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Goal setting and focus

Check out these tips for managing your time and keeping on track with your assessments.

SMART goals

Set goals that are SMART:

  • Specific (assessment tasks for example)
  • Measurable (can be checked and measured)
  • Attainable (can be attained)
  • Relevant (related to your education or career)
  • Time-bound (set a realistic deadline)

When setting yourself a SMART goal, you need to be very specific about the what the goal is and how you can determine your success in achieving it. If you're not sure, start with something small that you can do in a short amount of time like a week or a few days.

For example: "I will start and finish my literature review" is not a good SMART goal because it is too general.

A more achievable and SMART way to approach the assignment would be to divide it into small tasks and give each task a deadline. For example, you might set the goal of reading and summarising three articles by the end of the day. This goal is very specific, it's limited to a short time period, it's attainable, it's relevant to your assignment and you can clearly identify at the end the day whether you have been successful.

Then, once you have completed this task, you will feel that you have achieved something and you can start your next attainable task feeling confident that you will be able to get it done.

Priorities

There are a number of techniques that can be used to prioritise tasks- this section will focus on the Eisenhower Matrix. This is a model used to the importance and urgency of tasks to help priorite when and how they should be completed.
To use the matrix, organise your tasks into four categories:

  • Urgent and important: Tasks like assignments due soon or exam preparation. These should be focused on first.
  • Important but NOT urgent: Long-term projects or ongoing study. Schedule regular time for these tasks to avoid last-minute stress.
  • Urgent but NOT important: These include Interruptions like phone calls or messages that aren't critical and responding to non-essential emails. Limit time spent on these and fit them around more important tasks.
  • Neither urgent nor important: Activities such as scrolling social media, watching movies and playing video games. Minimise or schedule these for downtime.

    • Active learning

    This short video explains what you need to become a successful and efficient learner. It covers concepts such as knowing your own learning style, what independent learning is, and gives you ideas and strategies on how to be successful in your studies.

    Do you run out of time when you are studying? The key is to learn efficiently. This doesn't just happen in SWOTVAC, it is a process that begins early in the semester.

    You need to have some learning strategies and develop some learning skills. You need to learn independently; you need to be proactive. This means finding answers to things you do not know, and being aware of what you do not know in the first place.

    You need to be efficient, so that you are not going over and over the same material. You do this by using active learning strategies and knowing your learning style. This means understanding how you yourself learn best.

    Organise your notes and you to-do list into categories. A long, long list is scary, and the most important things can get lost. Sorting things into groups is the brain's natural way of remembering.

    Another tip is to use active learning strategies. Reading and listening is okay, but you will only remember 20 to 30 per cent of the information. It tends to go in one ear and out the other. Writing, speaking, and even teaching a concept to someone else is much more effective. So, by all means, chat with classmates about the material, take notes, and make your own summaries. These are all active learning strategies.

    It also helps to know your own learning style, so you can use strategies that suit you. If your learning style is visual, you should try drawing stuff to understand and remember things. Some people learn best by doing, so hands on activities help them to learn. Explaining things to others really helps [auditory learners] absorb information themselves.

    The most important strategy, of course, is to take charge yourself, because no one's going to do it for you. There is support there if you need it, but you will need to seek that help yourself. Your lecturers, the website, the Learning Lab, the Study and Learning Centre, and the library are all there to help you achieve your best, but when it comes to your study, you are now the boss.

    Images on this page by RMIT, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0