Reflecting on Your Goals

As your summer ends and the new semester begins, it is important to look back at your past semesters at UIC to see what you have accomplished.  I like to do this because it helps me focus on what I want to achieve next and where I see myself after the semester is over. Reflecting on what goals you have accomplished, or have yet to accomplish, is a great way to see where your progress lies and will hopefully allow you to establish a plan to achieve your new goals.  This activity also allows me to look back, remember, and learn from my past so that I can exactly plan out what I want to reach in the future.

The best way to reflect on your goals is to sit down and look at what you have done so far and create a list of where you have been, what you accomplished, and what you might do differently in the future. Use this as a guide to chart out your goals. You can also use my list of 25 questions below to help you assess what exactly you would like to change. Try to answer these questions on a sheet of paper, or even mentally to see where you are in the big picture of your life. I hope these questions help you better understand what goals you would like to achieve next. One thing to remember is that it’s okay if you do not have a final answer for these questions because this is a continuous discovery process for yourself, so your answers may change over time.

Mariya’s 25 questions:

1. What are your most proud achievements at UIC?
2. What experience in the past years at UIC are you most grateful for?
3. What regrets do you have?
4. What opportunities have you passed up?
5. From all your experiences, what lessons have you learned?
6. What will you do differently?
7. Where do your goals stand?
8. What do you need to spend more time doing?
9. What is something you enjoy doing most?
10. What personal qualities do you want to develop?
11. What inspires you?
12. What is limiting you from being the best?
13. What new club or organization would you like to join—if you are already part of one, what things can you do to become a leader in that organization?
14. What do you want to achieve throughout your UIC career?
15. What do you want to do after you graduate college, how are you creating your ideal career starting today?
16. What is one habit you have now, but would like to change for the future?
17. What skills do you want to learn?
18. What would you like your life to be like every day and what steps will you take to get there?
19. What is one new thing you plan to learn from each course you are taking?
20. What do you want to spend more time with this new semester?
21. What is it that you would like to see, discover, or explore?
22. If you have one piece of advice you would give to yourself three years ago what would it be?
23. What opportunities are you looking for and how can you create these opportunities?
24. What is one thing you are extremely passionate about?
25. What is your ideal self?