Studying "Harder"

In my Learning Strategies classes we talk a lot about setting goals.   I tell students an effective goal needs three characteristics:

·         It has to have a time limit – When do you plan to accomplish the goal?

·         It needs to be measurable – How will you know you did it?

·         It needs to be something you can accomplish – Meeting your goal helps build motivation for the next challenge.  (Some people suggest setting your goal extremely high, and then even if you don’t meet it you still have accomplished a lot.  You need to know yourself and think about which will motivate you more.)

When the sections of Learning Strategies ended this spring I have every student set a goal for the remainder of the semester, write it on an index card and then tape it to their bathroom mirror so that they read it each morning.  One student stated the following goal:

When things get hard, I will work harder.

While this does not meet any of the above characteristics, I love this statement!  It works great as a daily motto.  Imagine if you told yourself this every morning and then followed that thought throughout the day.  Nothing could hold you back!

Whatever your motivation, think about it every day and use that as your guiding principle.  Your potential is boundless!   Enjoy!

PS – Of course it is important to know exactly what you will do when you “work harder.”   The previous blogs (all 254 of them) give you this information.

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First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.