Small Steps, Big Results: How to Actually Achieve Your Study Goals
In this episode, I delve into the challenges of balancing study with work and family life, offering insights and strategies tailored for adult learners.
If you're feeling overwhelmed or lacking confidence in your learning abilities, you're not alone. Together, we'll explore how focusing on small, achievable steps can lead to significant progress in reaching your study goals.
Through practical advice and real-life examples, I'll share five key strategies to help you shift your mindset, build momentum, and transform your study habits and study goals.
We'll discuss the importance of a positive trajectory over fixed goals, embracing the journey, and bouncing back from setbacks.
Tune in to discover how you can make lasting changes to your approach, gain control over your studies, and ultimately achieve your academic and personal aspirations.
This post originated as a podcast episode which you can listen to below or search for episode 165 of the Chloe Made Me Study podcast. Or, if you’re more of a learn-by-reading student, carry on for the rough-and-ready blog version based on the podcast script.
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Today, we're diving into a topic that’s super important if you’re juggling studying along with work or family commitments. Whether or not you achieve your study goals comes down to so many factors and motivation, self-belief, momentum can all play a part. If you’re struggling to feel motivated, if you’re struggling to believe in yourself, if you’re struggling to see much progress – then it’s pretty difficult to do what you need to achieve your study goals.
So, when it comes to setting and achieving study goals, there are some ways that you can make it easier for yourself to obtain the things you really want, faster and more easily. And I’m gonna share five ideas with you today.
1. Focus on your trajectory not your results
If you scored 55% on an essay, then 58% – you might be feeling really frustrated if your study goal is 70% and over. But the trajectory is positive – your grades are going UP and so focusing on the direction will help you feel more motivated and positive to take action to continue that trajectory. After 58%, your next step isn’t to jump to 70. It might happen but your next step is to go from 58% to 59%.
You may be feeling really crappy about your studying, feeling like you’re being lazy and procrastinating too much. Your job then is NOT to become a completely different, perfect student over night. Your job is to just change the trajectory. Work out what you can do to shift the direction from backwards or stagnating to forwards. Forward is forward, no matter how small.
If it helps, a different example than studying. I’ve gotten back into running this year and it has been HUMBLING to track my progress. I am A LOT slower than I was two years ago. And if I was only paying attention to my running times, comparing them to previously, then I’d be feeling pretty crap and I’d probably have stopped running. Instead, I’m looking at my current trajectory. Yes, there was a big downhill slide of my fitness for a time, but with every action I take, every run I run, I’m making progress in my fitness and speed and now my trajectory is positive. I’m not as fast as I was, but I genuinely don’t care because I AM faster than I was last week and last month. And all I can control is where I’m going from here, not where I’ve been.
All you can control is what you do in your next study session, so make it count to shift that trajectory or keep it going in the right direction.
2. Be trajectory-orientated not goal-orientated
Sometimes we can set study goals that don’t set us up to actually achieve them.
Goal-orientated: I want to achieve a First class degree
Trajectory-orientated: I will sit down tonight and read through the course material to work out the best study methods to use this year.
The first study goal – to achieve a First Class degree is a pretty awesome ambition, but there’s a distinct lack of immediate accountability. If you set a study goal and then don’t know the immediate actions you can take to start achieving it, then it likely won’t happen.
The second study goal – to sit down tonight and decide on your study methods of the year, seems quite small. You can do it in an hour. But the thing about this trajectory-orientated goal is that it will set you on the right trajectory to achieve the First class degree you want.
The trick then, when you’re stuck on how to achieve something, is to stop and ask yourself, ‘what is the next thing I can do to nudge me in the direction of the end result I want?’
This simple question is probably going to frustrate the hell out of you. Because now, you’ve got no excuses! Any studying, work or life goal you have – to achieve a First class degree, change career, run a 10km – rather than put it on the backburner because you’re not sure exactly how to achieve it, you just need to focus on the trajectory and ask yourself, ‘what is the very next thing I need to do to move in the right direction?’
3. Small steps for big results
Results compound. Just like interest on a savings account. Saving £50 per month may not seem like a big deal, but saving £50 a month at 5% interest equates to over $40k in 30 years.
Deciding to study for an hour after dinner rather than watching something on Netflix may not seem like a big deal but do that a few times and you’ll gain momentum and find it easier to adopt other small study habits that will compound and compound until suddenly you’re feeling completely in control of your studying, you get to take lots of evenings and weekend off studying because you’re studying more strategically and productively – and your grades are higher than ever.
4. Journey before destination
Something that is not talked about anywhere near enough in the studying space. If you focus on your process and your trajectory – rather than your end result – you will change and grow along the way.
One of my favouriteeee authors, Brandon Sanderson, shares an idea in his Stormlight Archive series of ‘journey before destination.’
In your studying journey, the destination is achieving your qualification. Getting that certificate in the post, walking across that graduation stage in your cap and gown – pretty awesome gifts at the end of a hard slog.
But, if you also focus on the journey, the steps you’re taking in the here and now to become a more effective student, you’ll gain so many other gifts along the way. You’ll build awesome habits, discover who you are as a learner, learn about your strengths and weaknesses, build incredible resilience and self-belief that you CAN do really hard things.
Focusing your attention on the trajectory then can help you stay motivated to study. Because I know that you’re motivated and determined for the end result, your qualification. But it can be harder to stay motivated during the day-to-day of studying when that end study goal feels pretty far away.
But when you focus on the trajectory, you have one job, to keep that direction of growth positive. You just gotta keep your head down and take small, effective action after action. And as you make progress you’ll gain momentum which will boost your motivation.
5. Pick yourself back up with just one positive action
If things go wrong? Bad grades, failed assignments, days or weeks or months where studying feels too hard – it’s easy to feel like everything is crap, like you’ve ruined it and you’re stuck being a crappy student. But the great thing is, you’re only ever one positive action away from changing your whole goddamn trajectory. If your studying progress is plummeting, you just have to experience one small win for that path to upturn. Suddenly, you’re on the up, growth is happening, forward momentum is happening. Then you just have to repeat with another small win.