Every New Year is an awesome opportunity to improve you and do better than the last! 2016 will be a year you reach your goals and celebrate the successes of 2015. But how do you go about setting goals for school? Most students don’t learn this naturally so here is how you can start:

Think about the past school year and give yourself a star for each improvement you can think of. Feels good doesn’t it?

Want to make the 2016 your best yet? Learn to set SMART goals. What are SMART goals you ask?
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely!

Here is how you can set some SMART goals:

1. Ask yourself “What are things you would like to accomplish in the new school year?”

2. Think about how you can become a better individual. Improving character is all part of the process. Think about ways you can achieve your goals by being caring, confident, kind and courteous to others. Discuss this with your friends, classmates and family.

3. Get together with a friend and talk about what personality trait or value is most important to you and set a goal around it. You can start a discussion by asking each other the following questions:
○ Who do you admire most, either in your life or fictional, and why?
○ How do your traits and values match the person you admire most?
○ What traits or values would you like to improve or take action on?
○ What actions can be taken to show this trait or value?
○ How can I help you achieve this goal?
○ Lastly, reverse the roles and have your partner answer the same questions.

4. If you’re in a class you can suggest this exercise to a larger group of friends or even to your teacher. Start by listing out different pairs of students. Specifically, you may want to partner with someone that you don’t know as well. Often what we will find is new skills and knowledge in new people that can expand our insight on goal setting.

5. If problems are encountered, encourage everyone to participate in solving issues. Join forces with other partners to expand the problem solving pool. The goal is to get as much help as you need and give as much help as you can.

6. Towards the end of your SMART goal setting activity, you can self-evaluate the discussion. What went well? What didn’t go according to plan? What were some challenges? Name some things you would want to improve in the future. Explain your feedback to your partner and have them do the same for you.

7. To better practice setting SMART goals, switch partners or find another friend to repeat this activity with. You will find that the more you practice, the better you will be at setting SMARTer goals for the new school year.

References:

http://topachievement.com/smart.html
http://www.hr.virginia.edu/uploads/documents/media/Writing_SMART_Goals.pdf
http://www.yourcoach.be/en/coaching-tools/smart-goal-setting.php