Focus your energy by setting a technical/professional goal for yourself this semester. This goal needs to be SMART:
S – Specific
- What exactly do you want to achieve? Why do you want to achieve it? HOW will you achieve it? Be specific.
M – Measurable
- How will you track your progress? How will you know when you have achieved your goal? What is the concrete evidence of success?
A – Attainable
- Is this goal something that you can realistically achieve in the defined time frame?
R – Relevant
- The goal must be important to you, right now. Decide on something that’s meaningful to you.
T – Timely
- Give yourself a deadline – for you, it’s the end of the semester! Select a goal that can realistically, measurably be achieved within the next 10 weeks.
SMART goals are very specific (so, for example: “I want to lose weight” becomes “I want to lose 20 pounds in the next 6 months. I will do so by cutting out soda, limiting eating out to once a week, and walking for 45 minutes every day.”)
My reply:
This semester my goal is to get better with Photoshop
Specific: I have always used Gimp (a free Photoshop alternative) for all my photo-editing needs. Photoshop is more versatile and provides more tools and it would broaden my scope when it comes to manipulating images, if I have as strong a handle on Photoshop as I do on Gimp.
Measurable: Like last semester I will follow a 37-video tutorial playlist on YouTube. Although it’s not possible to become a complete Photoshop-guru in one semester, I will try to learn how to use the basic and moderately advanced tools and techniques.
Attainable: My previous experience with GIMP will help me learn things a lot faster. Also, given that I was able to go through the tutorials I had planned to last semester, this is very much attainable.
Relevant: This is relevant because Photoshop is the only non-Adobe product I use in my entire workflow when I’m working on any creative project. Also, I will need a better understanding of Photoshop for my DMC tutoring position.
Timely: I will achieve this goal by the end of the semester.