[EE-BO]

Great advice above and I would just add one thing-

Undercommit and overdeliver. This is one of the best pieces of advice I ever got professionally, and it applies here too. Obviously you can't go too far with it or you will never get elected, but the point is to think very practically about what you can achieve in one year.

A couple of general thoughts on goals,

1. Pick your battles- Find 1 or 2 things that you think are vital for the chapter's growth and then make those your primary goals. See #3 below too- make sure you pick your battles before you run.

2. Stay focused on the office- Not sure about sororities, but "100% dues collected" is a common fraternity officer goal. But this should be the Treasurer's goal- not the President's. Even though a President would help in the goal of 100% dues collection, make sure your personal goals pertain specifically to areas for which you are directly responsible.

3. Political Grapevine- Think carefully about the internal politics of goals you consider. If you have a "good goal" that you know will be opposed by enough people to make it hard to achieve, think about whether you should even write it down. If it is something you strongly believe in, then think of ways now that you could change the political climate to make that goal possible. If it is not something you think truly essential, consider dropping it (i.e. pick your battles.)

4. Personal Time Commitment- This goes back to #1, #2 and #3 in part. Think carefully about how many hours per week you can devote to your office. Make sure you believe that your stated goals can be achieved in that time frame. Between school, sorority and your personal life- how much time can you devote to this office? Which of your potential goals do you think you can achieve with that time?

I was in office my entire time as an undergrad (pledge class President and various offices after that) and now I am an advisor to my chapter. I have seen and worked with some very good and very bad officers.

But one thing most of them had in common is that they set a LOT of very general and lofty goals for themselves at the start of each semester. In many cases, a more realistic perspective on goals would have kept a lot of guys who actually did a really good job from getting frustrated and burned out when they failed to finish an impossible list of tasks- and it might have helped some not so good officers keep more focused and get the most important things done.

Hope this helps!