Goals to keep in mind for your new year
By: Steven Goodman – Columnist, Sophomore
Ah, 2014.
It’s now the beginning of a new year, new semester, new classes, you get the picture. In addition to these three, what coincides with a new year are the notorious new year resolutions.
Often times the Internet becomes saturated with lists of resolutions that should be made and are published everywhere from personal blogs to major news sites like the New York Times.
The only list that might be published more than New Year Resolutions are lists on how to keep those goals. That being said, it’s always good to have some goals in the back of your mind to work toward, whether or not they are created around New Year’s Day.
So, adding to the already saturated amount of lists, despite being a few weeks into 2014 already, and in lieu of calling them “resolutions” I present to you my list of suggested goals to keep in mind for this year and the future.
1. Be diligent with classes—OK, so this is probably an obvious one, as well as a major cliché, but it’s also important. Keeping up with your classes will help prepare you for more advanced courses in your major, expand your mind and, depending on what class it is, will help you learn new skills or improve upon old ones.
2. Keep up on current events—Whether it’s reading every page of a newspaper or just scrolling through the headlines on your smartphone, it’s always nice to have an idea of what’s going on in the world.
There are many options for this one, nearly all of the major news outlets have smartphone apps and websites including the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, etc. Or, if you are someone who prefers a hard copy, UD has free copies of the New York Times for students to pick up.
3. Go somewhere new—Ideally, accomplishing this goal would mean traveling to that country you always wanted to visit or a new state or city you’ve never been to.
That being said, this doesn’t have to be a huge and costly adventure. Going to a new place could be trying that restaurant you always drive by or finding a new study spot on campus. It’s always easier to start small and work your way up to traveling to an entirely new location.
4. Create your own list—It can be helpful to have some ideas to get you started, but instead of taking goals verbatim from this list (or any other) it is always a good idea to make your own list or alter an existing list.
Like everything else in life, a list of goals depends on the person and there is no perfect solution for everyone.
Although writing down goals can be helpful, by no means is it a requirement. Keeping some goals in the back of our minds can help all of us improve who we are and who we want to be.
These don’t have to be huge ideas to strive for immediately, instead come up with some smaller plans that will ultimately allow you to reach your final goal.