Challenging and Realistic Goals

Goals will not do you much good if they are not useful. To be useful, a goal must possess three attributes, or characteristics. The first is that goals must bespecific and measurable.

To make a goal useful, the second requirement is that it must be challenging and realistic.

• Look at your responses to Activities 6-9. The goals that you choose must be attainable but at the same time not so easy that you don't even have to work toward achieving them. However, your goals should also not be so unrealistic that it will be extremely difficult or even impossible to reach them.

• Again, think about who YOU are. The goals that you set may be different from the goals that another student sets. What's challenging to you may be too challenging or not challenging enough for someone else. That's OK because everyone is different.

  For example:

Instead of saying,

"I spent too much time with my friends last semester and my grades suffered, so I will not spend any time with my friends this semester so I have more time to study,"

You could say,

"I will spend one weekend day with my friends and see them for two hours three times a week so I have more time to devote to my studies."

For example:

Instead of saying,

"I will get perfect scores on all three of my science exams,"

You could say,

"I will get no grade less than an 85 on my science exams." (Or whatever grade you think is reasonable; it could be higher than 85 or lower.)

Click to open Activity #10, Part B and follow the directions.