Your big hairy audacious goal might be as vague as “To have an amazing life”.
No matter how big your dream goal, you will need a plan to succeed. If you are an ATAR student you will need a plan that leads to a great ATAR score.
SMART Goals
SMART goals are different to big hairy audacious goals. SMART goals are not about dreams, they are about nailing down your dreams into specific, measurable goals.
Create a SMART goal FOR EACH SUBJECT!
Example: I will improve my English result by 10% next term by asking my teacher, each week, for feedback and advice about what to work on next.
SWOT Analysis
Once you have your SMART goals, do a SWOT analysis. The SWOT will help you to understand your capacity to improve your ATAR score.
Brainstorm your ideas. Have a friend help or just do it alone.
- Do STRENGTHS first.
- Do WEAKNESSES second.
- Then OPPORTUNITIES.
- Do THREATS last.
Don’t think about your ideas. Just write them down as dot points.
Do a USED Analysis to get your action keys to success
You create a list of actions by doing a USED Analysis on the list of ideas from your SWOT.
Take 10 minutes to go through the ideas in your SWOT.
See how you can Use your strengths. Stop your weaknesses. Exploit your opportunities and Deny any threats.
At the end of your USED analysis, your ideas are a list of actions. These actions are your key to success. By undertaking these actions, you will achieve your goal.
Success Planning
Your USED analysis has given you a list of tasks that will lead you to your goal. Work with your list:
- Choose the task that you want to do first. (Break it down into smaller tasks if necessary.)
- Figure out WHEN you are going to do the first task.
- When will it be finished?
- How will you know you have done it successfully?
- Create your plan for four actions that you want to do first.
Congratulations
You are now well on the way to achieving your best possible ATAR score. You have your plan. You know what to do.
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