In January people make New Year’s resolutions but often do not follow through with them because they have no plan.
Counselors Karly Wardwell, Jerrah Smith, and Jerilyn Padua-Reyes sit down with students to help them decide and set goals for the upcoming year.
The students meet with their counselors with an open mind in setting successful goals, listen to advice, and help to make progress toward these goals.
“I base my goals off of SMART goals because it is a really good guideline to set a goal that is something you can achieve because a goal like ‘I’m going to eat healthily’ is very vague and this makes it specific and easier to obtain,” Wardwell said.
The SMART goals Wardwell describes are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Wardwell said students can make progress towards their goals by making To-Do lists to advance in that goal.
“Those little steps that you can cross off and you will feel good about at the end of the day, that is a good start to a goal,” Wardwell said, adding the crucial step to achieve a goal is to plan.“Having a clear plan is the biggest thing because if you don’t then it will be hard to reach the goal,” Wardwell said.
Smith helps students stay on track with their goals when they feel overwhelmed and discouraged after a setback.
“If you set a goal and have a hiccup or a bump in the road, reassess what the goal is and set smaller goals,” Smith explains.
“Taking a step back and reassess what your goal is, to see if you can make a smaller goal to help you get to it.” Motivation is crucial to achieve the goal and sometimes picturing success helps.
“Visualizing that you have made it and what would get you there would help motivate you to do it,” Smith said.
Students come to Smith when they are unmotivated, and she explain, “It helps to motivate you when it is something that you do want.”
Students not motivated to do a task they do not like such as assignments and homework, need to look at the big picture.
“You can try to find other ways to motivate yourself for a bigger goal,” Smith stated. Smith said.
Unmanageable goals can lead to quitting the goal completely.
Using the technique of SMART goals will help students set realistic goals that have a timeline and deadline that are specific and achievable.
Jerilyn Padua-Reyes helps her students stay on track with goals that match their lifestyle.
“If you give yourself a SMART goal and a time period, you can evaluate yourself after that period and then you can see how it went, what were the obstacles, what went well and based on that you can tweak it or something that should be changed altogether,” Padua said.