My failure is a good failure…

(Paris & Paris, 2001) stated that, “Perhaps the greatest source of individual difference lies in the failures to self-regulate thinking and behavior.”

February 20^th came and went. My monitoring plan goal to post by this date was not achieved. Over the course of this week as other things loomed, work deadlines, children’s hockey, an extra episode of House, my conscience pulled at me. However, I could not motivate myself to put together the necessary research to complete my assignment.

Epiphany – I have achieved SRL behaviour. This assignment isn’t about SRL, it’s about the ability to create, recognize, motivate and redirect behaviours to achieve your goal. So, here I am working on things again. I have identified my lack of motivation, I am redirecting my efforts with a revised monitoring plan in relation to my proximal goals.

Reviewing my monitoring plan, 

1. What are the goals for my learning?

Always at the forefront – my distal goal

Create and execute a basic research plan that identifies sectors of growth, transferable skills and experienced that are needed for career growth in the post-secondary field.

2. Where am I right now in relation to my goals? Am I on track to achieve goal by the 20^th?

        I believe I have now found 105 pieces of information. But, not necessarily in the manor I expected to. My Evernote is full of links. My Excel spreadsheet is a disaster of pasted information. What I did find as I searched sites were links to articles. That is where I was slowed down. Instead of finding actual posted information on career opportunities, I found articles about the future. These journals and magazine articles slowed me down and required me to reconsider things.

    

3. If I haven’t yet met my goals, what do I still need to do?

I am revising my monitoring plan, which is okay. I still have the same target date to complete, but I need to sit myself down and ensure that I complete each step by the new date set. 

Revised Monitoring Plan

 

 Feedback questions:

1. Does what I have proposed seem reasonable?

Resources

Paris, S. G., & Paris, A. H. (2001). Classroom applications of research on self-regulated learning. Educational Psychologist, 36(2), 89–101. doi:10.1207/s15326985ep3602_4

Can my plan create an iceberg illusion?

Achieving Proximal Goal 1

I fully admit I might procrastinate. I might admit I have a tendency not to take ideas to fruition. I have written entrepreneurial ideas in so many books and  never moved forward. I take that back,  I went as far as creating a domain, but never used it.

Setting proximal goals and my monitoring plan took 2 hours. 2 hours to set a plan on how I would conduct research on one of the most important things to guide my life. It took me longer to fight with popplet to create a diagram to show my plan then it did to develop content.

(Locke & Latham, 2006) imply that goal setting is a discrepancy creating process. It can imply discontent and different desired outcomes.

My end goal is not just to develop career direction. My end goal is truly to train myself if setting proximal goals, creating a structured plan, and regulating myself to execute the plan I can achieve this distal goal. If by March 5^th, I have successfully followed my plan, I aim to apply same principles on those many books of dreamed entrepreneurial projects.

From February 13 – 20 all the research needed to complete proximal goal 1 should be undertaken.  I am dependent on myself to complete my distal goal. As a busy hockey mom going into AAA play-offs over the next 4 weeks, I wanted a distal goal whereby I was not dependent on the results of others. Something I could work at any time of day, arena lobbies, and my lunch hour and monitor my progress based on myself. 

Being prepared. The key to this is “learn to.” (Tobey & Goldmith, 2013) identified that formative assessment seeks to develop ownership and self-regulation promoting development of successful learning. Using formative assessment to address three questions, students learn to receive and incorporate feedback, and monitor their own learning.

1. What are the goals for my learning?

Always at the forefront – My Distal Goal

Create and execute a basic research plan that identifies sectors of growth, transferable skills and experienced that are needed for career growth in the post-secondary field.

2. Where am I right now in relation to my goals? Am I on track to achieve goal by the 20^th?

I sat down and fully invested myself in my plan. Set up a new Evernote account already pinned two things. What I need to do is focus back on the specifics I set to looking for 105 things. Not go off track looking at other things of interest. I am fortunate Family Day is this week, gives me an extra day to work on things. Though, it’s family day so I should likely focus on them.

        
     3. If I haven’t yet met my goals, what do I still need to do?

We will see. I am confident and believe that all this work below the surface will have positive results. 

(Locke & Latham, 2006) indicate feedback is needed in goal setting to track progress. Between today and March 5^th, I encourage you to visit this blog and provide feedback to me. I will post specific feedback I am seeking and appreciate any constructive or critical suggestions.

 

1. For anyone in the academic field specifically, do you have any suggestions on sites for career information in academics? 

2. Does my plan seem reasonable? 

Resources

Tobey, C., & Goldmith, L. (2013). The critical role of Feedback. , 8(11)

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2006). New directions in goal-setting theory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(5), 265–268. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2006.00449.x

Stepping it up. A plan for my plan.

This is where it all starts. Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. For a long time I have wondered about next steps in my career. As we have learned this term procrastinating can put off achieving our goals. With so many things in life that come up each day, I fail to put time forward to plan for myself.

My ULTIMATE DISTAL GOAL IS TO Create and execute a basic research plan that identifies sectors of growth, transferable skills and experience that are needed for career growth in post-secondary field

Welcome to my platform for my monitoring device…. I hope you will join me on this one month journey as I research, seek feedback and reflect on my goal achievement.

My Monitoring Device is a straightforward, week by week plan. Holding myself accountable, I plan to spend time discussing what I have learned.

The idea of sharing this research with everyone leaves me a wee bit nervous, how will it be perceived, will you take time to read, reflect and offer feedback? I hope so.

On February 15th, my first real post I plan to be underway with achieving my first proximal goal and undertaking some serious career direction.  

Thank you for taking the time to read. Kathryn