What Do You Do When You Don't Reach Your Goal?

Last year, we talked about steps you could take to keep your New Year's resolutions beyond January.

Some of you had goals related to your academic and professional development, and the past year didn't pan out like you had hoped it would.

College could be an eye-opener for many students because this is when they realize that their long-term goals might not come to fruition.

When I was a freshman in college, one of my friends was planning to do a pre-med track in biology.  Initially, she came across some difficulties in her classes, but she didn't let them faze her.

After many introductory courses in her major, it became apparent that no amount of extra guidance from professors, teaching assistants, academic advisors, or tutoring services was going to adequately prepare her for a medical career.  A couple semesters into college, she realized that her GPA would not make her competitive enough to pursue medical school.

Upon this realization, she changed her major--several times--as many undergraduates do.  After a few years in the workforce, she went to graduate school and settled into a career in education.

I bring up my friend as an example because she shows that life goes on after your Plan A, Plan B, or Plan C doesn't work out.  While my friend felt discouraged and disillusioned that she would not become a doctor, at least she was satisfied to know that she did her due diligence in attempting to attain her career goal.

At the end of the day, you can be content to know that you did your due diligence--even if you did not reach your goal.

If you're like me, you developed a goal for 2014 that was SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound).  My goal was to obtain a full-time job with benefits in education.  Nine months into the year, I found one.  If I had not gotten that job, I was ready to move back home and re-evaluate my options from there.  Fortunately, I didn't have to do that.

Some of you didn't have the satisfaction of reaching your goal for 2014.  Like my college friend, you did your due diligence, but you still did not achieve it.  As the year comes to a close,  you might be wondering, "What do I do next? ... What did I do wrong? ... Do I give it another shot?"

If you're asking these types of questions, I encourage you to do the following: 

1. Take a break.  Depending on how hard you've been striving to reach your goal, the length of this break may be one day, one week, or longer.  Simply take time to empty your mind of your anxious questions, concerns, and potential solutions.  Again, this isn't a long-term solution.  It's meant to be a short-term period in which you could rest, relax, and refuel yourself so that you can return to revising your goals with a good head on your shoulders.  It's like the mental version of a juice cleanse!
2. Start a journal.  If you haven't already, start writing your thoughts and emotions down as you try to determine your next steps.  While it is useful to talk to a good friend or family member, we all need time to be alone with our thoughts and see them in writing.  Since your journal is only for yourself, you likely will feel less pressure to "say the right thing" as you might in the presence of a friend or family member--including the ones that are really close to you.  Take advantage of alone time to reflect.
3. Go to a counselor.  Some of you might be satisfied with discussing your problems with friends, family, or mentors.  Others of you might feel so overwhelmed or burnt out that you might consider professional counseling.  If you're a student, you should look into your university's counseling center.  Sometimes students are reluctant to go to their school's counseling center because they have confidentiality concerns.  The good news is that universities typically have a confidentiality policy so information about your appointments won't be disclosed to others without your consent.  Schools such as the University of Illinois outline their counseling center's confidentiality policies, which comply with state and federal laws as well as professional ethical codes.  Reach out to your school's counseling center to find out what its policy is.  This will put you at ease as you seek guidance from a counselor.  If you're wondering how to approach appointments, review the advice that Harvard University Health Services provides on getting the most of your counseling sessions.  While a counseling session is safe outlet for venting, you ultimately want to make sure that you seek clarity with respect to your goals.

These three pieces of advice might not be the only things you have to do.  However, they are strong starting points for anyone in need of hitting the refresh button.  By beginning here, you will give yourself a better shot at your goals, both old and new, in 2015. 

How about you?  What are you hoping to achieve in 2015?  What steps will you take to make your goal possible?                           

Coming Back from a Setback

I'm back.  You might be wondering why I haven't written anything here in months.  Let me explain why.

I decided to start this blog a little over a year ago with the intent of sharing my expertise in higher education and career development with people beyond my usual base of students.  I spent weeks choosing the title, theme, and weekly topics that would fill this blog.  I was all set to go. 

Then I reached my own pivot in my professional development.

After Thanksgiving of last year, my then-employer told me that they were discontinuing my position after only a few months on the job.  I was assured that this was not due to a lack of skills or knowledge on my part.  They simply were restructuring and realized that they no longer needed the services they had hired me to implement.

Yes, it would've been ideal if they had done more strategic thinking prior to their recruitment and hiring of me, but we do not live in an ideal world.  To console myself, I constantly told people, "It is what it is."

