My goals for the academic year 2020-21

So, this week I got the results for my first year at University and this has inspired me to set goals for next week. Overall, I feel first year could have gone better, but it was definitely a learning experience and will hopefully help me improve further in the future. However, I didn't set myself goals last year and I feel that goals will help me feel more focused and have smaller targets to work towards throughout the whole year.

So here are my 5 goals for the next academic year:

1) Have a stronger independence when working with the Adobe suite, in particularly InDesign and Illustrator as these are the two applications that I am most likely to use and need. Using LinkedIn Learning would be beneficial as this will help me understand the functions and properties of Adobe. Therefore, I would love to be more independent when it comes to using Adobe.

2) Sketch 5 days a week for at least 15 minutes purely for personal gain. During term time, I sketch for hours most days, however, if lock-down has shown me anything it's that free time needs to be utilised as best as possible and that is what I aim to do throughout the next academic year to improve my sketching abilities.

3) Have a basic understanding of Solidworks without needing assistance. Our time with SolidWorks was cut short due to lock-down, however, online classes will be able to help me feel more confident with the CAD software and mean I can design without assistance at all times. SolidWorks is a big skill that I am yet to have but am determined to work hard at in order to improve my understanding!

4) At the end of my second year at University, I will go on to do work experience for a year which will help me get a job in the future. However, despite having some ideas right now, I don't yet know what direction I want to go in, whether that be furniture design, children's products, or other and therefore, by the end of this year, I want to know what direction I want to go in and have some work placements in place to help get there.

5) Finally, I know not everything is about grades, but if my first year at University has taught me anything, it's that when I fully engage and feel inspired by a project I can achieve great results, having gotten 2 Firsts on minor projects this year. Therefore, I would love to continue to build on this hard work and achieve a 2:1 by the end of my second year.

These goals are in place in order to keep me motivated have smaller tasks to work towards during my second year. Hopefully, this time next year I will be able to say I achieved my 5 goals and am ready to set further goals for the next steps!