Getting started...but where are you headed?

Wow – another year, another semester, another opening of classes! Can’t say I’m usually too big on New Year’s resolutions each year…maybe because it’s the fear of committing to things I may have been avoiding or putting off? Yes, procrastination does happen to the best of us, but I’ve been recently struck by how powerful it can be to put your effort behind putting your goals in writing and actually being able to mark your progress along the way.

Many of you have heard our goal setting “mantra” from time to time, but all of you should know that setting out written goals for anything you do in your personal or professional life can be a really powerful experience. All of you have dreams and hopes for what you can accomplish through your involvement on campus. Why not give some thought to setting goals for yourself or your organization in 2008? (we don’t have to call them “resolutions,” do we?)

Before you get started on goal setting, remember the SMART goals approach. Using this approach, you need to be sure that every written goal you set up can meet the “SMART” checklist. You knew there was an acronym coming… so here’s what you need to think about to keep your goals SMART:

Specific
Is your goal written in a specific way?

Measurable
Are you able to measure your outcome?

Agreed upon
Do you have the “buy in” from your members? Your advisor? Your fellow officers?

Realistic
Is this something that is in the realistic purview of your group to address?

Time-scheduled
Is your goal set up to be accomplished along a time-scheduled approach? Does it have a deadline for when you can evaluate your progress? Does it have a timeline for when it should be accomplished?

If all of your written goals pass the SMART checklist to evaluate what you develop, you then should commit to regular review of your progress along these goals to be sure they are a “living document” rather than an exercise in paperwork!

If you are in need of some help with this process, be sure to call us here in OSIL. One of our staff members could guide you through how to do a goal setting meeting with your members or we can even facilitate if the timing works!

Good luck for a very productive semester and please know that we appreciate all you do!

Involved@BSC

Hello BSC!

Your pals in OSIL have decided to get blogging...and we hope that this will help you to expand your resources for being involved on BSC's campus.  We are planning to discuss topics that will be relevant to your organization's success and will post resources able to help you with getting BSC students more successfully involved in the work of your student organizations.

If there are topics that you'd like to see addressed in this blog, we hope you will post some comments!  We hope you will visit us often!