One of my favorite parts about coaching and leading a team of coaches is getting to learn more about our students. The coaching partnership is all about you! Your long-term aspirations, your strengths, your skills, and the goals you want to achieve in college and beyond.
For our Wave-Makers, you’ve been taking assessments this summer that help you reflect and help us better understand your hopes, your strengths, and your growth areas.
As you head into fall term and meet with your coaches, you’ll be setting realistic short-term goals that help you feel motivated and excited to reach your long-term goals.
What’s so great about short-term goals?
You might be thinking, why do I need short-term goals in addition to my long-term goals?
It’s because long-term goals – like graduating from college in four years or getting a 3.5 GPA – can feel overwhelming or far away. They don’t necessarily help you with what you need to focus on this week, this month, or this term.
Short-term goals are more for the here and now.
They help you focus on the specific habits and behaviors and actions you’ll need to take to reach your bigger dreams. These also give you flexibility each term to set goals, reflect on them, discuss them with your coach, and build on them over time.
What do short-term goals look like?
Here are some examples of clear goals that support larger aspirations, like graduating from college or discovering your interests to pursue once you have your degree.
Before meeting with your coach, reflect on these different categories across college life. Which ones resonate for you or align with your longer-term goals? Within which areas would you be excited to set goals for this term or this year?
| Goal category | Example goal |
|---|---|
| Academics | Pass my calculus and programming classes by doing the homework for calculus and working on assignments earlier than the deadline (rather than waiting until the last minute). |
| Career | Gain experience for my resume by researching and applying to two internships and meeting with both my Making Waves college coach and the Making Waves career team. |
| Community and connection | Start a club on campus by figuring out what is required to start a club, meeting all those requirements, and getting it done. |
| Wellness | Create a balance between schoolwork and mental health by making sure I reach out to TAs when I am struggling with class content and going to office hours to avoid higher stress situations. This will support my well-being. |
What does it mean to have a “SMART” goal?
As you work on goal setting – whether in college, in a job, or in other areas of your life – the SMART goal framework is often useful. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
When you work on your college, career, or life goals, ask yourself questions like:
- Is this goal specific and clear enough?
- Is it measurable? How will I know if I achieve this goal?
- Is this goal actually achievable based on the overall environment?
- Is this goal realistic to maintain over time?
- Does it have a clear start and end date?
This SMART goal framework helps you set goals that are balanced, clear, trackable, and ultimately fit in with your life.
We are here for you!
Throughout the fall term and the year ahead, you and your Making Waves coach will check in regularly to see how you’re doing with your goals. These sessions are a chance to talk honestly about your progress, discuss what’s working and what’s not, and brainstorm around any support you might need. At the end of the year, you’ll reflect again on how far you’ve come and where you’d like to go next.
We’re excited for your goal-setting journey!