Despite the shock of my new unemployed status, I quickly found ways to be productive.  Within a week of being of being laid off, I found a part-time temporary job at a nonprofit in international education.  This organization placed and advised scholarship grantees from Latin America and the Caribbean to complete their graduate studies in the United States.  I reviewed university applications before submitting them on behalf of the grantee.

Within two weeks of being laid off, I started interning at a nonprofit career center.  This was meaningful to me because I previously had been unemployed when a grant-funded job for a school district had ended.  This very career center was where I attended workshops and sought career counseling when I was looking for work.  I always had plans to pay forward the help the organization's staff had given me by volunteering for them.  In fact, a week prior to my layoff, I spoke to my mentor there about volunteering with them.  I told her that I wished I could spend more time serving with them.

Well, I certainly got my wish in ways I hadn't expected.  When I got laid off, it was perfect timing for me to intern and later work for them as a career services specialist.

After a couple months, my temporary job at the international education nonprofit ended.  I spent more time working as a career services specialist.  It was only a part-time job, but it gave me a regular schedule and sense of community that people often miss when they are suddenly unemployed.

I was so busy working at the career center and working on my own job search that contributing to this blog fell to the bottom of my to-do list.

I was okay with that.

Sometimes we have to take care of our immediate and short-term needs before focusing on our long-term needs.

A few months ago, I got a message from a manager at the international education nonprofit.  She asked me if I was interested in her nonprofit's full-time position to place students in graduate programs, and the job came with benefits.  Benefits?  I hadn't had those in so long!  At an organization that I liked?  Even better!

I started that job a few months ago.  Now that I feel more acclimated to the new position, I'm able to come back to this blog and contribute to the extent that I want.

It has been a long time, but hopefully now you understand why it took so long.

Have you ever had to set something aside when you encountered a setback?  Were you ever able to come back to it?  Why or why not? 

Assess Yourself for Success

In my first blog post, I told you how you could prepare for the question:  What are you going to do after you graduate from college?

For those of you that weren't sure, you had to ask yourself a lot of questions.  Some of those questions may remain unanswered.  It's not necessarily because you haven't given it much thought.  In fact, you may have given it a lot of thought.  The truth is that there isn't a clear-cut answer for many people, and that is okay if you're one of them.

If you're still lost in the career exploration process, you could benefit from taking an assessment tool to see which professions are potential matches for you.  If you visit your university's career center (or a career center open to the public if you're not currently in school), you could consult with a career counselor to see which ones are recommended for you.

There are a variety of career assessment tools.  Rather than bombard you with a list of them, I can recommend that you get started with one:  My Next Move.

This is great because it is an online tool that is accessible to anyone.

On top of that, it speaks to people at different stages in the career exploration process.

1. You might already know what job you want.  If you know you want to be an accountant, the assessment has a section where you can type in "accountant," and it will give you a list of the top 20 careers related to accountants.  For each career, My Next Move will summarize the following requirements and expectations:  Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Personality, Technology, Education, and Job Outlook.  If you would like to do more exploration into an occupation (and you probably do), My Next Move provides resources for further reading.
2. You might not know what job you want, but you might know what industry you want to be in.  In that case, My Next Move has a section where could explore a specific field.  For instance, you can choose "education."  Then it will provide a variety of occupations that fall within that field.  Again, the requirements and expectations for each career will be outlined.
3. If you do not know where to begin, then My Next Move will direct you to the O*NET Interest Profiler.  After you complete the profiler, your results will provide you with a breakdown of your skills as well as a list of careers that match them.  The list conveniently shows the preparation level required for each career.  The results could be a bit extensive so don't hesitate to ask a career counselor for assistance in understanding them.

So there you go.  There's nothing left to do but to do it.  Regardless of where you are in exploring careers, take a few minutes now to visit My Next Move.

Take Care of Yourself, Take Care of Everything Else

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't been in the blogosphere for a few weeks.  Here is why:

I got sick.  My roommate got sick.  Then after a couple weeks, my roommate got sick again, and it was worse the second time around.

My apartment has been a "germfest" for the past few weeks.  Between that, work, and other responsibilities, blogging fell to the bottom or my priority list.

While that might not be the best excuse to some, that is the realest reason I could give you.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to practice more self-care, and I'm trying to stick to it.  This is difficult for many, especially me since I grew up in a household where I was encouraged to work through illness.

Bob Costas is another example of this.  After trying to cover the Olympics despite an eye infection, Bob Costas and his red eyes are getting replaced by Matt Lauer.

