In September, Diana Nyad completed a goal that she had worked towards for over 30 years — swimming from Cuba to Florida.
Her first attempt was in 1978 and she completed the goal in 2013.
Think about that — working towards the same goal for 30 years!
That is longer than many of you have been alive and, for some of us, 30 years puts us back to our childhood years.
Regardless, her story gives us a number of things that all of us can learn from:
1.    Diana had the end goal of swimming from Cuba to Florida in sight, but she set a number of realistic goals along the way. During her training, she did numerous swims for 8, 12, and 24 hours to prepare her for the 110 mile swim.
2.    Diana learned from previous mistakes and readjusted her path. Her equipment and her training plans changed for each of her five attempts.
3.    Diana surrounded herself with an amazing team of 35 experts in a variety of areas and she allowed them to help her to design a submerged swimming line to help her swim straight, continually adjust her equipment, and provide support and to document her historic swim.
4.    Diana was prepared: her triumphant swim included a special suit that addressed issue of jellyfish stings that she had faced in the past.

What does this have to do with you? A LOT!
As we head into finals and into the spring semester, have you set your goals? More importantly, have you identified the following:
1.    Small goals along the way to balance the many projects, papers, and assignments that are coming due?
2.    The obstacles are you facing that could hinder your success and how will you deal with them?
3.    Your support team? Whether study buddies, peer tutoring, family support, these are the ones who will take on your extra tasks during these last few hectic weeks and will be there to cheer for you when you finish.
4.    Are you prepared?? Do you know where your grades are now? Do you know what you need to finish? Create a list of all of your projects and begin to check them off.
5.    What is your ultimate goal? Meet with your counselor if you haven’t already to see what your progress is towards the degree or certificate you have chosen. If you don’t know what you are going to study, work with your counselor to determine your interest areas so you can find your path.

Our new Counseling office is not 110 miles away like Diana Nyad’s destination.
Enter the new Peter Miller Community Technology Center and come upstairs to see us!