to fit into my schedule so I might actually do it; I never do. I always try to eat healthy but that goes in waves of trying and failing. I guess knowing how to set a goal and actually setting a realistic goal might help with achieving some of those kind of things. I suppose a goal I have would be to lose a few pounds and maintain that new body weight. Exercise and eating right are both involved in that and it’s something I think about regularly. I’ve lost a little bit of weight during college and it still fluctuates back up to a slightly higher weight. The discrepancy between my ideal and my current situation have motivated me to want to change things a bit. My goal would be set with increments to help achieve it. The more feedback one receives on the goal, the more likely one is to follow through entirely and achieve it. With small steps, I’m sure I can make it to my goal with much stress. Small goals on the way to my overall goal of a certain weight maintained would be a regular workout plan, taking a yoga class, buying all natural, or at least less processed, groceries, and finding healthy recipes that are simple and quick.
The first step is the hardest to make. Studies from the book show that writing your goal down increases your chance of follow through and making this blog is a way that we are writing down those goals we have and increasing our likelihood of achievement. That first step may be difficult but I’m sure that with the motivation of holding ourselves accountable to what we’ve written for this blog, most of us students can start (if they haven’t yet) that process of fulfilling their desired goal(s).
I want my goal to be specific, maintain a specific weight and eat what I consider healthy. It should also be difficult, but not too difficult. I don't normally exercise outside of walking everywhere and working all the time and I will have to work hard to schedule that out. Making it specific and difficult will increase my effort and focus and lead to enhanced behavior. I might even stick a little incentive in there, if I've maintained my ideal weight at this time next year, I may go out and buy a hot new dress (then make my bf take me out to dinner) to make myself feel awesome.
I have to admit, upon seeing this assignment I groaned a little. I generally am not the type of person who makes goals, or at least what most people think of as goals. I have various expectations for myself, such as keeping a high GPA, staying involved in student organizations and being the best friend and person I can be. Once in a while, I will strive towards something that could be considered a goal, such as having a 4.0 GPA. However, when it comes to the planning I generally fail. I’m not very studious, I study just enough to get that ‘A’. And when something happens that will hinder my chances of obtaining that coveted grade, I will then and only then step up to the plate to change my ways, which is called discrepancy reduction. I have been told time and time again that I should begin goal-setting; that it would increase my performance drastically.
However, I decided to set a goal. I want to be hired as a Resident Assistant for the upcoming school year. This is a rather difficult goal, as well over a hundred people apply every year with very few openings. It is also a very specific goal, as compared to say “I want to get a job.” As the book stated, a difficult, specific goal increases performance. Some things that would help would be goal acceptance and feedback. I already have accepted the goal as I am the one who gave it to myself.
Also, feedback is important, because it lets me know where I am on my path. This is a little difficult for this goal as it’s not really a step by step process. The RA application goes live in November, with interviews following in February and March. However, I am currently the President of Campbell and have a weekly one-on-one with our Graduate Residence Educational Coordinator, so I will hopefully be able to get some feedback that way.
Some other potential ideas to help work towards my goal of becoming an RA would be to get my name out there, develop my leadership and community building skills, and become more involved with the Department of Residence.
To accomplish this first task, I could become more involved on campus, but as an NISG senator, a staff writer for the Northern Iowan, and various other student organizations I am well on my way for this. I should also look for ways to introduce myself to various Department of Residence administrators or staff members. This would increase my chances of being chosen to be an RA for the upcoming school year.
Perhaps most importantly I need to continue to build my leadership skills, along with any other relevant skills such as relationship building, conflict resolution, etc. This would help me look better as a potential candidate for the positions. Not only that, but should I get hired, it would also serve to help me do my job better. So it would be a win-win. Obviously, a good goal-setting plan would be a little more specific. To do this, I plan on taking a few conflict resolution classes (working towards a minor), which I am sure would look good. Also, I plan on using my team building certification to facilitate various team building programs which would lend me credence when talking about and/or applying team building techniques. Attending various other leadership development programs and training would be ideal as well.
The old adage “It’s not what you know, but who you know” can also be applicable. By being more involved in the Department of Residence I am liable to come to know several more of the Resident Life Coordinators and the various directors in the department of residence. I plan on doing this by becoming more vocal and involved with the Residence Hall Association, taking Campbell Hall to new heights as the President.
My Goal Setting: That I get into Graduate School somewhere and get a job that involves my major.
