Goals

Previous: Types of Reading

Image courtesy of keylosa

Are you squirming in fear yet? Most people don’t really like talking about goals, because they see them as hard-to-keep propositions for their lives, usually centered around the day each year that no one can write the correct date on their checks anymore.

While it is (barely) still January, I’m not talking about New Year’s Resolution-type goals. For one thing, the goals I’m talking about will actually be met. First I want to address different kinds of goals, and then I want to talk about a way to make your goals much more relevant.

Long-Term vs. Short-Term Goals

You may have heard this terminology before. Instead of skipping down to the next section, stay with me. Let’s at least make sure we’re working with the same definitions here.

“Long” and “short” in this case don’t actually refer to time. Usually short-term goals will be completed in a shorter amount of time, but it is possible to have a long-term goal that lasts for a few months, and a short-term goal that won’t be completed til April. (Not typical, but possible.)

Long-term goals, then, are overarching goals that you want to accomplish. For example, getting a B in a class is a long-term goal. Finding a new job could be a long-term goal. Losing weight is a long-term goal. The key to long-term goals is that they have steps that have to be taken to accomplish them. These steps are the short-term goals. GTD types may also see long-term goals as “Projects”, and short-term goals as “Next Actions.”

Keeping the previous examples in mind, some short-term goals could be to get an A on the next test, or to finish a resume, or to go to the gym this week. These three are very short-term, and will be accomplished in the next few weeks. Possible intermediate goals for these same examples are completing all homework for the class, getting interviews, or sticking to a good diet and exercising.

Unfortunately, I don’t actually like the second and third examples that I gave, especially not the third. Why? They are not SMART.

SMART Goals

SMART here doesn’t refer to an intelligence level. It is an acronym for some specifications that quality goals should meet. As an example to show how SMART works, I’m going to use the losing weight example, but I’m changing it a little to fit with my life.

I’m going to lose some weight and get in better shape.

• Specific – goals need to have their end result clearly defined. What am I going to do? Why am I doing it? How am I going to do it? Unfortunately, my current goal only addresses the first of these three questions. Am I losing weight because the doctor said to, or because my boyfriend says I should, or because I don’t fit in my nice black slacks anymore and I’m going to need them later this semester for a choir concert? In my case, I want to be in better shape because I’m sick of getting out of breath after walking up one flight of stairs. (The clothes reason is also relevant.) The other question to ask is how I’m going to do this. I’m going to lose weight and get in better shape because I want to feel healthier, and I’m going to do it by working out on Wii Fit and riding my bike to class.
• Measurable – I need to be able to tell when I’ve accomplished my goal. The best way to make something measurable is to put a number in it. In this case, I want to drop between 5 and 10 pounds, and “feel healthier”. That part isn’t really measurable, and there isn’t a good way to make is measurable, but losing between 5 and 10 pounds is good. I’m going to lose 10 pounds and get in better shape because I want to feel healthier, and I’m going to do this by working out on Wii Fit and riding my bike to class.
• Attainable – the goal needs to be within the realm of possibility. It is very possible for me to lose 10 pounds, and if you’ve ever heard me try to ride my bike up any kind of incline, you will know that I could easily be in better shape if I worked at it. The goal shouldn’t stretch me too far, or I won’t commit to it, but it should stretch me just far enough that it requires work. So there will be no change: I’m going to lose 10 pounds and get in better shape because I want to feel healthier, and I’m going to do this by working out on Wii Fit and riding my bike to class.
• Reasonable (or Realistic) – the goal needs to have a feasible plan in place. For right now, I don’t have time to go to the gym, and I hate running on the side of the road, so I’m not going to try to make either of these a part of my goal. Again, the goal shouldn’t be too difficult, but it also shouldn’t be too easy. Once again, no change: I’m going to lose 10 pounds and get in better shape because I want to feel healthier, and I’m going to do this by working out on Wii Fit and riding my bike to class.
• Timely – the goal has to have a time limit. If there is no time limit, it will never get done. (Especially if I’m in charge of doing it. I’m a procrastinator to the core.) In my case, I want to lose about a pound a week, which means I’ll have reached my goal in a little more than 2 months. I’m going to lose a pound a week for 10 weeks and get in better shape because I want to feel healthier, and I’m going to do this by working out on Wii Fit and riding my bike to class.

At this point, my goal is starting to sound like a bad run-on sentence, so I’m going to cut some parts out of it. I’m going to lose a pound a week for 10 weeks by working out on Wii Fit and riding my bike to class. I remember that the other part of this is getting in better shape, and I remember my reason. I will probably write both of those down with my goal so that I always think of them when I look at my goal.

