NURS-1001 (First Year)
SMART Goals
SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. They allow you to write clear, attainable, and meaningful goals. Clarity in goal setting provides motivation and focus to specific goals, this increases the likelihood of these goals being achieved. The following are some of my SMART goals that I hope to achieve in my first year of nursing.
Improve Study Habits:
Strong foundational knowledge learned in my classes is crucial to providing safe and competent care in my future clinical placements, and eventually in my career as a nurse (Astle et al., 2024). I will develop an increased understanding of my course content by achieving my goal of improving my study habits. I will use study techniques such as active recall, distributed practice, self-testing, teaching others, and mind-mapping to achieve a grade of 75% in all of my classes. I will use these methods for three months, during my second semester of university to achieve my desired grade in my classes by April 4th, 2025.
Build a Support System:
Having a support system is crucial to be successful in nursing, a high-intensity program, as well as to one day manage a stressful career like nursing. My goal over the first year is to establish a support system of fellow nursing students, professors, instructors, and other nursing administrative staff that will support me over the next four years of school. I want to develop a relationship with at least three students in my nursing program, who I don’t already know, one professor or instructor, and one administrative staff member over the second semester. I will do this by introducing myself to all of my professors and instructors and going to them for help when needed, as well as exchanging contact information with fellow students and attending nursing study groups. Over my second semester, I will prioritize this to accomplish my goal by April 4th, 2024.
Overall, setting goals is important for providing direction and motivation. Practicing setting SMART goals early in my education will allow me to develop the skills needed to set and achieve goals in the future. Further, I hope that by achieving the goals I’ve set above early on in my schooling, I will be able to set the foundation for a successful future in the nursing program.