{"id":4246,"date":"2018-01-15T00:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T00:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/studentmedia\/?p=4246"},"modified":"2018-01-17T22:07:23","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T15:07:23","slug":"motivation-in-a-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/motivation-in-a-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Motivation in a New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<em>Written by Arlenne Lozano<br \/>\nVideo from the Student Life Chronicle<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Motivation is a force that drives people to execute goals. Sustaining motivation can pay off in many ways; such as achieving personal goals, feeling successful or earning a reward. Hard work does pay off. Whether it\u2019s working towards a degree or continuing education, the struggle to keep the motivation is real.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u201cI think we\u2019re naturally goal-directed; we have a purpose for doing most things,\u201d says ACC Counselor Dawn Allison. \u201c\u2018I want this degree for this career\u2019 or something like that, but then there is just every day slogging through the homework, studies, and attendance, so sometimes we lose sight of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">So, how can students keep the motivation going in the upcoming year and semester?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Have S.M.A.R.T. Goals:<\/strong><b><br \/>\n<\/b><span class=\"s1\"><em>Specific <\/em><i>&#8211;<\/i><\/span> A person who knows what their goals are is off to a good start but it can become a problem if that goal is too broad. The more specific and narrow the goal is, the more manageable and achievable. Ask personal questions, such as: why is this goal important to me? What do I want to accomplish with this goal in mind? What resources do I have that will allow me to accomplish the goal?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><em><span class=\"s1\">Measurable <\/span><\/em>&#8211; Having a goal that is measurable is important because it helps one keep track of the progress. Having access to measuring a goal opens the ability to stay focused and meet important deadlines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><em><span class=\"s1\">Achievable <\/span><\/em>&#8211; Having achievable goals is vital to the process itself. Continue to reach for the stars, but think about the realistic ways you can get there. Ask yourself, \u201cwhat skills are necessary for a particular goal\u201d \u2013 what is needed to build them \u2013 go from there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><em>Relevant<\/em> <\/span>&#8211;<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Sometimes a person\u2019s goals are influenced by family, friends, other loved ones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Another important question to ask yourself, \u201cis this my goal?\u201d Maybe trying to be an engineer, just because the family does it, is not what you truly want as a career. Making a goal personal can turn out to be very rewarding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><em><span class=\"s1\">Time-limiting\/Time-bound<\/span><\/em> &#8211; Create a deadline or target date for each goal. Think about what you can accomplish in six days, weeks, months, and years from today. Think about what there is to do today i order to meet that deadline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Prioritize:<\/strong><b><br \/>\n<\/b>Students have a lot going on that requires a day-to-day balancing act. Prioritizing responsibilities can help make the tasks less intrusive, stressful and overbearing on one\u2019s personal life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Know What Personally\u00a0Motivates\u00a0You:<\/strong><b><br \/>\n<\/b>It is important for all individuals to understand what personally drives them each and every day.Allison said, \u201cWe\u2019re driven by something to look forward to.\u201d Perhaps the source is money, a new car, a degree, or good grades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>See an Advisor\/Counselor:<\/strong><b><br \/>\n<\/b>Seeing an advisor can be important for students to find the help they might need. Students might need help with transferring, choosing classes, or knowing what their next academic step is. Educational goals can be either short or long-term, so it is important to take advantage of given opportunities. Make an appointment with a counselor at <a href=\"http:\/\/austincc.edu\/support-and-services\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">austincc.edu\/support-and-services<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>Pick this story up in the Spring 2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/studentmedia\/l4u-magazine\/\">Life4U magazine<\/a> on campus<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=&#8221;https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PmuP_XXoMZ4&#8243;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Written by Arlenne Lozano Video from the Student Life Chronicle Motivation is a force that drives people to execute goals. Sustaining motivation can pay off in many ways; such as achieving personal goals, feeling successful or earning a reward. Hard work does pay off. Whether it\u2019s working towards a degree or continuing education, the struggle [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4103,"featured_media":4247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,656],"tags":[710,772,713,711,771,714,377,708,709,715,712,743],"class_list":["post-4246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-life4u","tag-710","tag-accelerator","tag-advising","tag-arlenne-lozano","tag-coaching","tag-counseling","tag-library","tag-motivation","tag-new-year","tag-prioritize","tag-smart-goals","tag-student-life-chronicle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}