As a people pleaser, it is extremely important for me that I find a certain level of success. Failure is not an option for me, whether it is knowing that my parents want, or need, to live vicariously through my achievements, a dream of giving my children more than what I had growing up, or my need for a sense of fulfillment. In my past attempt to get my degree, I didn't approach the situation the way I should have - I didn't have a game plan. Learning has always come easy to me, so I just assumed that I could glide right through like I had done since kindergarten. I was wrong. The possibility of failure that I had completely dismissed became very real. I was embarrassed and and wondered just what my future would hold for me without my degree. Now, in my second attempt at Phoenix, I know that there are certain essential practices that I will need to reply to reach the level of success I want to see. The main factors that will aid in my academic success are setting goals for myself using specific learning style and abilities, developing my writing skills using resources provided by the university and other credible sources beyond the university, and a complete understanding of the importance of academic integrity. .
Success in College.
Setting goals have been proven to improve performance on any task. When a student sets goals for his/herself and then is successful in reaching those goals, they feel better about themselves and about their capabilities, and thus continue to set and accomplish goals throughout their academic career (Morisano et. al. 2010). Students make two main types of goals; mastery and performance (harackiewcz, Barron, Tauer, Carter & Ellios, 2000). Throughout my academic career, I've mainly set performance goals; goals that mainly focus on doing well on a certain assignment or class. These goals gave me tunnel vision, making me focus on the final grade. I never enjoyed my work, and rarely remembered what I "learned" after taking the test, and never really understood the big-picture ideas.