New Year, New Degree: How to Turn Resolutions into Real Educational Goals
New year, new you, right? Resolutions provide a structure and roadmap for this vision of the future. However, many resolutions fail because they are too ambitious or vague, leading to disappointment. Instead of abandoning them, reframe the pursuit: the goal is progress, not perfection. Focusing on moving in the right direction increases the likelihood of success.
The right educational experience can transform your resolution mindset. Consider how college can help you set and achieve self-improvement goals that make a profound difference in your quality of life. The University of Mount Olive is ready to help you take the next step toward a wonderful new year and a bright future.
Introduction: From Resolutions to Real Change
Many people celebrate the new year with a resolution. Nearly one-third of Americans follow this tradition, often setting more than one major goal. The appeal of a new year is the feeling of a fresh start and renewed energy. However, most people struggle to commit past a few weeks. When plans fail, guilt and all-or-nothing thinking often obscure any progress made. The real issue is often not a lack of grit, but a flawed goal or insufficient support.
Why Education Is the Ultimate Resolution
Many resolutions for undergraduate students are too vague or too ambitious, making them difficult to keep. The most effective resolutions provide maximum accountability, along with plenty of motivation and emotional support. This is why educational goals are so appealing — tangible commitments, such as enrollment in college courses or degree programs often accompany them. Below, we’ve highlighted just a few of the many perks of setting educational goals for adults:
A Goal That Impacts Every Part of Life
While accompanying desires for career advancement often drive educational resolutions, there are many other reasons to commit to academic achievement, including the desire to fulfill one’s New Year’s resolutions. The intrinsic advantages are often the most compelling. Learning is worthwhile because it helps you build a rich inner world.
Of course, other educational goals for adults also matter. Skill development, for example, is often top of mind. Through formal college programs, you gain technical abilities, increase knowledge, as well as soft skills including communication and critical thinking, which can support your personal goals. Each added competency brings an extra boost of confidence, making you feel more capable in the workplace and in your personal life.
Replace Quick Wins With Lifelong Rewards
Short-term resolutions often bring fleeting satisfaction and may feel underwhelming without lasting transformation, such as temporary diets focused on aesthetics. In contrast, educational rewards offer enduring value in different ways. Skills gained through formal education lead to career advancement, increasing influence and satisfaction. The joy of learning can also broaden horizons and enrich life with new insights and opportunities.
Defining Realistic Educational Goals
You’ve committed to furthering your education in the new year, but this is only the beginning. Next, you need to learn how to stick to resolutions. This means moving beyond vague intentions to clarify your educational goals, revealing why you want to enroll in college and what you hope to accomplish on the way to achieving academic success. To inspire a strong start, we’ve shared a few secrets to setting goals for college students:
Start With Your ‘Why’
Meaningful goals, including New Year resolutions, inspire long-term motivation. Identify your authentic intentions by reflecting on recent energizing moments. What genuinely interests you, regardless of money or time constraints? Connect these interests to practical benefits: How will college improve your life? Will it lead to better roles or help you pursue your calling? Write a simple statement clarifying your vision for why college is important.
Break Big Dreams Into Manageable Steps
You’ve uncovered a sense of purpose to guide your college journey, but how will you tackle the day-to-day challenges of student life? A goal-oriented approach, with realistic goals, can boost accountability while offering an easy-to-follow roadmap.
Use the SMART framework to create goals that stick. Every goal should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, if you want to improve data privacy by working in cybersecurity, set reasonable goals tied to concrete skills — like exploring programming languages. A relevant SMART goal might involve successfully completing a Python project by the end of the semester.
Another priority not captured by the SMART framework is the need for support and guidance for personal growth. With educational goals, this means working with an academic advisor to clarify that your short-term academic goals reflect your long-term intentions.
Building a Plan That Sticks
With short and long-term objectives in place, you should be ready to put these goals into action, creating a sense of urgency. Create a blueprint that keeps you on track throughout the semester. This begins with detailing the specific courses you’ll take but should also reference the resources you’ll use and a study schedule that allows you to make academic progress, one step at a time.
Create Structure and Accountability
Many resolutions fall short because they lack structure. Often, however, well-meaning individuals struggle to develop their own accountability systems. College alleviates this burden with detailed curricula, featuring progress checkpoints and assignments that encourage you to hone your skills and knowledge over time. Take advantage of additional resources outside the classroom, including academic advising, student success coaching, and online study tools.
Flexibility for Working Adults
If you choose to blend full-time learning with full-time work, be prepared to create an airtight routine to balance multiple demands. Take advantage of flexible solutions, including online degree programs that accommodate your schedule with asynchronous arrangements.
Keep in mind that online arrangements may require greater structure on your end throughout the year. This means establishing a clear schedule with blocks of time set aside for asynchronous class activities, dedicated study sessions, and, of course, workplace obligations.
