When I first learned that our first assignment in LDT 502 was to write about our goals, I cringed. Not because I think goals are pointless or because I’m, like many people, afraid to write SMART goals (I finally have those figured out since I teach a presentation all about writing them for work). No, I cringed because I assumed that this was one of the ubiquitous “Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?” questions. Those questions, I dislike. Generally, I hear this question during an interview and it is always a game of figuring out if the interviewer will understand where I’m coming from or judge me as someone who just doesn’t have my life together. It’s not that I don’t have goals, I always have goals. But when I look back at my life so far, I see how much I’ve benefited from from staying a bit loose and ready to jump when opportunities present themselves. I think of how many times the choices I’ve ended up making were so different than what I had been expecting, but how they were absolutely the right choices. I always say, “If I followed a 5-year plan too closely, I wouldn’t even be living in the Washington, DC area and I would not have the opportunity to be interviewing for you today.”
However, when I actually looked at this assignment, I realized that the goals we are asked to create are more immediate, and that I can definitely do! I believe, for myself, that working towards a specific goal is a great way to get started, but I am not afraid to pivot or follow the path in a different direction as the work grows. With that said, let me jump into a short-term, medium-term, and long-term goal (the end of this graduate program, not 5 years long-term).
Short-Term Goal: Something that can be achieved by the end of this course.
I actually have two goals for each course I undertake in this program. So far I’ve come away with an A+ in my first two classes. And while I don’t know if that plus is attainable to maintain throughout the whole program, I do intend to go for the A in each class. It is just something I would like to see for myself and a way to redeem some of my foolishness in my undergrad years. Though they were long ago and I finished with a pretty good GPA (and knowing that my GPA has never once mattered in my career), I would still really like to see how far I can go with this goal. Does this mean I’ll be disappointed in myself if I receive a “B”? Only if I didn’t do my best work. If I know I could have done better, then yes. But if I know I did my best and that is where my best got me, then ok, I can accept that. We were tasked to talk about who can help us with each goal and for this, you’d think this is entirely intrinsic. That’s a big part of it, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the people in my life supporting me. My mom is just excited to hear what I’m doing for each assignment and celebrates when I do well. My boss and mentor gives me great advice on grad school and a ton of support. But most of all, my partner is the one who deals with my ADHD brain when I get overly busy trying to work my two jobs, finish theatre projects and give grad school my best. He sees the struggle and encourages me when I feel like I have hit the metaphorical brick wall. As we speak, I’ve put off yet another chore in order to work on school. His patience and support make a world of difference.
The other short-term goal for me is to start making connections with my classmates. Whether it’s just a LinkedIn connection or we actually schedule a Zoom call to chat for a bit, I’ve been working to get to know the others. I think this is super important, as I’ve seen time and time again how knowing people and having connections is the most successful tactic in getting your foot in the door for jobs and opportunities. We should absolutely be networking with each other and not only for future “what can you do for me” moments. But we should be supporting each other so we can give and get advice on certain projects or expectations throughout the program. This takes a little more effort when in an online environment than learning in a classroom setting, because you have to actually step outside of your comfort zone and take definitive action to ask someone to email you or Zoom with you. But to me, it’s totally worth it! My people connections are what make things worth doing most of the time.
Medium-Term Goal: Something that can be achieved by the midpoint of the program.
In the past few years, I have been learning more about being neurodiverse. It is fascinating to watch a video on something like organizing for people with ADHD and seeing neurotypical people react by saying “Duh, that’s just common sense.” For you. It’s common sense for you. But sometimes that same task that comes so easily for the neurotypical person is a huge struggle for those of us whose brains don’t work the same as “most people”. And the more I learn about being in the “diverse” side of things, the more I see how necessary we are in a work environment and yet how difficult it is for some of us to fit into the “typical” world and its expectations. I started developing a beginners course presentation about neurodiversity in the workplace during my first course in this program. But I think there is more to talk about and more to present than what can be done in just an hour long presentation. So by the mid-point of this program, I would like to draft a plan for how I would like to present this material and start working on it. Does that mean interviews with people who are trying to fit into the standard workplace or those who have created neurodiversity programs at their offices? Is this a presentation or a webinar series? If it is going to involve interviews, I definitely know quite a few people who are neurodiverse but who are succeeding academically or in the workplace. I have actually reached out to one of the creators of the neurodiversity programs at Microsoft to see if we could connect. He hasn’t answered me, but that’s ok. At least I tried. I’ve met other people who can speak about what is being done in their companies. So I do think I have some good people around me to help with this endeavor. And of course I’m hoping to tie this in to future courses and maybe even develop certain parts of this work for my grad work. One class I’m really looking forward to taking is about accommodations for learners with disabilities and other needs. That is coming up for the end of this semester and I believe I will learn quite a bit that will be beneficial for this project and my future as a learning designer in general.
Long-Term Goal: Something that can be achieved by the end of the program.
This is where I start to struggle in writing a goal. What is it I want to achieve by the end of this program? I’ve been really thinking about this for a few days. Finally it dawned on me that my original goal in starting this program was to solidify my skills, learn more about this field and to really learn about the many opportunities that exist for people with these skills. I’ve always loved video editing and have already turned that skill into a series of trainings at my job. However, I felt like I was kind of just doing what I thought was right without the knowledge of the fundamentals. So by the end of this program, I would like to have a better idea of what is out there as far as jobs and opportunities, decide what direction I would like to head towards and know that no matter what, I have a solid foundation of skills to bring with me.
