The start of a new school year sparks a sense of determination to achieve your goals, meet like-minded individuals, and light up curiosity. As the semester progresses, exams, assignments, and routine work causes me to lose the sense of purpose and fulfillment.
I found the reason I lose motivation and purpose in my academic life is that I tend to lose sight of my long-term goal. When exams come up, my short-term goal is to obtain a good grade, but that by itself does not fuel or motivate me to keep going; it is the long-term goal that gives purpose to the things I do.
How can you identify your long-term goal and use it to find purpose in life?
A goal that is set for the short or long-term has to remind you of the reason you do certain things. A well-defined goal is Simple or specific, Meaningful, Attainable, Relevant and Time- oriented but at the same time, it has to motivate you to be the best version of yourself.
What motivates you?
Why do you want to pursue that particular goal?
How would your life look after achieving your goal?
When do you want to achieve your goal?
Once you have a long-term goal that motivates you, find ways you can work towards it. An example of a long-term goal could be getting accepted into a graduate program. To work towards that goal, I would go to various graduate school-related events, network with professors, and prepare for the GRE. The importance of having a well-defined goal is because it is easier to measure success and stay motivated by seeing the progress being made.
The underlying purpose behind setting goals that are either long-term or short-term is not to permanently pursue a specific objective, but it is to give a flexible structure to where you can concentrate your efforts. Setting goals should be to act as a source of motivation and purpose when pursuing what you aspire to become and achieve in your life-time.
