Hi!
You know how the New Year is seen as the perfect opportunity to make resolutions? Well, the start of a new academic year is the perfect moment to set new goals!
Except we won’t let them be forgotten in a week like our resolutions: we’ll make them work.
Here are my top tips to set and reach your goals from this fall:
1. Be realistic.
Setting unreachable goals is the best way to… never reach them.
Not necessarily because we’re not capable, but because we will get demotivated before we even start working towards them.
A goal is unreachable when:
it is too far from what we are currently capable of doing (for instance, becoming a master when we haven’t even begun)
it does not fit the resources (in time and energy) we can give it
it is too vague to ever be considered as reached
2. Be objective.
Know your strengths…and weaknesses.
If you are a procrastinator for instance, don’t start planning things as if you would start them 2 months ahead. We both know you won’t.
If you are anxious on the other hand, make sure you set goals that are helping you feel less stressed about a certain topic, rather than goals that add pressure on your shoulders.
3. Be clear
Make sure you set goals that are clearly defined.
Make them as concrete as possible, and ideally measurable.
‘Getting good grades’ is not a goal. A goal can be:
Getting A’s in 4 subjects, a C for one of them, and B’s for all the others
Making sure I have no exam to resit at the end of the year
Failing less than 2 tests throughout the school year
Improving my math grades by 4 points on average between the 1st trimester and the 3rd trimester of this school year.
4. Time is your best friend.
Goals must be:
time-limited: what is the specific date by which you want to reach them?
in line with your own schedule: in order to make your goal realistic and motivating, it is important to take into account your busy periods, moments when you will be too tired, and moments when you will be free and up for it. What are the moments when this goal won’t be a priority? What are the moments when you’ll be able to catch up with what you didn’t have the time to do for this goal over busy periods?
5. Make it motivating
Reaching the goal(s) set for the new academic year will be a journey: with its highs and lows like a Schueberfouer rollercoaster, except it will last much longer.
Making sure you don’t drop it altogether through a low mainly relies on one thing: motivation.
Before you even start working towards your new goal, make sure you thought about the following:
what makes you excited about this new goal? Why did you decide to define this one?
what do you hope to learn along the process? Will there be any side outcome (for instance, improving your self-esteem as you proved yourself that you are capable of something you weren’t sure you could do)
What will your reward be once your goal will be reached? (yes, that one can be negotiated with parents!)
Setting goals: the ultimate checklist
setting an ambitious yet realistic goal
splitting it into sub-goals
giving each of them a timeframe, taking into account other life events that may slow down or accelerate the process
make it visual and write it somewhere you’ll often come across it
make it official: talk about it to others, to increase your commitment to it.
Each goal (either the big one or the sub-goals) must be:
clearly defined, ideally measurable and ‘tickable‘
realistic
clearly planned with a deadline.
💡 Shedding a light on… revenge p*rn.
I know, that one is rough. But as students head back to school, and as many teenagers are bragging about their brand new phones, now is an important moment for a crucial reminder: a survey showed that 36% of 18-24 years old have already seen intimate pictures of them being shared online without their consent1 . 54% have already received intimate pictures of other users without wanting to see them.
That is a lot, and sadly, this means that it starts affecting teenagers way before they reach 18. Because we could all be the adult a teenager turns to for support, here are a few pieces of useful information:
How to prevent it:
raising awareness: by talking, or if you feel ill-at-ease about having this conversation with your child, asking someone you trust to have this conversation with them, or showing them an online testimony of someone sharing their (sad) story about it. Avoid the classic ‘you shouldn’t trust your boyfriend/girlfriend’ which will only lead to drama: remember, we’ve all been teenager once, and would never have wanted to hear that when in love for the first time.
setting clear rules and boundaries: ideally, no phones in private spaces (bedrooms, bathrooms), especially when the door is closed.
How to react:
collect proofs: links, screenshot, date, and anything giving proof of the platform used and people implied
file a complaint: investigation can be a lot more efficient with all the data collected beforehand, thus increasing the chances of the perpetrators getting caught and sentenced
get support to get the pictures down: 2 associations are helping victims get their intimate pictures removed. For pictures of minors (even if they are adults now), visit Take It Down. For pictures of adults, visit Stop NCII.
Ipsos (France), 2022.