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Four research-based strategies for achieving your goals

January 31, 2020 1

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Whether you’re aiming for a promotion, a career change, or even a degree—learning can take you anywhere. But first you need to know where you’re going.

Throughout January, we’ve been sharing expert advice and research-based strategies to help you set your goals and achieve them.

Take a look at these four strategies that you can use throughout the year.

Step 1: Define the right goal for you

With Professor Richard Shell

Professor Richard Shell, an award-winning scholar, teacher, and author at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, shares this first tip with us: Start by asking the right questions. 

Here are the key questions to ask:

Want to uncover more tips for success? Check out this video with Professor Shell, or listen to his advice on planning for the future.

Step 2: Set and keep your goals

With Professor Laurie Santos

Yale Professor Laurie Santos, instructor of The Science of Well-Being on Coursera, shares WOOP (wish, outcome, obstacle, plan) — a goal-setting strategy backed by 20 years of research! 

Check out this step-by-step guide:

Dive deeper into the WOOP framework in this video. 

Step 3: Beat Procrastination

With Professor Barbara Oakley 

So you’ve set your goal. Now how do you overcome procrastination? 

Introducing The Pomodoro Technique – a time-tested strategy proven to beat procrastination built by Francesco Cirillo and shared by engineering Professor Barbara Oakley, at Oakland University, in one of the world’s most popular online courses, Learning How to Learn.

Explore five steps to beat procrastination: 

Want to learn more? Here’s a video on this technique. 

Step 4: Find a friend who will help you stay on track

With Professor Rich Mayhew

We have a final tip from Professor Mayhew, a faculty member at UC Davis who identifies one key action you can take that will help you improve the odds of reaching your goals. 

For more success tips, check out this video from Professor Mayhew Achieving your Optimal Performance.

Ready to take the next step? Achieve your goals with an accountability partner! 

Give 50% off and get 50% off when your friend purchases their first course: https://www.coursera.org/referral/invite


What advice or strategies have inspired you this year? Join Tristen, Liz, Charissa, and Yash and share your pro-tips with us by tagging @coursera in your social media posts.

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