Goals

QW: What is something you want to accomplish in 2018? Write down at least one goal you have for this year.

The new year is often about goals - New Year's Resolutions, a new start, changing old habits. However, statistics suggest that less than 10% of people are actually successful in completing their resolutions.

Why do people fail to stick to their New Year's Resolutions?  There are many reasons, including:

• It's hard to break old habits
• The goal is too vague; it's hard to really pin down what you need to do to achieve the goal
• After the initial excitement, you aren't willing to put in the effort needed to reach the goal
• It's not that important; you don't have the personal motivation to reach the goal
• There is a lack of support, you don't have the resources or emotional/social support
• You feel you can always get to it later, and right now you have other things to do

All of these reasons come back around to the same thing; either the goal was not the right goal for you, or it was poorly defined.  Many efficiency experts recommend using a strategy to set clear, meaningful goals.  These are known as SMART goals.

SMART stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-Bound

Read the following article on SMART goals: SMART Goals - How to Make Your Goals Achievable

Now look at the goal you identified in the quick write.  Go through the steps in the article:

1. Specific - answer the questions:
• What, specifically, do I want to accomplish? (e.g. rather than "eat better", "eat 5 servings of vegetables per day" or "limit sugar to less than 15 grams per day"
• Why is this goal important?
• Who is involved?
2. Measurable: How will you know when the goal is accomplished?
3. Achievable: What skills or resources do you need to achieve this goal? How will you develop the skills or find the resources? Who can help you with this?
4. Relevant: Understand clearly why this goal is important to you.  Sometimes people are swayed by what other people think they should accomplish, and the goals are not personally meaningful enough to put in the effort required to achieve the goal.  Make sure this is YOUR goal, not something someone else thinks you should do.
5. Time-Bound: Set yourself a deadline!  If your goal is to save $500, when do you want to accomplish this?  Next week? Next month? Next year?  Or maybe your goal is to run a marathon within the next year.  Be specific.  Accountability can be uncomfortable sometimes, but it keeps you on track.

Once you have reviewed all of these, re-write your goal as a SMART goal.  Underneath your goal, address each of the 5 points above.

Example of a SMART goal: "I will run a half-marathon this summer"

• Specific - yes, I'm going to run a half-marathon
• Measurable - yes, either I've done it or I haven't
• Achievable - yes, but I'm going to have to get a training plan and stick to it.  A training partner would probably help keep me accountable.  Also, if I register for an event and pay the race fee, that will help keep me committed to achieving the goal
• Relevant - yes, I really want to get back into running and improve my physical condition.  This will really help with that.  
• Time-Bound - yes, it will happen this summer

Turn in your SMART Goal to your EF.

What's your major?

QW: What do you think is the best thing about college?  The hardest thing?

Interview two people who went to college using this worksheet.

Then write a 2-3 paragraph summary of what you learned from the interviews.  Focus specifically on anything you found interesting or surprising.

Thinking about Majors

QW: What would you study if you didn't have to worry about making money or getting a job?

When you think about what you want to major in in college, what comes to mind?  Do you have a subject you are passionate about and excited to start studying?  Or does the idea of choosing a course of study fill you with panic?  Or maybe a little of each?

Are you thinking of putting off the decision of what to study, and drifting for awhile?

Read this blog post  on choosing a major.  Now take a piece of paper and fold it in half.

For the left side, choose a major based on the idea of having a good job.  What major would you choose?  Why?  Write this at the top of the left column. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in this career.  Below where you've written the major, write a brief description of how you imagine a day in your life after you've graduated and gotten this "good job". How does this make you feel?  Excited? Nervous? Below your description, create a list of work-based experiences (e.g. internships or volunteer experiences) that would help you figure out if you would really enjoy this career.

For the right half of the paper, think of a major you might want to study just because it's interesting, without thinking about job prospects, and write the name of the major at the top of the right column.  Below the name of the major, explain why this is interesting to you. Do a Google search of "jobs with a _________ degree" and write down what you find.  Finally, create a list of some technical skills you could add to your studies to increase your job prospects if you were to choose this major.