Let Bob be a reminder to you that nobody likes a sick person at work.  People would rather have you quarantine yourself at home than spread your cold, flu, or whatever it is to the rest of the workplace or classroom.

College life can get so hectic with classes, homework, extracurricular activities, jobs, and other responsibilities outside of school.

DON'T USE BUSYNESS AS AN EXCUSE TO NEGLECT YOURSELF.  Here are some starting points for taking care of yourself:

1. Use your college's health center:  When I started college, I knew that I could make a doctor's appointment at my school's health center.  I also knew that I could get prescriptions filled at its pharmacy.  It was not until later that I became aware of the center's satellite offices that offered "cold kits" and other items for urgent care.  It also was not until later that I found out about the Dial-A-Nurse line that I could call 24 hours a day in case I wasn't sure how badly I needed to see a healthcare professional in person.  Many colleges' health centers offer a similar hotline for urgent care.  Be sure to save your school's hotline on your cell.  Also go online to the health center's website to see what other services it offers.  You might not ever need these services, but it is wise to know what is available to you and your friends regardless.
2. Minimize the risk of spreading sickness:  If you're really sick, don't try to be a hero by attending every class, social event, or work meeting.  Assess if these things are that essential to attend.  When I supervised student workers, some would try to tough it out and come to the office anyway.  When they were really ill, I didn't hesitate to send them home.  Not only was I concerned about their health, I was concerned about the health of myself and others working in the close quarters of our office.  Chances are your professors, work supervisors, and classmates will have the same concerns if you try to work through sickness. 
3. Practice healthier habits even if you're already healthy:  When I'm sick, I tend to be the most cognizant of eating well and sleeping a lot because, well … I have no choice.  Even if you aren't sick, find ways to maximize your wellness.  Rutgers University offers online 101 Health and Wellness Tips for College Students.  Your college probably offers a similar health guide for students.  Take a look at this Rutgers guide or the one offered by your school.  The Rutgers guide has eight categories:  Diet, Exercise, Sleep, Sexual Health, Illness, Stress, Mental Health, and Miscellaneous.  Survey each section and ask yourself how well you are really doing in each one.  Make adjustments to your daily routine where necessary.  While you may not see the results overnight, you will feel the difference in the long term.  Who knows.  You might get sick less.

I typically give you advice on how to be successful in your college, career, and community.  This usually entails tips related to your academics, professional development, and civic engagement.  In the midst of it all, you can't afford to neglect your personal health.  After all, if you find success but lose your health, what good is your success?

Is there anything else you would add to this list?  Comment to let me know if there's anything I missed!

Think Beyond Your Campus: Engage in Service

As you may have read in one my my previous posts, people across the nation would celebrate MLK Day of Service this past Monday by engaging in community service projects.  Even the First Family joined the action to make it 'A Day ON, Not a Day Off.'

For some of you, it was a one-time thing.

For others of you, participating in MLK Day of Service may become an annual thing.

Then there are others of you who now have an itch to do community service projects more often.  If that is the case, here are some ways you could do it more often:

1. Find the community service center on your campus:  If you want to participate in or even lead community service projects, your university may already have an office that offers that programming to students.  Each university houses or labels these volunteer centers differently.  Wellesley College calls theirs the Center for Work and Service.  The University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign has the Office of Volunteer Programs.  Not every school has a community service center, but it is worth exploring if that is an option for finding projects.
2. Find service-oriented clubs on your campus:  Your school may or may not have a community service center.  Regardless, most colleges offer opportunities to do service projects through student organizations.  Think of Habitat for Humanity.  Also while some clubs, student professional associations, or fraternities/sororities are social in nature, they still could have a service component as well.  That is another way to incorporate service into your extracurriculars.
3. Find opportunities for service learning on your campus:  There are different ways to define service learning.  Scholars like Andrew Furco devote much time and energy into defining it.  For the sake of simplicity, we will say service learning occurs when a college offers courses that allow students to integrate service into their curriculum.  This is easy to find at too few colleges.  If you are at DePaul University, you need not look further than the Irwin W. Steans Center for Community-Based Service Learning & Community Service Studies.  If you attend another college, you may have to dig deeper by consulting with your academic advisor or another campus contact.  While my alma mater the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign did not have a service learning center, I was able to do service learning through a course offered by the sociology department.  I found out about it from a friend, and it was one of the best courses I  took in college.  Find out if your school offers a service learning course that fits your needs.  It just might become one of your favorite courses.  
4. Find service opportunities beyond your campus:  For some of you, doing service might not fit your campus life.  Perhaps you are too busy with a part-time job to do it as an extracurricular.  For others of you, your major might be so rigid that it is not feasible to fit a course with service learning into your class schedule.  I caught the service bug late during my undergrad.  By the time I started to realize what was available on my campus, it was time to think about life after college.  I got a job after school, but I still had the need to serve.  After a couple of years at my first post-college job, I did a year of service with the AmeriCorps program at City Year in Chicago.  After that, I did another year of service with the AmeriCorps*VISTA program at Massachusetts Campus Compact.  Those were a couple of the most impactful years of my career.  In fact, it was in those programs that I first learned about MLK Day of Service.  Research different programs to see if doing a year of service after college is right for you.    

