When you think about achieving ACADEMIC SUCCESS, you must think about setting and achieving ACADEMIC GOALS.

Achieving SUCCESS EQUALS setting and achieving GOALS.

You cannot achieve success without working towards something that is measurable, memorable and attainable. Goals allow you to gauge when you have achieved success.

During my sophomore year of college, I received a 4.0 GPA. How did I achieve academic success that year?  I learned the power of setting academic goals. Because I set this goal, I had to develop various academic survival skills like taking notes, studying for exams, and knowing how to listen in class. I had to change specific academic and social habits in order to achieve success.  I changed my study habits, my sleeping patterns and even my dating routine  – yes “girls” had to take the back seat.

I achieved academic success that year because I set an academic goal and this goal became the motor (or motive) behind how I functioned as a student and today you can do the same. What I mean is this…

By establishing academic goals that are PRESENT, POSITIVE, and PERSONAL, all the required academic survival skills of listening in class, taking great notes, class participation, etc. will become the needed actions to support the goal you have initially set for yourself. They become the action steps required to achieve your goals.

Do you have goals? What is it that you want to accomplish in school? What is it that you want to accomplish in life? What do you consider to be successful? How do you measure the success of a good school year?

Now what are you willing to adjust for your goals? My favorite book, the Bible says, “Where there is no vision the people perish” and it also says “write the vision and make it plain, so that all who see it can run with it”.  Your goals are your vision. And your vision helps you focus on the final destination. Your goals are like the final destination on MapQuest.

To clarify setting academic goals and accomplishing them, here are 7.25 things to consider in your goal setting program.

1. Your academic goals must be personal.

What do YOU really want to accomplish? What is it that YOU desire in school? What do YOU desire from your social activities? What do YOU desire for your life? Not what someone else wants you to desire.

2. Your academic goals must not contradict any of your other goals.

Your goals must coincide in what is realistically possible. It is unrealistic to set this goal, “I have an overall 4.0 GPA, when I graduate from school” if you have already completed a few semesters with a 2.5 GPA. Mathematically there is no way to accomplish this goal. Setting unrealistic goals is setting realistic failure.

3. You academic goals must be specific.

Develop goals that are measurable; ones that can be reported and charted over time. Here’s an example: “I read two books a month that are non-school related.”

4. Your academic goals must be positive.

Positive goals help your subconscious carry out the goals stated. Your mind and subconscious should only interpret positives. Words like “not”, “never”, or “no” should be erased so your subconscious can produce the wisdom to carry out only positive goals.  Rather than saying, “I will NOT fail this test” say “I  make a minimum of 90% on this exam.”

5. Your academic goals must be set high, but reachable.

There’s a famous quote that says, “If you shoot for the moon and miss, you will still land amongst the stars.”  Set your goals really high, so that it forces you and stretches you to do better.

6.  Your academic goals must be present-tense.

Set goals in the present tense. Past-tense and future-tense goals cause your mind to think in the past and the future.  This keeps your goals locked in the past and in the future. Set goals that are present where your subconscious can work as if the goal is already achieved. “As a man thinks so is he”. Think positive, personal, and present.

7. Your academic goals must be clearly written.

Using the notes above, make sure you specify your goals on paper. Write them down legibly. Studies have shown that people who write goals are 50-80% closer to attaining them than those who don’t have them written down.

7.25. Your academic goals must be connected with practical actions.

For every goal you set, identify some practical things that you can do everyday to help you obtain that goal. If you set a goal like the one above, to make 90% on the test, then you must have an action plan.  To obtain this goal, actions like spending two hours a day studying, visiting your teacher once a week, reading other books on the subject matter and working extra subject problems. These are the actions to your goals.

Goal Setting and Goal Achieving is the hidden secret to the world’s most successful people. By applying the above, you have the keys to accomplish whatever you desire out of your academic career and your future life endeavors.

When you talk about SUCCESS, you have to talk about GOALS.

When you speak of Academic SUCCESS, you must talk about Academic GOALS.

SUCCESS IS GOALS

[AUDIO]  “Goal Setting as a Student” by Kantis Simmons

You cannot have success without having something that is measurable, memorable and achievable. So you have to have goals in place to know when you have been a success at something.

Developing various academic survival skills as a student is really really important, however this survival skill of setting and achieving your goals is the motor (or motive) behind all the other skills. What I mean is this…

If you can establish a academic goal that is PRESENT, POSITIVE,  and PERSONAL as a student, then all the action survival skills of listening in class, taking great notes, class participation, and the others will support the goal you have initially set for yourself. They become the action steps required to achieve your set goals.

BUT DO YOU HAVE GOALS??

Today I have posted a small audio where I go into more detail about goal setting and how you can use it to achieve good grades, money for school, college acceptance or whatever you desire as a student.

After listening to the below academic success skill, be bold and let me know what is the one biggest thing you want to achieve academically. Post in the comments below.

[AUDIO] “Goal Setting as a Student” by Kantis Simmons

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Kantis Simmons is America’s #1 Academic Success Coach, where he uses his no-nonsense “7.25 Secrets” to “wow” educators, parents, students via speaking programs and information products. Acclaimed for receiving three advanced scientific degrees and more than $400,000 in scholarship money, this former NASA employee and Olympic Drum major encourages everyone he comes in contact with to Play their “A” Game.

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