Below what you've written in each column, draw a picture that captures your feelings about this major.

On the back of the paper, based on the above blog post and your experience in examining both choices, which do you think is the best course of action?  Create a list of possible majors, and identify the benefits and drawbacks of each.  Turn this paper in to your EF.

Career Exploration Part I

QW: What are some things that interest you?

Go to the website cacareerzone.org. First, under "Make Money Choices", click "Choose your Lifestyle."  Work through the questions, then make a note of the minimum salary needed to support your lifestyle.  You will need to multiply by 12 to get your minimum annual salary.  Enter the salary on this Google Doc.

Next, under "Assess Yourself", click "Begin Assessment" and choose the Interest Profiler.  After completing the interest profiler, click "explore occupations." Set the income range to include the value you calculated to support your lifestyle.  Then set the "job zone" scale at the top to job zone 1.  Then expand to job zones 1-2, then job zones 1-3, then 1-4 and finally 1-5.  What happens?

Job Zone 1 includes jobs that require little or no training.  Jobs in zone 2 require at least a high school diploma and some training, jobs in zone 3 require more training and possibly a certificate or associate's degree (from a community college, jobs in zone 4 generally require at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, and jobs in zone 5 require an advanced degree (master's, PhD, or professional degree).

Choose 4 or 5 careers you might be interested in (if you can't find 4 or 5 on that list, explore the rest of the site - you can search by job family, or explore all occupations). List the occupations you chose on the Google Doc, along with the job zone for each.

Choose two of the careers you listed above.  For each career, fill in the information on the Google Doc.  Then list at least 3 schools or programs where you can get the education or training you would need.  To search for colleges, use the college search tool on the College Board website.

Turn in the Google Doc to your EF.

Intellectual Curiosity

QW: What is something you are curious about?

Intellectual curiosity is very important for academic success.  If you’re not at all interested in learning new stuff, it can be very difficult to do so.  Communication of what you know and/or what you’ve learned is also important.  So for this CSS activity, we will combine intellectual curiosity and communication skills.

First, watch this TED talk by Stephen Robinson:

Reflect: What, if anything, did you find helpful from this talk about how to learn a new skill?  If you did not find the talk useful, I'm sorry; come up with your own list of steps to learn something new.

Act: Now it's time to learn something new.  You have between now and when you next meet with your EF. 

Some ideas for what you might want to learn: How to juggle, how to knit socks, what it takes to play sports in college, a new sport or game, a magic trick, how to play an instrument, how to identify edible wild plants, or anything else you’re curious about and don’t already know how to do.

A note of caution before you start: This will be much more fun and interesting for you (and everybody else) if you really open your mind up to be curious – find something you really want to know about instead of just approaching this as another crazy assignment from Alana.

Here’s what to do:

1. Find something interesting to learn about.  Once you’ve picked a broad topic, you will research the topic and present a short (1-2 min) presentation on what you learned.  For your learning resources, you can use websites, books, videos, anything that is appropriate.
2. Document your progress on this progress.  At a minimum, include a summary of your topic, what resources you used to learn it, and some notes about your progress along the way (e.g. successes and failures, how you felt during the process, what new things you're curious about, etc.) Bring these notes with you to step 3:
3. Prepare a short 1-2 minute presentation to share this exciting knowledge with your EF and possibly others.  It will be helpful if you incorporate visual aids (actual objects, or a poster or Powerpoint).  You can video tape this presentation.
4. Write a reflection of the learning process.  This should be 1/2 to 1 page on what you learned, how you learned it, how you feel about having learned it, and if you plan on pursuing learning more about this topic.

Good luck!

College Application Essays

QW: When completing a college or scholarship application essay, what is one thing you want to make sure the reader knows about you?