Did MLK Day of Service make you want to serve more?  If so, how do you plan to incorporate more service into your life on campus … or your life beyond campus?  

Tell the U.S. Secretary of Education What You Think About College Affordability

I invite you to tell the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan what is on your mind.  According to The Star-Ledger, Duncan will hold a Twitter chat at 8:30 tonight to get student feedback on college affordability.  If you are college-bound or already in college, use the hashtag #stuvoice to participate in the dialogue.

Because of the wonders of Twitter, the ability to directly share your feedback with a high-ranking government official in an efficient, real-time manner is a recent phenomenon.  Take advantage of that technology to let your voice be heard.   

If you are saying, "But I don't know much about the big issues," take time to do some research on them.  Go online and read some current news articles about President Barack Obama's proposed rating system and other policy matters.  It's always important to have general background knowledge before you participate in any discussion.

At the same time, do not underestimate the knowledge and opinions you have based on being a student.  If you have experienced or witnessed others as they work hard to afford college, you have a valid voice in the conversation.

I know many people who shy away from speaking up because they are not an "expert" on a given topic.  Remember that the purpose of this talk tonight is so that the U.S. Secretary could hear directly from the public.  If he wanted to hear a researcher's or education leader's opinion, he would have held a separate discussion with them.

He chose tonight to hear from you.

Make sure he does.
    

Finish Your Winter Break on a Strong Note

In college, students approach winter break in a number of ways.  If you're like many college students, you probably started your break the week before Christmas and will end it sometime after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.  This means many of you have about two weeks left of winter break.

Some of you are taking this time to make extra money.  Recently, I talked to a college student who knew she would not be able to visit her family overseas like she had wanted.  Therefore, she decided to do temporary work for an international education office at her university.  While processing student applications might not be the most glamorous work, she at least is getting paid and hopes that this could transition into a part-time job for the spring semester.

Others of you are taking this time to go on vacation.  When I asked the aforementioned student what her friend was doing during break, she showed me a picture from his current vacation in Brazil.  He planned to stay there for most of winter vacation so he would not have to suffer the brutal winter she was experiencing in her New England college town.

Then there are the rest of you who might not have chosen to work or to go on an exotic vacation for winter break.  If you are like me, you probably traveled back home to be with your family for the holidays, reunite with old childhood and high school friends, and just "do nothing."  After all, who would even think of working after an intense week of finals?  Also what else could you do if you didn't have the money to go on a "real vacation"?  These winter breaks tend to be fun, but they could also get old pretty quickly.  After all, when you're not hanging out with family or friends, how many hours of TV could you watch?

If this last scenario sounds a lot like your current winter break, there's still time to make the most of your remaining weeks before the spring semester starts!

1. Do professional development.  Remember last month when I suggested how you should prep for this holiday question:  What are you going to do after you graduate from college? You might have forgotten, especially if you were in the middle of finals.  Now is the time to revisit that question if you haven't figured it out already.
2. Volunteer.  Given the little time you have left on winter break, you could do a one-time volunteer job at a local pantry, shelter, or other nonprofit organization.  A couple good websites for finding volunteer work are Idealist and VolunteerMatch.  One popular day for volunteers is Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Day.  Volunteers across the country will serve to honor the legacy of MLK, Jr.  You should join them!
3. Reconnect with old friends and family you haven't seen yet.  Although you may have reunited with everyone on your must-see list, take a second look at your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and numbers stored on your phone, etc.  Is there someone you missed?  I always find that there's someone I neglected to text, call, or hang out with.  Make sure you don't miss your last chance before you go back to school!   

Alright, now choose any item from this list, and get started … or after your nap … whichever's most practical!