There is multiple different ways for someone to stay on a on a long term goal and to make it a successful goal too. Well a big one for me to stay on my goal is being persistent because you have to stick with the goal and not give up. I feel that I do this with my grades because in high school I really didn’t care about anything and had really bad grades. When I went to college though I had a changed my attitude towards school because I finally knew that this is what will make me or break me, so I had to take it serious. Now, I keep up with my studies more vigorously and make sure that all of my work is the best I can do because one I paying for school now and I should do the best I can and two that average grades don’t get you in graduate school, so that’s another reason I try my best.
Also, that for a long term goal you need to make small goals in between, so you don’t get stressed out and don’t start doubting that the goal is impossible. For instance, what keeps me to stay on track is when I get a good grade on an assignment or an exam and keeps my confident that it is a realistic goal. But there are those times when I don’t get as good as a grade on something that I was expecting, so I keep at it until my hard work pays off and I feel like I’ve done everything I could to get a better grade.
The main thing that keeps me motivated in school is that I want a better life for me than my parents had provided because my parents could only provide with just enough. When I was 3 my parents got divorced and I lived with mom, but she had to work to two jobs just to make ends meet and she still does to this day. So, I want to be able to provide for myself and family without working myself to the bone and never having any time to myself because I am at work like 70 hours a week.
I, like many people, have a hard time setting goals and attaining them. I would like to set a goal to improve my time management skills so that I can fit everything I want to do into my schedule that seems to be never ending. In order to do this I will need to set a specific goal that is also a short term goal. A short term goal I could have would be to use my planner and actually map out my days. If I write down what times I need to be at certain places and doing certain things I will be more likely to stick to it. I could plan on being at the gym by 6:30, class by 9, on campus studying until 2 or 3 and then off to work by 4. I also need to make my goal at a certain difficulty level. If it is too easy I will lose intrinsic motivation and will lose interest in attaining my goal. What I want to do is have a to do list that I write out for every week with basic things I want to spend my time on. This would include working out, study time, work, and time for relaxing. This goes into other goals of mine to complete all of my homework and start regularly working out more. I make excuses for why I don’t work out saying that I just don’t have the time. I spend too much time on certain things so I run out of time throughout the day. If I could get out of bed and not push snooze or spend less time on face book, etc.. I could add a significant amount of time to my day for other activities. I have my present state of a chaotic schedule and my ideal state of being organized and allotting time for everything that needs to get done. I can also tell my room mates exactly what I’m doing and the goal I have set so that they can give me positive and negative feedback on how I’m doing. If I tell other people my goal I will be more willing to go threw with it. If I set mini short term goals for myself eventually I will meet my long term goal of being more organized.
Ideal state, present state, intrinsic motivation, goal difficulty, specific goals, goal, short term goal, long term goal
My Goal: I want to graduate with my PhD in Cognitive Psychology, focusing on memory research and its application in the legal system.
This is a difficult goal to accomplish because it is a goal that is at least 6 years away. It is something that will take hard work and determination. Right now I have a discrepancy of my ideal position and where I am now. So far this semester, I have not been very good at achieving the small goals that I need in order to accomplish my long-term goal. I have procrastinated and have looked at my goal as something so big that it is overwhelming. I think that the concepts we learned in chapter 8 can definitely help me with this overwhelming feeling. First off, I need to make sure I set smaller goals along the way. For my long-term goal, I have several short-term goals and even more under those. In order to accomplish my goal, I need to graduate with my BA, which I will do in May. I also need to begin researching grad schools, pick some to apply, take my GRE, write my vita, write my personal statement, apply to the schools, and decide where I will work and when I will move if necessary. On top of all that, I need to first find the money to take the GRE and more money to cover application fees. It is easy to see how this is all overwhelming and contributed to me procrastinating. I really like the table on page 226 of the book, so I will use that to explain how I would go about making it more likely that I can achieve my long-term goal.
Step 1: Specify the objective to be accomplished
As mentioned, I want to graduate with my PhD.
Step 2: Define goal difficulty
I also mentioned above that this goal is moderately to highly difficult. It will take a lot of work and preparation if I want to be successful.
Step 3: Clarify goal specificity
To clarify my goal, I want to graduate with my PhD in Cognitive Psychology focusing on memory research and its application to the legal system.