The college application process usually involves an online application, where you enter information about yourself and the classes you've taken, along with activities you participate in outside of school and an essay telling a little more about yourself.  Some applications also require letters of recommendation, test scores (SAT or ACT), and sometimes an interview.

Before you sit down to complete the application, think about the picture you want to present to the admission committee.  What is important for them to know about you?  What is unique about you, and what will you contribute to the college community?  Students often overlook some of their best qualities and attributes, because it seems normal - it's just your life, right?  When completing the application, be sure to take some time and think about your activities outside of school and make a list of everything you have done.  It's easy to forget some things, especially activities from freshman year. Keep in mind that what might be just regular old daily life for you could, in fact, be something a college admissions committee would be very interested in.

When it comes time to write the essay, read the prompt carefully and make sure you address the prompt.  However, also remember that the underlying question in every application essay prompt is "Who are you and what would make you a good addition to our campus community?"  What that means is, if the prompt asks you to tell about an influential person in your life, they don't actually want to know about your grandma (or your pastor, or your favorite teacher, or your mom or dad, or whoever that person is).  What they want to know is how has this person influenced you and helped you become the person you are - and what kind of person are you anyway?  If they ask about an event, it's not the event that's important; again, it's how it has affected you and how you've learned and grown from that event.  So whatever the question is asking, address the prompt, but also make sure the reader learns more about who you are, what's important to you, and how you interact in the world. They should know a lot more about you after reading your essay.  And I really do mean about YOU, not the soccer camp you attended in junior high.

Before starting this exercise, do the following (in order, one step at a time):

• make a list of at least 10 adjectives that describe you
• go back over the list, and change any adjectives with a negative connotation to more positive adjectives.  For example, instead of "stubborn", try "determined" or "committed to my values", or "persistent".
• next, group any similar adjectives together.  For example: outgoing, adventurous, risk-taker, active might be collected together in a group.
• then, choose one of these groupings of adjectives, and brainstorm ideas of examples you can give to show how you personify these traits. Using the example above, you might think of a time when you and some friends went backpacking, and you were the group leader.  When you are writing your essay and trying to make sure you get these qualities across to the reader, you don't just want to say "I'm very adventurous", you want to give them examples of when you've done adventurous things.
• finally, look over the list of essay questions and complete two essays following the directions on the list.

Now, complete two of the essays, using the prompts on this list, taking into account everything discussed in this post.  Again, using the adventurous example, if the prompt asks you to talk about an influential person in your life, and the idea you want to get across is that you're adventurous, you might talk about how your grandpa used to take you camping and backpacking (or traveling, or whatever) when you were young and how that helped you develop a love for the outdoors and a commitment to protecting the environment.  Of course, you wouldn't write it like that, but you would give examples and details that get this idea across.

Stress Effects on the Brain

QW: What do you do when you're stressed out?

Activity:
When you are under stress, some interesting things start to happen in your brain. This is a leftover effect from the days when humans regularly encountered life-threatening situations - like encounters with wild animals that might eat you. When you are under stress, the amygdala (a small, almond-shaped structure in your brain) sends out a signal that you are in danger.  Your endocrine system releases cortisol and adrenalin, your heart rate and breathing rate increase, your digestive and immune systems are suppressed (after all, there's no point in digesting breakfast when you're about to be somebody else's lunch).  Back in the caveman days, this response was helpful; it prepared the body to either run away or fight off the physical threat.  The problem is, the amygdala, and the stress response it sets in motion, does not distinguish between real, physical threats and psychological threats.  For the types of stress modern humans encounter, this response it not very helpful.  In fact, over the long run, it can be extremely detrimental to your health.

Furthermore, in times of stress, the frontal lobe (the part of your brain responsible for critical thinking and reasoning) starts to shut down and does not function properly.  So right at the point where you need it the most, your ability for critical thinking is reduced.

Assignment: Watch the videos below on the stress response, and discuss the content with your EF.  Then answer the questions in the Google doc here. Make a copy of the document for yourself, then you can type in your answers and share it with your EF.