“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” —Pablo Picasso

At St Catherine’s School, our students have opportunities to participate in a wide variety of activities including Performing Arts, Sport, Music, Debating, trips, exchanges and Beyond Boundaries. As we dive into Term 3, it is a good time to reflect on participation, achievements and set goals for the Semester 2.

In looking ahead to Semester 2, it is a good time to reevaluate the goals you have set for yourself this year and assess where you are in achieving your goals. It can be helpful to use the SMART Goals acronym created by Professor Robert S. Rubin (Saint Louis University) based on the work and ideas of Peter Druker. I was fortunate to hear Kim Brennan speak, Olympic Gold Medallist, last term at the Father Daughter dinner, who suggested, “don’t set boundaries for your expectations and put your best foot forward”. Having an open mind about what you can achieve will allow for the opportunities either in a race, drama performance and trying a new activity. Kim’s take home message was, “never stop learning and be open to feedback and criticism”;, she went on to say, the feedback shows that someone cares enough for me to get better.

To make sure your goals are clear and reachable, each one should be:

• Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
• Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
• Achievable (agreed, attainable).
• Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
• Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

Using SMART goals assists in providing clarity and focus in achieving what you set out to accomplish, by providing the scaffolding to assist you in reaching your goals.

If you would like to know more about SMART goals, please click here.

In the words of Zig Ziglar, “A goal properly set is halfway reached.” Taking time to set goals will allow a path to achieve them.