That is another important aspect of goal-setting: write it down. Keep it visible. If you can see it, you won’t forget about it. Some people even go so far as to keep a blog for accountability. Writing about your goal for all the internet to read is great incentive to keep it up, since no one wants people to see their failure. WordPress and Blogspot are both blog platforms that allow easy and free start-up. If you want to start blogging for accountability in your goals, leave a comment!

Next: Studying for Exams

Three Kinds of Reading

Previous: The Syllabus

Image courtesy of dhammza

Do you like reading assignments? Or do you think that textbooks are sent from Hell to torture your very existence? If so, then maybe you should be seeking professional help. Are you somewhere in between? Good – that’s much more normal common.

Not many people like reading assignments, especially in college. They’re long, they’re boring, and you have better things you could be doing with your time. Like playing video games. However, they are necessary for passing many classes, so you really do need to know how to read effectively. Next month, I will be posting about survey methods to help you retain what you read, but for now I just want to discuss the act of reading.

Study Reading

Do you need to know this information cold? Will you be tested on this reading assignment? Do you have time to devote to in-depth reading? (No, beating Call Of Duty is not a valid excuse.) If you need to do a detailed, involved reading of an assignment, you should be study reading.

Study reading is done at slightly less than your normal reading rate. While you are reading, be sure to think about the material, and how it relates to what you are learning in class. Take notes. Use a survey method. At the very least, write down the main idea and some supporting details.

Know the material.

Skimming

Do you just need to have an idea of what the assignment talked about? Are you reading in preparation for a lecture or class discussion? If you just need to get the gist of the reading assignment, skimming is for you.

Skimming is done at about twice your normal reading rate, and your comprehension should only be about 50%. When you skim, your eyes scan over the page in a Z-type pattern, and you look for key words. The goal of skimming is to get the main idea, and nothing else. Skimming is a great way to prepare for a lecture, because you will have an idea of what the professor will be talking about, but don’t have to devote much time to the assignment. It is also useful when you are researching a paper. You can skim the source to see if it really looks useful, then later you can read it more in-depth to get the information from it.

Scanning

Are you looking for just one little piece of information in a chapter, or a name in a phone book? (I know, no one uses phone books anymore, but do you remember how it worked?) Phone books are a great example of scanning.

Scanning is done very, very quickly, at about 4 times your normal reading rate. You are not looking for the main idea or any details, just one key word or phrase. In a list, like a phone book, you can look very quickly because you know it is arranged in alphabetical order. In a textbook, you may be looking for a key word or a date. Once you find it, you can use the surrounding information to answer textbook questions, or to write a paper, or define the term.

Be careful that you don’t skim when you should study read. If you need the information, get it in your head! Skimming and scanning are NOT speed-reading techniques that allow you to get the same information in a shorter amount of time. If you read faster than your brain can process the words, you will miss some information.

Next: Goal Setting

The Syllabus and Organization

Previous: Planners

Organization

Image courtesy of Librarian by Day

At the beginning of the semester, it is usually a good idea to decide how to organize your class work. My personal preference is to color-code things. I have one highlighter color for each class, and make sure to highlight something on my notes (usually the date) and class work (title) so I know at a glance what class it was for.

I often use highlighters when studying my notes as well, and use only the color that is designated for that class. For example, all of my Music History notes had green highlighter all over them, and my Counterpoint assignments all had the assignment numbers highlighted in pink at the top.

When I’m doing work on the computer, I highlight my folders with the same color as my written work. On a Mac, you can just right-click the folder and select a color; there might be some kind of application for Windows that gives this function. If not, descriptive names should do the trick. The Wired-Marker extension for Firefox also allows you to highlight bits of text on webpages, which is very useful for research. If you do decide to color-code this way, make sure you print and highlight your syllabi (plural of syllabus, in case you were wondering) with the same class color.

The Syllabus

Even if you don’t do the highlighter thing, still print your syllabi. If you do, you might want to highlight all of this important information.

