PDP Short-Term Goal My Short-Term

PDP

Short-term goal

My short-term goal is to complete my required coursework for this semester with a GPA of at least 3.0.

What external reality could prevent you from realizing your goal?

Succeeding in school demands a tremendous amount of emotional and physical stamina. Although I would like to say that I have the unqualified support of my family, I know that they often demand that I act as source of support for others. I have often been forced to put my own needs and desires second when I am faced with serious family obligations. I must plan ahead so that in case a crisis does afflict my family, I am able to balance work, school and family demands. School must remain a priority.

Working and going to school is a considerable economic stress upon my finances. It is sometimes exhausting, having to balance the needs of both the worlds of work and school. I worry about getting a job after graduation to pay my student loans and I also worry that my current job is diverting scarce time and intellectual resources from my more important schoolwork. My suspicions are confirmed by research: a recent study found that students who work in excess of 20 hours a week had GPAs averaging 2.95 while those who worked less than 20 hours a week had GPAs averaging 3.13 (Clark 2009). The study was a general survey of students of various subject areas: a pre-professional program as demanding as nursing is even more taxing.

I also hope that my own health is strong throughout the duration of this course: as a future nurse and caregiver it is especially essential that my health 'holds up' under strain, in preparation for the arduous work of nursing. Learning about nursing requires mental and physical stamina, just like nursing itself.

What are your strengths and weaknesses to help you meet your goal?

I have intense intellectual curiosity: I am always asking questions about the world. I enjoy being a student, and to be a nurse is to be a constant student of best practices, while working to improve a patient's health. I am always seeking to learn more to add to my intellectual database and toolkit of skills and knowledge. I am willing to admit when I do not know something, so I can learn new things and when I do learn something, I rarely forget it.

My greatest fault is my perfectionism: this often causes me to procrastinate. I always want to give 100% to everything, so I often postpone projects and school work until it is the 'perfect' time to do the project. I have learned that in life, sometimes a task must be completed, and doing something like a term paper perfectly is impossible. My education is still a work in progress. I hope that my attention to detail, however, will help me as a nurse. I know that prioritization and multitasking are critical skills for a nurse, and I hope to work on these qualities.

Do any other goals interfere with meeting this goal?

I would like to be strong for my family, to preserve my health, and to be economically solvent. I need to balance the need to make money in there here and now with my ability to make money in the future and have a nursing career. I want a career that is truly a vocation, not just a job that pays my bills. Any work that I do now, although I enjoy working hard, will pale in comparison to the type of fulfillment I will experience as a nurse. Given this knowledge, I will try to explain to my family the need for me to set time aside to do my coursework and to study. I will also have to negotiate a feasible work schedule with my employers so that my work does not interfere with my commitment to my classes.

Is there an opportunity for you to pursue this goal?

Economically, like many new college graduates, I will face a difficult job market. I hope that once I graduate from school that some of the difficulties I have staying afloat will abate, given the skills I will have learned as a nurse. I think that I will be less torn apart by different demands on my time and unlike many graduates I will have a marketable skill that is in high demand (Nursing shortage, 2009, AACN). Knowing that I have a goal, I must make time to study and excel in my classes.

Do you want to do what it takes to achieve this goal?

I will do whatever it takes to achieve my goal. I love studying for my courses and am even more excited at the prospect of actually working as a nurse in the future. I have waited a long time to begin fulfilling my life goal of becoming a nurse

Are you willing to try to correct your weakness to meet the goal?

Talking with those who are close to me about giving me enough time to study, buying a planner to work on my time-management skills and setting short-term as well as long-term deadlines in all of my classes are essential steps for success.

Does this goal fit you?

I think that my desire to learn, my desire to become a nurse, and my intellectual curiosity makes my goal of achieving a 3.0 GPA very reasonable. I would like to set an even higher goal for my GPA, but I am concerned about balancing work and family demands. I hope to exceed my 3.0 goal in the foreseeable future.

Long-term goal

My long-term professional goal is to become a great nurse, with a high level of expertise, competence, and technical skills.

What are your strengths and weaknesses to help you meet your goal?

I feel confident that nursing is the right occupation for me. My desire to be a nurse is a source of inner strength. I have always had to encourage myself when times are difficult. I think the ability to dig deep within myself and use my inner resources will make me a better nurse, since I know that I may encounter individuals during difficult times in their lives. I have to learn to manage stress so that I can help patients deal with their own physical, psychological, and social demands.

My weakness is putting my loved one's needs ahead of my own goals to the point that I procrastinate about the necessary tasks I must perform to learn and to become a great nurse. A nurse is a caregiver, but even caregivers have to have personal priorities. My work as a nurse must take precedence.

Do any other goals interfere with meeting this goal?

My goals of being a good person must not get in the way of being a good nurse. I must not be 'nice' for the sake of being nice, when I know the good I can do as a nurse is so potentially great. I must be willing to take a risk and get out of my 'comfort zone' with others to move ahead in life.

Is there an opportunity for you to pursue this goal?

Despite cutbacks in the field of nursing, demand for nurses is still great. After becoming a nurse, I can always gain further expertise in even higher-demand specialties, such as gerontology, critical care nursing, and nutritional science.

Do you want to do what it takes to achieve this goal?

Studying to be a nurse will require a long period of delayed gratification. I must put aside the desire to have fun and instead study as hard as I possibly can. I must also focus on my career satisfaction, advancement, and financial stability in the future, despite the uncertainty of the present moment.

Are you willing to try to correct your weakness to meet the goal?

Learning better time management skills and when to put myself first are not simply essential parts of becoming an effective nurse, but also living a fulfilling life. I am convinced that becoming a better nurse will also make me a better human being.

Does this goal fit you?

My concern for others combined with my love of scientific learning makes the profession ideal for me: and there will be a need for more nurses in the future. I am satisfying my own needs, the needs of my patients, and the needs of society in becoming a nurse.