While performance reviews and setting goals are well-established practices at UVU, the typical timeframe for completing reviews is changing. Performance reviews will be conducted from March through May; goal setting will mirror our fiscal year, starting in July. 

After reviewing my goals from 2021, I've recognized that my goal setting in the past hasn't been as productive as I'd like it to be. If you are anything like me, you'll want to set goals not just to look good on your performance evaluation but also because you want to achieve priorities for yourself. I recently watched a 27-minute LinkedIn Learning course called "Defining and Achieving Professional Goals" which helped me to learn about myself and my goals. I intend to apply what I've learned in my goal setting and achieving this year. I hope you'll take some time to do the same!

Setting Goals

The first step is to identify what's important to you—not just at work but personally, too. If you don't know your high-level strategic priorities, it's hard to set goals to achieve them. Think about where you want to be in one year, five years, ten years, and beyond. 

The second step is to prioritize your goals so that you can progress toward your high-level priorities. Are there measures you could take that might help you achieve more than one priority? In what order must your actions be completed so that you arrive at your vision on time?

Third, don't overwhelm yourself with too many goals. I make this mistake often. We can't concentrate on nine things simultaneously (which so happens to be the number of goals I set for 2021). The video I mentioned above recommended just two goals at a time. I'm not sure if we'll get away with fewer than three goals at UVU, but I know we don't need nine!

Fourth, rather than giving yourself a full year to achieve a goal, select a shorter timeframe and plan to set another goal after the timeframe has elapsed. Tackling goals in bite-sized chunks can help you pace yourself and achieve more while working on less at once.

Achieving Goals

It may be tricky to set good goals, but the real work is in achieving them! Here are several methods for holding yourself accountable for reaching your goals.

• Choose goals with short timeframes to allow yourself the opportunity to adjust goals more frequently. 
• Find someone willing to be your accountability partner who can encourage you to succeed.
• Set up rewards for doing the right things and consequences for doing the wrong things.
• Form simple habits to automate some of the work.
• Deploy your willpower strategically; stay away from distractions.
• Prioritize your tasks and interruptions wisely.
• Set aside time to focus on what's meaningful (your highest priorities). 
• Complete non-critical tasks in batches to get them off your mind and enable time for deep work. Ignore what's not essential. 

Conclusion

Regularly reviewing goals is one of the most important things that any of us can do. Reevaluating your goals every six months is sufficient, but reviewing them quarterly (or even more often than that) is preferable. It may take time to discover the frequency that works best for you. If a goal isn't working for you, move on to another goal and give it a try. Onward and upward! 

The Institutional Research department conducts the Student Opinion Survey (SOS) every spring and fall. This survey is emailed to a random sample of UVU students and includes topics submitted by departments/areas from campus and questions designed to better understand the student experience. The Fall 2021 SOS provided insights into marital status, number of children, housing insecurity, worldview, employment, student perception, childcare, and COVID-19.

Even though the survey was not administered to the entire student population, the responses provide a statistically accurate representation of UVU’s student body. Some statistics from the Fall 2021 SOS show that since the beginning of the pandemic, 21% of students had a positive test for COVID-19, 89% of students reported their overall experience as ‘good’ or ‘excellent,’ and 3% of students were worried about finding a place to sleep at night. For more information from the Fall 2021 SOS, see IR’s Research webpage under Survey Research, Student Opinion Surveys, Fall 2021.

Not sure who came up with that title quote, though Walter Payton said something along those lines. Here are a couple more quotes that further exemplify that thought:

• Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean. – Ryunosuke Satoro
• I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things. – Mother Teresa

Being united and working together is what makes the difference between a strand of delicate fiber and a securely resilient rope; a thin sheet of flimsy film and an impenetrable barrier; a few randomly-played notes and an awe-inspiring symphony.

We've all heard the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." As we try to create delightful experiences for our customers, this can be a bad rule to follow. As IT professionals, what we would have done to us is often far different from what regular technology consumers want to experience. A better rule to live by is "Do unto others as they prefer." Still, this does not mean all customers will always get exactly what they want. After all, there is another Golden Rule at work: "Whoever has the gold makes the rules."