Why is it so hard to set goals in college and actually stick to them? It’s time to learn how to set goals in college you’ll actually achieve.

If you’ve ever set a big goal and failed or if you’ve been working really hard and it doesn’t seem to be moving you anywhere closer to your goal, it’s because you’ve set goals from a disconnected place.

So how do we pick the right goal?

How to Set Goals in College You’ll Actually Achieve

It starts with a reflection of how the past year or semester went.

Where were your strengths and weaknesses?  Last week I gave you 5 questions to help walk you through a year-end reflection.

Next, you need to Identify what’s important to us at this moment of your life.

For this season, what is going to take priority? What am I going to intentionally work on and improve?  I have defining priorities exercise that I love, I learned it from Chalene Johnson.

On a scale of 1- 10 you’re going to rate your level of happiness in these key areas of your life.

  • Academics
  • Finances
  • Enviornment
  • Romance
  • Mental and Physical Health
  • Relationships [family + friends]
  • Fun 

The area in which you scored the lowest is your #1 priority for the 4 weeks.  Please keep in mind that this area needs to be one in which you have control over improving in the next 4 weeks.

The only things you can really control are the actions YOU take. You can’t change other people or certain circumstances. It’s important to keep this in mind to avoid becoming frustrated when things aren’t changing. 

Why only 4 weeks instead of a year?

Because we do better with goals when the end result isn’t set too far out.

The end of the semester or a year from now is too far out. Think about what happens when you know a paper isn’t due for another month. It’s the same concept. You want to be able to see the top of the mountain so that you feel the relief that there isn’t too much to further to climb.

Now you need to identify a result or goal for that area in your life that you can achieve over the next 30 day.

This result or goal needs to move you closer to where you want to be in that area of your life. Set your goal using this guideline: The goal must be Specific, Measurable, Actionable by YOU, and Realistic.

Example: If you’ve scored low in the area of academics because you’re getting c’s and d’s. You know you’ve been studying but realize maybe it’s not the right strategy or that you’re waiting until the last minute or not studying at all.

You’re going to pick a goal or a result that will take you from a score of 4 to a score of 6-7 in the next four weeks.

Now, remember what I said about the goal being specific and realistic.

Landing on the Dean’s list is not going to happen over the next 4 weeks. Especially if it’s mid-semester and you currently have C’s in all of your classes.

But you can aim to increase your first or next exam grade by 10-15 points from a C- to a B-. That can happen over the next 4 weeks.  It’s specific and it’s realistic.

Another example: Over the next 4 weeks I’m going to lose 5lbs.

Pick 3 goals you want to achieve over the next 4 weeks and at least 2 of the goals you pick have to directly impact/relate to your #1 priority.

While this is a great start to setting and achieving goals in college, you’ll notice something is missing.  

The HOW of achieving these goals is missing. What are the actions you’re going to take to go from the c- to a B-? What are the actions you’re going to take to lose those 5lbs?

That’s what I’ll be covering in the next video.

QUESTIONS FOR THE COMMENTS: Share your priority area for the next 4 weeks and your specific and realistic goal in the comments.