3 steps for improving your academic goals, from weak to high impact.
Hello everyone!! Long time no see, I know that the blog hasn’t been updated since May, buttt I did stock my podcast with a few episodes before I went traveling around the world. So here are all the episodes if you’re interested in any!! (Scroll below for improving your academic goals)
- ep 6; my top 5 books of 2023 so far
- ep 7; stop glamorizing poc culture, it’s just appropriation.
- ep 8; workout routine: 5 day split ✧
- ep 9; finding your person + q&a
If you listen on any other platforms, my podcast is on there too. Explore more here.
But here I am back, and if you tuned into my podcast last week, I talked about my trip and what I’ve changed in my life since June + July. But in case you haven’t, this summer I went to Greece and India. And it was truly an experience. I ate a lot of new food like souvlaki, authentic gyros, loukoumades, different gelato flavors, Mediterranean salads, and a lot more. We went to Athens, Mykonos, Naxos, and Santorini. If you follow me on Instagram(@the_lazygal), you’ll have seen my trip in my stories and also in my posts. Here’s a little snapshot of my feed, follow me on there and Threads here!!
Anyways fall is incoming, which always means school is right around the corner. And no matter what level of schooling you are in, it’s important to have some goals for the incoming school year. I got this idea when I was creating my most recent podcast episodes on vision boards, and I realized that all my goals for last year came true. Every single one. From all A’s to making money.
So how do you do that? The best way to set yourself up for success is by knowing what you’re trying to succeed in. There’s no point working so hard, if you don’t know what all your dedication is for. If you’re wondering if you’re optimizing your potential, this post is for you. I’ll help you in improving your academic goals.
Here’s step 1:
write down every single goal you have for this school year.
Yes, I mean every single one. it doesn’t matter if it’s small or minuscule. Or if you think it’s impossible, or you’re just not good enough to do it. if you want to accomplish it this year, if it’s important to you. write it down. I don’t care if you think it’s silly or something you already did last year.
here’s why writing things down helps you:
- do you have any idea how expansive and complex your mind is? It’s always running, it’s always moving. And in the world of consumption, thoughts fly out the window all the time. so it’s up to you to pull the machine in you together and get it on the right track.
- have you ever read something and go this is the best piece of literature I’ve ever read, I wish I could read it for the first time. This feeling only exists because the author took the time to write it down. That’s what you need to do because sometime in the future you’ll be glad you wrote it down and worked on it.
- when you write something down, not only do you understand what you need to do. so does the unknown. The universe/god/beings are not against you, they are just there to guide you. but how can they guide you when you don’t even know what you want?
So get a piece of paper, and a writing tool, and just start goal dumping. However, make sure these are academic-related. you can use these steps for achieving a lot of your goals, but right now this exercise is solely focused on improving your academic goals. Here are some examples if you’re stumped:
- Get an A in [class name]
- participate more in school: be more active in discussions
- submit at least 75% of assignments on time
- commit to a planner
- make connections with the teachers
let’s see if they pass
so now that you have written down every goal that flashed in your mind. it’s time to upgrade them. not all goals are weak, but very few are high-impact. but what exactly is high-impact?
high impact goals are clear and challenging targets. they motivate you to upgrade your academic goals, and include focused effort and planning in your every day actions.
here’s the thing, improving your academic goals into becoming a high-impact goal is super doable. let me show you some examples:
- study + practice for math → I will practice 15 math problems 2x per week(make sure you write down the days and times if you can).
- improve my grades from last year → I will raise my English grade from a C to a B this semester. (Later on, you can write how, ” Do the reading so I come to class prepared”, or “Communicate more with my teachers, to better understand the concepts”
- code more → I will join an after-school coding club and create 2 new software projects this semester {optional: to boost my computer science skills for college.}
- read more helpful books → Read one self-improvement book per month, and try to read every other night for 15 mins
- help the community or get my hours → Volunteer 15 hours this semester at the local animal shelter
- focus more + procrastinate less → limit my personal screen time to 3 hours per day / reduce my screen time by 1 hour
so now that you get the idea, let’s implement it. get a new paper, or a Google doc, or notion, whatever. just get something to write on, and something to write with. and let’s start.
Go through each one and start improving your academic goals to high-impact ones. And you’ll also realize that there are a few “before” goals, that you can combine and transform them.
now organize them
Which goals are daily, which ones are weekly or monthly, and so on. if you want to read more, maybe you can set a goal of 2-3 books a week/month. Whatever, helps in improving your academic goals.
Personally, I have a notion page where I have my:
- weekly to-do list
- monthly goals
- this week’s focus
- braindump
- academic assignments
and more. If you would like a full tour, let me know and I can make a video podcast episode (or youtube vid) on it!!
make sure you’re being realistic. especially if you’re introducing new goals.
if you try to code every day, go for walks, and do extra practice problems, when before you never did any of those things. you’re going to be burnt out.
so try introducing an upgrade or new habit every week or so. for example, if you want to do your homework 2 days ahead this semester, then make sure you plan it out and don’t add some new studying block on the same day.
5 important and simple steps to help plan your week: 2023 guide.
conclude
I hope this post helped you guys with improving your academic goals, from weak ones to high-impact goals. I know everyone is going to rock this incoming semester, and if you’re more of a visual person. Listen to my most recent podcast episode on vision boards!
I also have this post on vision board inspo, just in case you’re drawing a blank on some goals.