• Write down (or put in your computer, if you prefer) your professor’s name and contact information.
• Read the course description/objectives. This will give you an idea of what to expect in the class, although for some classes you may not have a clue what the professor is talking about until later.
• Look at the list of required textbooks and make sure you have all of them. Keep in mind what you found out about each book as you surveyed it.
• Look at how the professor weights the grades. Note which assignments are going to be the most important.
• Look at what assignments are going to be given in the class. Are there any tests? Papers? Projects? How many? How often? I will be discussing long-term projects in a few posts.
• What is the professor’s late policy? Make-up policy?
• How will assignments be submitted? (Online, in class, both…)
• Does this professor have any policies that differ from what your school normally does? If the policies are the same, you don’t need to highlight them (or otherwise make them obvious). If they are, you will want to make sure you can find the difference easily. Make sure you won’t be up late one night trying to remember if this professor accepts late work because you clearly aren’t going to get this paper done by the deadline. If you can just grab a syllabus and flip it open, you will know that no, you can’t afford to fall asleep on the keyboard tonight. (Or maybe you can give up and go to bed and finish it the next morning for a few points taken off.)
• Finally, look at the assignment calendar. Make note of how often assignments are due, and make sure you have due dates written down somewhere.

Keep each syllabus with the other work for that class.

Next: Types of Reading

The Three Levels of Detail

Previous: Planners

Image courtesy of Randy Son Of Robert

When listening to a lecture or reading a chapter in a text, one helpful thing to remember is that there are three levels of detail that any given source should present. Knowing the difference between them can help you organize material better, which is how brains remember information.

Topic

The topic of a section is a very general statement, and should not be a complete sentence. This is usually the title of the lecture or section. For example, topics could be:

• Dogs
• Ancient Rome
• Beethoven

Depending on the material, these may be too general, but “general” is the key word when considering topics.

Main Idea

The main idea should be expressed in a complete sentence. It is the overall focus or goal of the passage or lecture. All of the points in the section should relate to the main idea. Some examples of main ideas would be:

• Some breeds of dogs are great with children.
• The citizens of ancient Rome had many gods.
• There were three main eras in Beethoven’s life.

Note that these statements do not mention what the gods were, or what the eras were. This is too specific.

The main idea is usually found in the first or last sentence in a reading passage, or in a lecture, after the professor says “In conclusion…” Another good way to get a main idea during a lecture is to see what is the overarching theme that all the points relate to.

Details

Details are the points or examples that support the main idea. These are the sentences in a paragraph, or the points on the professor’s PowerPoint slide. These are what you should be writing down in your notes. If your professor goes too fast, then just write down the important ones. Some examples:

• The West Highland Terrier loves the attention of children and has an agreeable temperament.
• Jupiter was the king of the Roman gods, and the god of the sky and thunder.
• During Beethoven’s Late period, he was completely deaf, and composed his Ninth Symphony.

A good study habit to cultivate is to go back later and summarize the details by compiling them into main ideas.

Next: The Syllabus

Use a Planner

Previous: Textbook Survey

Who should be using a planner?

Image courtesy of Mike Rohde

Most people have some form of a calendar or planner where they (should) write down things that they need to remember. For students, this will be assignments; for those in the work force, this could be projects and meetings…but if you have a busy life (and maybe just if you have a life at all) you should be writing things down.

What needs to go in the planner?

First, what kinds of things should you be writing down? Everything. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Write down assignments, long-term projects, plans with friends, the fact that you need to call this person from that office about this thing, that person’s phone number, etc. Some people keep lists of books they want to read or movies they want to see. It may be useful to keep a list of important equations you use for class, or contact information for some people. Write down anything you want to remember.

When should you write in the planner?

Note that I did not say “Write down anything you don’t think you’ll remember.” Don’t trust yourself to remember something. That is one of the most important habits to break when starting to use a planner – stop saying “Oh, I’ll remember,” or even “Oh, I’ll write this down later.” It is very likely that you won’t. Write it down as soon as you think of it, or as soon as the teacher reminds you. This brings me to my next point: you should keep your planner in a very easily-accessible place.

Where should you keep your planner?

If you want, get something small enough that it fits in your pocket. If not, keep it in a front pocket of your backpack and get used to pulling it out. Sometimes I find it useful to take it out at the beginning of class and set it on the desk, just in case. Then as soon as you hear something you should write down, do it. Writing it down right away is the easiest way to ensure that you will remember it.

How should you use your planner?

Ideas for how to use a planner will vary from person to person. You can get one that has the days already written in, or you can get a plain notebook and format it in whatever way works best for you. There are two main things this planner should be able to do for you though.

First, it should keep short-term assignments (those due in the next week or so) easy to see. Many people like the weekly format so that they can see the whole week at a glance when they open their planner.

Also, it should enable you to organize long-term projects. At the end of the month, I will have a whole post dedicated to organizing long-term projects. For now, though, know that simply writing in the due date three months from now will not be helpful. You need to be making progress toward that goal every week. Figure out what steps you have to take and write them down in your planner during the week that you want to complete that step.

Next: Topic, Main Idea, and Detail