Since I’m an official emotional support animal around campus, I see students with a wide range of feelings about their studies: excited, focused, and–worst of all–stressed. Though I don’t understand anything about books and reading, I know that it’s not always easy. Setting goals is a great way to balance the load of school work.

Let me share with you some tips on how you can set goals and stick to them.

The Benefits Of Setting Goals

Setting a goal is how people hold themselves accountable, especially when these goals are written down. My owner once read a study about how writing down your goals is especially helpful. In this study, five different groups approached their goals in different ways: some of the groups wrote down their goals, and some groups wrote down their goals and gave a trusted friend goal updates. 

The overall result was that the groups who wrote down their goals had a mean goal achievement of 6.44, while those who did not wrote down their goals had a mean goal achievement of 4.28.

The Psychology of Written Goals

So why does writing down your goals work so well? If you think back to when you were in school, you wrote down lots of notes of what the teacher was saying. It helps you to remember what you learned in class that day when you could look back in your notebook and recall the lessons.

Since humans have so much information in their brains, it can be hard to sort through it all when they have to make decisions. When a goal of yours is written down, your brain will be more likely to remember and prioritize it.

Making Your Goals Realistic

People always say that dogs can be stubborn when they want something, but humans can certainly be too. It will probably be tempting to regularly set huge goals for yourself. In reality, that can make your situation worse. 

Let’s say you really want to have good grades this semester. An example of an unrealistic goal to have would be: “I want to ace every exam I take.” Sure, you could do it if you really tried, but it would be at the expense of your free time and mental health. Instead, it would be better to set a goal towards one hour of study time each day.

Giving Yourself a Timeline 

Sometimes it’s easy for people to prioritize what they need to do and set goals. The harder part is sometimes giving yourself a timeline to accomplish these goals.

If you’re a student at PIMS, your goal is to graduate with good grades. That is considered a long term goal, and while it’s a good goal to have, it won’t be attainable for about two years. Instead, it would be better to set goals per semester. 

It’s still good to have your long term goal, but you should also give yourself smaller goals that are stepping stones towards your overall goal. For example, you could set goals of completing your clinicals, and passing required state exams.

Share Pupdates With Friends

If there’s one thing I know, it’s that companionship can do wonders for a person. One of the biggest issues that people have with their goals is struggling to hold themselves accountable for them. That’s where a friend comes in. 

Sharing your goals with friends/accountability buddies is what can keep you headed towards your goals even when you burn out of steam.

By the way, I’m always around to remind you to keep going. I always take love and head pats in exchange!

Final Thoughts

Goals can help you accomplish any dream that you have, especially when you write them down. It’s especially important to not feel discouraged if a goal of yours falls through. Keep trying and don’t give up! Sometimes failures happen for a reason.

If your dream involves a career in funeral service, PIMS would love to have you. You can learn more about applying on the Admissions page on our website. I hope to see you around campus!