Before I explain what my goals for this semester are I think that I should explain what exactly S.M.A.R.T. goals are...
SMART is an acronym for
S - specific
M - measurable
A - attainable
R - relevant/ realistic and
T - time bound
So, knowing what a smart goal is obviously makes it exponentially easier to come up with one; I need an academy and a personal goal for this school term and I need to outline the basic steps to achieve said goals.
Starting with my academy goal, I would like to focus on my music. With that in mind my goal, which is time bound, as it needs to be completed by January 31st, is to have recorded and uploaded on my website and YouTube channel a cover of a song on piano or guitar.
To make this goal measurable and specific I'll need to be able to track my progress and have certain detailed steps to follow. These steps will be something along the lines of choosing a song, finding the sheet music/ guitar tabs (and lyrics if it has any), and then practice, practice, practice before recording. This is relevant and important to my success in the academy (and as a musician) as in the process of doing achieving this goal I will also be improving my guitar, vocal and even organizational skills. I know this goal is attainable, as I know that while it will be somewhat challenging it is definitely realistic for me to have learned to play a song by the end of January.
For my personal goal, as random as it sounds, I would like to land my axle. An axle is arguably the most difficult single jump there is in figure skating and I have been trying to land it for years now. While this may not seem relevant to anything, I've noticed over time that the better I do in skating the better my confidence and overall self esteem are, and, the better I do in all other areas of my life. Thus this goal is relevant. To accomplish this goal and make it more attainable I will need to stay in overall good shape, eating properly, working out and remembering to stretch and practice my off ice routines daily until the skating season starts again. These are also all details to make this goal specific. I can measure this goal by recording my attempt at an axle once a week to see my progress. Like my academy goal I need to complete this by the end of January which makes this time bound.
I plan to continue to post updates on how my goals are progressing and in the meantime feel free to check out the rest of my website and other future blogs.