Now is the perfect time to reflect on your studies
What have you gained from your learning experience this year? Taking the time to reflect on your experiences is an important part of self-growth. By taking stock of how our goals have progressed, what obstacles we’ve faced and what new skills we’ve acquired, you can better prepare for any future challenges you might face. Ask yourself the following questions to jump start your own process of reflection.
Is your goal on track?
How have your goals and milestones developed this trimester? The goals we set for ourselves often change as we try to achieve them. Maybe your goals weren’t that clearly defined when you started out and now that you’ve put in more work, you can more clearly see what you want to accomplish. Maybe your goal was too ambitious, too broad, or not challenging enough.
Think about the goals you were planning to reach at this point and then think about what you’ve been able to accomplish. If you haven’t reached your own personal standard, reflect on how you might reassess your plan and what new short-term goals you can set to get yourself back on track. If you feel that you’ve completed your short-term goals with ease, maybe it’s time to look reflect on your overall plan and see if there’s any ways you can challenge yourself.
What have you learned?
What skills and insight have you gained as you worked towards accomplishing your goals? Even if we don’t achieve exactly what we set out to do, we still learn a lot from the process of striving to reach our goals. What skills have you picked up this trimester? What skills do you want to build on and learn more about?
Think about the obstacles that you’ve had to face this year. What did you learn from them? How did you overcome these challenges? Is there a chance that you could encounter a similar obstacle in the future? Think about how you could apply these lessons to any future obstacles and reflect on what you might do differently.
Where did you find support?
Who in your life has been supporting your goals? Take a moment to write down the names of anyone in your life who has supported your learning experience this year. They could be friends, family, colleagues or Unit Chairs. Write each of these people a quick note to let them know how much you appreciate their support.
If you’re looking for more support moving forward with your studies, consider joining Cloudy, our resilience building toolkit filled with articles and habit-builders to help you deal with challenging situations. You can also explore the many Study Support resources and health and wellbeing services provided by Deakin.