Yearning: Goals

IMAGE CREDIT: Matthias Weinberger
TOPIC INFLUENCE
Goals. We all have goals. As children, we have all said to ourselves, " This is what I want, and I'm going to get it." Even if sometimes it meant doing the ridiculous or trying for the impossible, we still had those goals. I'm going to share with you all some tips I've found that help us achieve anything. 






1. Fast forward in time a few years: Visualize process, NOT outcome
-Visualizing the process of achieving our dream will help keep us in line and aware of the needed steps.



2. Forget the goal. What's the point?
-No, not literally forget the goal. Goals should be made to guide us in the general direction of what we want our lives to be like; they are in service for our overall points and aims. When goals get too specific, its easy to get stuck. When they are too short term, they encourage short-term thinking.

3. Start Committing 
-The main reason we don't achieve our goals is because of the lack of commitment. A power psychological technique to increase the commitment is called:metal contrasting . Follow the link for more information

4. Sidestep procrastinationWhen goals are difficult and we wonder whether it's really worth it, procrastination can creep up on us. Under these circumstances the key is to forget about the goal and bury yourself in the details. Keep your head down and use self-imposed deadlines.
5.Reject robotic behaviorOften our behaviour is robotic. We do things not because we've really thought about it, but because it's a habit or we're unconsciously copying other people . This type of behaviour can be an enemy of goal striving. Ask yourself whether what you are doing is really getting you closer to your goal.

So what are your goals? How are you going to change them after reading this? Do you usually have long-term or short-term goals? What do your goals generally revolve around?

Back from vacation!

I deeply apologize for all the days I've missed blogging and writing! I hope I didn't cause much confusion and misery =P

I was at Santa Cruz for a little while. I've also been working on some art projects. Anyway, I'll back to posting educational and intellectual posts. Summer is coming to an end, and the learning and yearning feeling is gradually coming back!

A new crop of college graduates have just landed on the job market. Right now they’re probably just hoping to get any job, if at all. However, for psychology majors, the salary outlook in both the short and long term is particularly poor, according to a new study which will be published in an upcoming issue of Perspectives onPsychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

It’s generally known that psychology majors don’t make a ton of money when they’re starting out; they’re not like engineering students, many of whom go straight into a job that pays well for their technical skills. But some people have suggested that a psychology major may pay off later in the career, as the critical thinking skills and literacy of the liberal arts education become more valuable. D.W. Rajecki of Indiana University was skeptical. “Psychology educators say liberal arts skills should be valuable in the workplace. Employers say they value liberal arts skills in employees,” he says. “I say, ‘show me the money.’” So, with Victor M.H. Borden, he set out to examine several data sets on earnings for people in different fields.

As expected, they found that psychology majors’ median starting salary of $35,300 is well below the average for college graduates. But they found that this is also true at midcareer, when psychology majors are still paid below the average. They fare particularly poorly when compared to graduates in other science fields, engineering, and health.

“Face it, wages are tied to specific occupations, and real-world data show that psychology alumni just don’t work in areas that pay top dollar,” says Rajecki. Advanced degrees don’t help, either. “Even psychology professors obtain appointments at the lower end of that salary scale.”

Rajecki doesn’t think this means 18-year-olds should stop choosing psychology as a major. “Psychology is a remarkable academic discipline that seems to get more interesting every passing year.  Why should any student avoid the field?” he says. And, of course, money isn’t the only thing that matters. But when academic counselors are giving students advice, they should make it clear that psychology isn’t necessarily the road to riches.

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For more information about this study, please contact: D. W. Rajecki at dwrajecki@sbcglobal.net.

from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/will-psych-majors-make-the-big-bucks.html


Do you know any psych majors? How are they doing in life now? Did they ever see yourself majoring in psychology? Do you think it is a good major? 


Please voice your opinion on psychology majors down below!