Overcoming Common Resolution Roadblocks
No resolution comes without challenges. In fact, challenge is at the very heart of the resolution — a resolution provides a concrete tool or impetus for overcoming various difficulties that block desired outcomes, much like a vision board can help visualize success. Unfortunately, the very problems that prompted the resolution in the first place don’t go away on their own. Hence, the need for detailed plans and flexible solutions that make these inherent obstacles easier to bear.
Just as no two resolutions will look quite alike, no two plans for addressing core challenges related to academic development will be exactly the same. Still, a few themes tend to emerge, especially when resolutions involve returning to college as an adult. We’ve highlighted these common roadblocks below, along with accessible strategies for overcoming these issues.
Time and Energy
As an adult student, you already juggle many obligations, including family life. Perhaps you’re already employed and plan to continue working while going back to school. Maybe you care for children or senior parents. Either way, you may need to build your college schedule around these existing obligations. Pack too much into that busy schedule, however, and you may begin to feel drained or even burned out.
The solution? Prioritization. You can’t do all things at once. Think carefully about where you can temporarily scale back or where your support system can pick up the slack. Look for creative solutions that help you do more with less time, while maintaining a positive mindset. Online degree programs, for example, limit commuting so you dedicate more time to classes and studying.
Motivation and Momentum
The initial excitement of a new goal can fade. To maintain commitment when this happens, blend fun with accountability, perhaps exploring a new hobby along the way. For example, study groups offer connection and shared responsibility, leading to collective academic breakthroughs. Committing to these groups, online or in-person, provides ongoing motivation.
For personal momentum, set small, confidence-building milestones. As UMO alum Chanda Joyner, who successfully used goal-setting during her college journey and recovery from a traumatic brain injury, explains, she learned to “prioritize [her] life” by setting goals for short-term successes that lead to long-term objectives.
Financial Concerns
Educational commitments can deliver an impressive return on investment, including an expanded skill set that helps you step into higher-level (and possibly, higher-paying) roles. Still, you need to be mindful of that initial investment, which may include not only tuition, but also materials (such as textbooks) or even commuting costs. This all adds up and is also a great way to manage your busy academic schedule, especially if you need to step back at work.
Proactive planning can alleviate these concerns so that financial challenges do not derail your academic journey after you’re already enrolled. Begin by finding a program known for offering transparent and cost-effective learning opportunities. The University of Mount Olive (UMO), for example, offers a detailed breakdown of tuition and fees, along with generous financial aid opportunities: academic scholarships, departmental scholarships, community grants, and even payment plans.
Address financial concerns head-on by completing your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and by making the most of UMO’s financial aid resources.
The Power of Support: You Don’t Have to Do It Alone
New Year’s resolutions are best pursued in community. Research shows that people who set resolutions are more likely to achieve their goals if they receive consistent social support along the way. This is one of the biggest perks of setting educational resolutions — community is purposefully built into the structure of adult education programs.
Mentorship and Peer Connection
Mentors offer personal insight and encouragement throughout the college journey and beyond. Faculty, students, and alumni are readily available, offering the friendly guidance they once received. Faculty truly care, promptly answering emails and holding office hours. They attentively listen to concerns, offer thoughtful feedback, and maintain meaningful connections, making students feel cared for and empowered.
Peer relationships expand this community, providing emotional support for challenges and ideas for new opportunities, developed in class or online study groups.
Institutional Support for Adult Learners
As an adult learner, you face unique challenges that may call for additional support or flexibility. At UMO, we offer this in spades. We offer counseling services to help you develop coping skills and navigate emotional challenges, along with Tutor.com to provide extra insight as you master complex concepts or develop new skills. As you prepare to tackle new professional opportunities, look to the Office of Career Development for career counseling and job search resources.
Turning Intentions into Enrollment
Are your New Year goals beginning to take shape? This is your cue to transform vague intentions into a concrete commitment. Now is the perfect time to reflect on your vision of the future, exploring how a particular degree program might help turn that vision into reality.
Make the First Move
Don’t let educational dreams remain stagnant. Take concrete first steps towards returning to college as an adult. This could be as simple as exploring degree programs or chatting with an admissions advisor. Request information about programs you find compelling, or, better yet, take a firm step towards educational success and apply online.
Celebrate Every Milestone
Don’t wait until graduation to acknowledge your progress and set goals for the New Year. Celebrate every win along the way, no matter how small. This begins with early steps, like contacting admissions or applying for a degree program. Continue the celebratory momentum by rewarding yourself for each completed study session, assignment, or exam. Remember: every class completed is a promise kept to yourself.
Conclusion: A Resolution That Redefines Your Future
Education is more than a short-term resolution — it promises genuine transformation. At UMO, we guide this transformative experience with courses, degree programs, and support services that help adult learners feel excited and empowered. This year, don’t just dream about change — enroll in it and explore our new year’s writing prompts to inspire your journey.
Sources
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/01/29/new-years-resolutions-who-makes-them-and-why/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7725288/
https://www.naceweb.org/career-development/best-practices/how-to-help-students-be-smart/
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/setting-goals-that-work
https://umo.edu/new-memories-joyner/
