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WORKFORCE meeting monthly with a mentor or research peer accountability buddy to discuss your next steps . For the outcome goal in the teaching realm , some behavioural goals might be , for example , reflecting on what you find will be the most compelling purpose for each class and ensuring to begin and end each session by passionately drawing attention to that . I find that to be a very valuable behavioral goal . Another one might be routinely prompting students to apply cross concepts , challenges that they care about and perhaps pairing up with a colleague to observe them , teach a class and allow them to observe you teach in case that can gift each of you with some fresh teaching ideas .
The second type of supporting goal would be learning goals . Learning goals identify the new knowledge and skills needed to achieve your goal . This includes attending research talks , conferences , and teaching development seminars , perhaps scanning for themes in your research , paper reviews and student evaluations for your teaching , seeking advice from others who have mastered the skill that you target to learn or maybe working with a teaching mentor .
The third type of supporting goal is setting some goals . These are small milestones along the way to attain your goal to achieve an A star papering . This might be to submit a manuscript early , complete your revisions and a compelling rationale for them within six weeks of receiving your r and r . And of course , things might and often do take longer , so sub
goals need to be realistic and can always be adjusted , but they are worth setting . However , because they can indicate your rate of progress towards attaining your ultimate goal , and they provide a motivating sense of momentum , they could build your confidence that you will ultimately achieve your goal .
How can academics set high quality goals for their career ? A critical ingredient is to be highly specific , in not only your outcome goals , but also your behavioral learning and sub goals . So , within reason , the more specific you are , the more powerfully your goals will serve their motivating , guiding , and effort sustaining functions . Another aspect is your goals ought to be highly challenging , indeed challenging enough to stir you into action as indicated by giving you scope for doubt about whether you can even achieve them without being so challenging that they either stress you out or sow the seeds of doubt about whether they ’ re realistically achievable . So being highly specific and difficult without being excessive .
How can academics keep themselves motivated throughout the year ? Three strategies are to engage in mental contrasting , set implementation intentions , and to ensure that you have adequate resources . Mental contrasting involves creating and toggling between focusing on a vivid written or visual depiction . Firstly , your desired future state and that ’ s when your goal ’ s been achieved , the future you that you want to be , and secondly , your present state where your goal has not been achieved . It ’ s very important to first focus on the positive picture before elaborating on the current situation because research has shown that when you do so , mental contrasting like this can increase your goal achievement in a broad range of areas such as eating more healthily , exercising more , improving your publication performance , and cutting down on your consumption of alcohol . A second strategy is to develop implementation intentions that stipulate precisely when you will pursue your behavioral goals . These intentions also significantly increase the odds of attaining virtually any goal .
The third way we can maintain our motivation is to ensure that we have adequate resources available to achieve our goals . These resources could include materials , technology support , quiet space time , and in many cases , most importantly , the energy to achieve our goals , which is enabled by having an effective recovery routine . What do I mean by that ? Effective recovery typically entails routinely having plenty of sleep , water , exercise , and most importantly , psychological detachment . This means periods of time each day when your mind is 100 % focused on fun or at least some other engaging leisure , sport , social or other activity or topic , which is completely beyond your work tasks and goals . If we never stop working , we lose our edge , and our effectiveness goes down . So , it ’ s important to have daily breaks through the day and certainly at the end of each day . ■
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