Step 4: Specify the time span when performance will be assessed
With my long-term goal, performance would not be assessed until I complete the degree, which is about 6 years away; however, setting smaller goals as I mentioned, allows me assess my performance more frequently, so I should have some good feedback by the end of the semester and then the end of next semester if I get accepted into grad school.
Step 5: Check on goal acceptance
Although I know this goal is held by my family as well, I fully accept this goal as my own and it is truly what I want to do.
Step 6: Discuss goal-attainment strategies
I have thoroughly discussed my goal and how I plan to attain it with my family and friends. Having done this helps to bring responsibility to my actions and helps me to be sure that I follow the directions I provided myself.
Step 7: Create implementation intentions
In order to do this, I need to use my short-term smaller goals to create a plan of action. I need to decide when and how I will begin to accomplish my goals. In order for my GRE scores to be reported to the grad schools on time, I need to take it within a few weeks. With this time frame, I need to borrow money this week and continue practicing for the test. Since I have to have at least 4 grad schools picked out before I take the test, I also need to begin researching those this week. Saying I need to start this week is not specific enough for implementation so I need to set aside a certain time every day, say 5 pm for at least 1 hour of researching and practicing. I need to get my vita and personal statement done within a month, so I’ll set aside one hour each night to work on those. Having these specific times set should help me to accomplish my goal; however, it will only work if I actually do it.
Step 8: Provide performance feedback
Since I set specific time frames for completion of my smaller goals, it is easy to provide performance feedback. Since my short-term goals are set fairly close together, I can continually assess if I am performing at, above, or below my goal level.
Terms used: Ideal state, discrepancy, goal-attainment, goal-setting, long-term goal, goal specificity, goal difficulty, feedback, implementation intention, short-term goal
I have been working since my sophomore year in high school in getting a college degree. There are many things I have done to make myself feel good about myself, but the one thing that has made me the most proud of myself is the fact that I’m getting my bachelor’s in psychology in three years. For most, it takes 4 and some even 5 years to finish. My hard work and persistence of continually taking classes in high school and going to school through summer is finally paying off. It will be nice not to have much in student loans racked up, because I don’t think I could feel very motivated with anything, if I felt I was never going to get out of student loan debt. My goal is to finish strong in the spring so my life can progress to getting a fulfilling career and experience new things. In order to ‘finish strong’, I am taking 21 credits for this semester and plan on taking quite a few next year. I am taking classes that will truly benefit my resume; I’m getting more involved with the community and trying to get my name out there to benefit me in the very near future. I tend to keep myself very busy and sometimes bite off more than I can chew, but somehow I have instilled a great set of time management and organizational skills and have learned not too procrastinate as much as I used to. I’ve been dreaming of moving away and becoming successful since I was little, and the time line I have been on is just me setting my ducks in a row, the light is at the end of the tunnel and I'm almost there!
I had a tough time deciding which one of my many goals to elaborate on for this post. I feel the most common goals people my age have are to either go to grad school/get a job or to lose weight. Well, being the free-floating senior that I am, I do not know what I want to do out of college. And if I were to lose 60 pounds, I would die. So I decided to look at slightly more intrinsic goals of mine.
My goal is to become an all-around cleaner and more organized person. This is not in the personal hygiene way; I take a shower at least once a week, so I know that I am good (I’m kidding, by the way). This is more in the staying organized picking-up-after-yourself type of way.
I have always struggled at staying organized. I think it runs in the family (they once had to call in the fire department to find my sister in her own room after she got lost in her pile of clothes and toys). As a 21-year-old college student, my dorm room last year wasn’t much better. Every year since second grade, I pull out my new planner and think, “This is it! This is the year I use my planner!” Then two weeks into the school year I lose it. The examples of my disorganized habits could go on longer than the movie Ray (again, I’m kidding).
I have already been putting my goal of becoming a cleaner and better-organized individual into action this year. I have started using Google Calendar as a means of keeping on track with everything I have going on. I have been better about picking up after myself in our apartment. But I still have a long way to go.
I have been and will continue to use feedback as an indicator of my improvement towards my goal. Feedback is the way a performer can evaluate their performance. If below the goal standard, that creates dissatisfaction. I often use my peers as a way to provide feedback. Within my apartments, simply having roommates helps keep me accountable, since I do not want to have my stuff be a problem or in the way.
