Reposted from 2018

Setting goals might have been a writing prompt that elicited eye rolls and boredom. However, your teacher didn't lie; it can be a good tool for many parts of your life! I used it a lot academically, but it wasn't until my injuries that I was able to really fine tune it.

Being ambitious and having big goals is great; but often those goals can seem far away and the distance can be intimidating. People say, "you have to walk before you run", "take it step by step" , etcetera, but we're not often taught to apply that thought to goal setting.

I've personally found that when I set goals in "steps" that I am able to keep a better attitude and big goals don't feel so far away. Setting my goals in this way acknowledges the progress I've made and prevents me from feeling as if I have fallen short even though I am making progress. I sometimes will call the particular goals "the gold", "the silver", or "bronze". Making this simple change in mindset rewards progress while looking forward as well.

In honor of the new year, here are some of my tiered goals for my vocal issues:

• Bronze: have vocal cord augmentation/injections**

• Silver: add more notes/tones when speaking***

• Gold: sing again

*It seems to help to set tiered goals for individual aspects of life (ex: general, academic, health, personal, etc)

**achieved

***in progress