Graduate Study Challenges and Strategies for Personal Success

In my current role as a nurse educator I feel the desire to pursue my dream of obtaining a master’s degree, specializing in nursing education. It has been 27 years since I have sat in the student chair in a classroom; therefore, I anticipate a number of challenges and barriers to overcome. In this paper I will present and describe three challenges that I expect to be faced with over the next two years. I will also discuss the strategies I plan to use to address these challenges.

Goals are a part of everyday life. From gaining the strength to get out of bed in the morning to winning that blue medal around your neck, everybody has made a goal once in their life. Sometimes it can be as easy as saying you’re not going to eat that last cupcake on the platter in front of you or as hard as saying “Hello” to that special someone in your life that you find adorable, either way you have made a goal. It’s also important to remember there is short term goals and long term goals. Short term goals are easier to achieve and can be very helpful in leading up to your long term goals. We can even classify our goals into personal goals, academic goals, and professional goals, as well as others.

The decision to attend graduate school can be one of immense commitment and responsibility. Success requires rigorous planning and well-defined goals, both short-term and long-term. Exceptional communication skills are also necessary to interact effectively with fellow classmates and faculty. Although completion of a Master’s program opens doors to many professional career opportunities, it does not come without challenges. One also must have several strategies in place for dealing with these challenges when they arise. With determination and hard work, overcoming these barriers will lead to success.

Setting goals is what drives people to growth and change within themselves. If one fails to dream and sets goals, it is unlikely the will grow or change (Scott, 2014). Allowing myself to set goals is a personal commitment and a drive to make change. Growing, educating and knowledge with time allows one to feel safe to dream and thrive to make better and larger goals. My first goal after obtaining my BSN in April 2017 is to work on myself and my family. In my career, my goal will be to work on my clinical ladder and seek ways to improve myself and my facility. There are many committees I would like to join and be a part of at work. I know I will have reached my goal when I have moved up several levels on the clinical ladder. My plans for professional development in the next three to 10 - 15 years will still be working at the bedside spreading my knowledge to others who are willing to learn. If financially I am able I would like to pursue my MSN. Being a leader is something that inspires me and I wish to be knowledgeable enough to help and teach others later in life. The final goal would be to not retire, but to cut down to part time and remain at the bedside. I would love to travel and volunteer my time to others in need of healthcare outside of the US. I will know I have reached this goal when I am at peace

There is three phase to goal-setting strategies (planning, implementation, and evaluation). The goal-setting program will be useful if the process is thoroughly carried out. For example, identifying the action and measuring the progress of each goal. The implementation portion will be to monitor the progress of each goal. The goals will change with time as an individual digest the goal itself. Lastly, receiving feedback from others, such as friends, colleagues, and family help improves the target strategy. Goal-setting creates a focus of attention and action by identifying what an individual vision of his or her life (Rohn, 2015).

My ambitions of entering the medical field was unfruitful when I realized that biology was not something that I enjoyed. I decided to focus on health care which is facing public policy issues that need to resolve in order to deliver better health care systems.

After discerning these goals, Mark uses calendars and an app called Trello to write his goals down. The app allows him to write teaching plans, business plans, study notes, and personal aspirations in one organized place. Next, Mark said he is confronted with the most challenging step: setting a time frame and keeping to it. Mark confronts this challenge by focusing on the “big picture” first, and then he creates smaller steps to achieve this goal. He then divides these smaller steps into actions that he can accomplish in a given amount of time. Mark says this helps him keep on track with small tasks as he works toward his larger goal in mind. Mark’s final piece of advice in this section centered on creating a concise mission statement for each goal, therefore establishing a firm foundation for whatever may

Firman’s presentation entitled “Setting and getting to goals”, presented very effective strategies for developing and accomplishing goals which I found to be helpful for my personal goals as well as treatment goals for clients. A SMART worksheet accompanied the presentation and denotes the terms and steps specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-based. A goal is considered specific if it is clear and well defined. When goals are clearly defined it becomes easier to develop a technique for measuring its progress. Additionally, it provides individuals with a better understanding of the steps needed to accomplish set goal. Goals are realistic when individuals are willing and able to work towards it as well as construct a time frame in which to achieve it. During this presentation, I was consumed with thoughts of my specific goal of finishing my portfolio within the first week of December, where a checklist will be used to measure progress. The actions include completing work for at least two hours nightly which I am willing and able to do. I thought of it as a useful tool for clients as it would provide them with autonomy and empower them to become more responsible for setting and making SMART

“Keep your goals out of reach, but not out of sight.” –Anonymous. All goals in life should be challenging, or a dream you have. Never set the bar too low, to make it easy on yourself, nor set the bar to high, that makes you put yourself under some much stress so it makes it impossible to reach your goal at a healthy state in mater in your life. Having goals in your life helps you picture what you want in the future and what the future has in store for you. There is a difference between the goals you want to happen soon and the goals you want to happen in the future. The goals you what to happen soon are call short term goals. The goals that you have set for your future are called long term goals. Three short term goals I have are, making it to state track, joining NHS and NSHSS, and getting my CNA. A long term goal I have is to graduate from The University of Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in

Create SMART Goals: To achieve a goal, one must set the goal in a way it is achievable to the individual. When the goal is too vague or open, it is difficult to complete. SMART goal setting creates a path that one can achieve.

I find myself very fortunate for the opportunity to explore the topic of goal setting more, as I have often grappled with the concept of professional goals. As a healthcare professional working in a business environment, I routinely

If someone is going to set some goals, why not set them high? That way if you falter in reaching your goals, you are still further ahead than with not having a goal at all. Let me give you an example of my self. I love to run. Well kind of. Particularly running the 400 meter race (for those of you don’t know, that’s one lap around the track). Now if I said I wanted to set a goal of running a 400 in 70 seconds I could do that. I could go and run

For goals to be effective, they need to be SMART. In other words, they need to be: specific,

A successful person chooses goals to achieve something that is of great value and importance to them. This in turn motivates the person to achieve the goal because when the desired outcome is very important to a person, that person will be determined to persevere. Goal setting also improves a person 's organizational and time management skills because goal setting requires prioritization and that leads to the successful and sequential completion of necessary tasks. Once a person defines and prioritizes goals a plan should be drawn out detailing how this goal will be achieved. Goals and the time-line for their completion should be clearly defined, it is also important that a person 's

Within the graduate school setting, strong communication skills are vital when interacting with classmates and faculty. Perfecting communication skills in the classroom setting prepares students to communicate effectively with fellow colleagues and professionals (Fisher & Zigmond, 1996). An essential strategy to improve one’s communication skills lies in the ability to be an excellent listener. Klein (2009) asserts that effective listening involves more concentration and focus than any