I know from experience that goals do not translate into effective performance. Starting and persisting in goals can be very difficult. One of the main problems with my goal is the years of experience in bad habits that weigh me down in my disorganization. I need to set more implementation habits in place to help me with my goal. In the case of this goal, one implementation intention could be to put away my laundry as soon as it is washed, or to clean dishes right after I eat off of them. The irony of this is that I am literally looking right now at my laundry tub of clean clothes that have become wrinkly since I have not put them away yet. Another thing I need to do is to persist in implementing these goal-attainment strategies.
Another goal I have is to not be such a procrastinator, especially so I quit submitting these posts at 11:59. But I will worry about that later….
My goal is to attend Ohio University and be in their Clinical psychology program, to later accomplish an even longer long term goal becoming a clinician,. In order for me to achieve this goal I will have to break my long term goal down into a cluster of short term goals. by setting a cluster of short term goals it will allow me to see advancement and keep me encouraged in further achieving my long term goal.
one of the many things i will have to accomplish before becoming a clinician, and even more so to get accepted into Ohio University is to take the GRE. at this point i have begun to study for the GRE, and let me tell you because my acceptance is depending on my GRE score and many other factors, it truly frightens me to think about the GRE!
another short term goal i have to set in order to attain my long term goal is to fill out my Grad School application. because i am one to think ahead into the future, i have already begun to fill out the application. one of the requirements i must have before my application is complete is, i must have a strong statement of purpose, a Curriculum Vita, 3 recommendation letters, a 3.0 GPA and of course a GRE score.
upon completing these short term goals i will be able to hopefully get accepted into the Grad school of my choice, to later accomplish an even long term goal: becoming a clinician!
My goal is to complete the Honors Program thesis process by graduation in May. I’ve been fortunate enough to have completed a draft of my thesis proposal with my current state, but there is still a bulk of writing left to do to get to my ideal state. Although the goal of completing the thesis seems a little terrifying at times, it also provides goal difficulty, which I feel has been beneficial in staying motivated to complete the thesis. With the ability to pick our thesis topics, I’ve been able to select an area of interest, which sometimes elicits intrinsic motivation. Enjoying my topic has done wonders with making myself sit down, read articles, and integrate them into a literature review.
Part of the process is to create a timeline, or implementation intentions, for our work. We have to be able to give tentative dates for submitting IRB forms, creating our survey or experimental design, administering our survey or experiment, and finally when we plan to have thesis drafts completed. Setting deadlines throughout the year also gives goal specificity to the process. I gave ample time between deadlines in order to allow the possibility of setbacks and then resume work following the interruption. I also set deadlines for thesis drafts so I could have my advisor periodically look at my work and give me feedback on my writing. I definitely appreciate the feedback because it helps give a little more direction to completing a thesis.
My goal will take more than just a year, but I would like to successfully get hired to teach sometime before next fall, and during my career as a teacher, I want to get my masters degree. Right now, this seems like a far away dream for me, because there is still so much I have to do before that happens. Student Teach, graduate, one year long (or shorter) volunteer program, get hired as a teacher, become very comfortable teaching and then finally I will be able to start on working towards my masters.
Instead of looking at my long term goal of getting my masters, I am just going to look at one of those topics at a time (breaking my goal into shorter, more easily attainable goals). First, I will put the focus on student teaching, which will motivate me to do well in that because I need to get hired afterwards. I have always known that having too broad or too detailed of a goal is not always a good thing. It's much better to take smaller but more effective baby steps with setting shorter term goals. Eventually, the long term goal will be reached, and with a lot less stress. Setting short term goals and managing my time correctly is going to be important, and will appear more attainable then just jumping to my long term goal: getting my masters.
Hopefully, by focusing on my short term goals of student teaching, volunteering, getting a job, the thought of attaining my masters will become a reality.,
My Goal: To sit down and comfortably write and complete enough songs to qualify as being published as an extended-play record (Otherwise known as an EP, an album usually consisting of six or less songs). Working in music is something that I have wanted to do ever since I was very young. I grew up learning the piano after being inspired through my mother and from there went to piss her off by purchasing an electric guitar when I was thirteen from money and odd chores I had been saving from, for what seems like it must have been ages. From there I played in a couple of bands in high school (nothing too big to be proud of), and from there I took a few music classes through UNI including private lessons in the viola while working as a private student on my free time.
