Committing to Your Goals

 

Have you ever set a goal and not achieved it?  Who hasn’t is a better question! It’s easy to get caught in an endless cycle of setting goals and then quitting them shortly afterwards – and accomplishing nothing at all. Let’s look at some of the reasons behind this phenomenon and how to overcome quitting before you’ve achieved your goal of getting your degree.

 

 One of the biggest reasons people fail to achieve their goals is due to a lack of commitment.  Without commitment a goal will gradually shrink in importance, and the temptation to quit will seem much more attractive, especially when obstacles cause setbacks and delays. If you’re an adult learner, it is so easy to always put your family and your spouse’s needs ahead of your own goals. But if you choose to make a serious commitment and then continually remind yourself of it, you’ll be much more likely to persevere and achieve the goal.

 

Here’s how to commit to your goals:

 

1)         Ask yourself why your goal (in this case, returning to college and completing your degree) is of VITAL importance to you.  Take some time with this part of the process, and be sure that you get to the heart of what you really want.  Why do you want to return to college?  What will getting a degree do for you?  What positive things will it bring to your life?  How will it help you?  How will it impact you financially in the long term? How will having achieved your dream of getting your degree make you a better, stronger, wiser, richer person?

 

Write all of this down and keep it handy so you can refer to it as often as necessary if you feel your commitment beginning to slip.  Ask yourself if your goal of returning to college is worth the effort and sacrifice that is needed to achieve it.  If you can honestly answer yes, you are on the way to college success.

 

2)         Think about what will happen if you don’t follow through.  What would happen if you don’t achieve your goal?  If you can’t see any consequences of not following through on your goal of completing your degree, then you need to raise the stakes!  You have to make your goal the most important thing in the world, and if you don’t do it, you’ll deal with negative consequences.  Play up the fact that you’ll lose respect for yourself if you don’t follow through; or think about the economic consequences if you don’t finish your degree. Holders of four-year degrees make on average twice what a high-school graduate makes over the course of a lifetime. Think how proud your family will be when you graduate, and what a great example of following your dreams you’ll be to your children.

 

3)         Each and every day, you must renew your commitment to finish your degree.  It’s easy to be committed you’re your goal is new and your motivation is high, but you need to be able to STAY committed – no matter what! There will be days when you’ll want to throw in the towel and feel completely overwhelmed with the demands on your time, but this too shall pass. Each day when you awaken, read through the goal you wrote down on the first day, and stress again how vitally important it is to you.  Promise yourself that you’re going to achieve your goal that day, and every day until you achieve it.

 

 

When it comes right down to it, no one can achieve your goals of getting a degree for you.  If you want to get your degree, you’ll have to find the determination necessary to keep going, even when it seems that you don’t have enough hours in the day to balance studying and raising a family. Inactivity and procrastination are deadly habits to a back-to-school mom. Turning those habits into something more positive and productive is as simple as taking it a day at a time and prioritizing your tasks into manageable increments.  The more committed and determined you are to making your goal happen, the more likely you’ll do just that. See yourself wearing that cap and gown, and you’ll make it happen.

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