I suppose this dream of me someday becoming a musician started around the age of twelve when I was having a discussion with my aunt about what I wanted to be when I grew up. Of course I really had no idea, but what she told me was even more important. She told me that when I grow up I should find a career that I have fun and enjoy, because that is really the only way to stay young. This idea never left me and it led me to developing this concept of my present self vs. my ideal self, such as who I am now and who I wish to become. This idea never left me and it led me to realizing that music really has been the central theme throughout most of my life that I have loved and enjoyed.
Within chapter 8 I become very motivated when reading about the long-term goal of the concert pianist shown in the complex cognitive lattice structure. It really put me at ease reading about the different types of paths that were available to the concert pianist on his ways to obtaining an agent. This complex cognitive lattice structure really inspired me on how I should lay out my goals as a series of consecutive short-term goals that I can constantly accomplish and continue to fulfill my need for achievement as I move from goal to goal. This model has really caused me not only to realize where I am on my path to accomplishing my goal, but what steps I need to further accomplish on my way to meeting my final goal. As of right now, I feel as though I need to focus yet another year on just further developing my technique, creativity, overall musical knowledge and my ability to work collaboratively with other musicians, all in hopes of finding and becoming more confident with my musical style and abilities. I believe from here I will finally be able to sit down, work on attempting to publish music, and see if that can carry me on to becoming a professional musician or not. If so, I will have established a career that I am happy with, become able to settle down with somebody I am comfortable with and will be able to fulfill a happy and active life within my community both locally and globally, that is, if I was blessed to be able to have such an influence on other individuals. I believe that this need to want to have a direct impact on the life’s of other people will also help to fulfill and satisfy my need for power, aside from satisfying my need for achievement.
To me, this goal has always seemed sort of like an irrational, “head-in-the-clouds”, sort of dream of mine that for some reason I never gave up on. Maybe I never gave up because I was stupid or stubborn or just had nothing better to do, either way I have become glad that I have never given up on it. It wasn’t until I started thinking of my goal in terms of the complex cognitive lattice structure, and realized all of the short-term achievements within it that I could accomplish, all as a part of meeting my bigger long-term goal. In a way, I suppose this model has helped me realize that my dream could actually become an actuality as long as I do not give up and keep going at it with many short term goals alongside in order to help accomplish that big goal of mine.
My goal: I would like to get a job at the probation office for the 1st Judicial District Department of Correctional Services.
To achieve my goal, there are several short-term steps that are required before it would be possible. These steps are called implantation intentions. Implementation intention is a plan to carry out one’s goal-directed behavior. The first step of my goal is to complete all my course work so that I can achieve at least a passing grade. By doing this, I can assure myself that I have met all the requirements that I have remaining for me to graduate this semester. To know whether or not I will earn my degrees this semester, I rely on feedback from not only my professors but also my grade report.
Because this is a goal that I have been working on for quite some time, I have the majority of the goal pursuit completed. One of the previous steps was to complete my internship at the probation office. During that internship, I received feedback from my supervisor of my progress and what steps I need to take to be hired on. Because of this feedback, I know the next step following graduation is to volunteer down at the Residential Facility (RF). By volunteering my time at the RF, I am not only receiving extra training on how to perform the jobs required of me but I am also proving my abilities to learn quickly and perform well on the job. From the feedback that I will receive from employees in the RF, I will be able to have my performance critiqued which gives me areas to work on and strengthen before I move on to the next step in my implementation intention.
The next phase of my goal is to get an interview for a position within the RF and be hired on as a Residential Officer. From the feedback in my internship, I learned that it is extremely rare for a person to be hired as a probation officer off the street. Most of the POs in the office started their careers working in the RF as a Residential Officer (RO). With this knowledge, I know that I need to first be hired on as an RO (and to do this, I have to volunteer first). Through the volunteering, I will have learned the policies and processes that are required of ROs. Thus, this will give me a significant edge during the interview process to exhibit my competence in doing this job. From my volunteer experience, I will have acquired examples of certain situations that are found often within the field that I can use to show I have the skills, knowledge, and the ability to perform well within this position.
The final phase of my goal (after being hired on as an RO), is to work there for a while (perhaps a few years) then apply for a PO position when it becomes available. Because I would be an employee of the Department of Correctional Services, I would be given first priority to apply for a PO position should a position open up. The Department of Correctional Services typically promotes employees within the department to positions like probation officer rather than hire them off the street because they know that the employee is already familiar with their systems, policies, and procedures. Additionally, they already know the attitudes and work ethics of their employees and promote them when they feel they can perform at the level they expect from their POs.