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mentee·Goals & Growth

Setting & Tracking Goals

How to set meaningful goals and track your progress over time

Goals transform mentoring from casual conversation into accountable growth. When you define what you want to achieve and track your progress openly, you give your mentor the context to guide you effectively, and you give yourself a record of how far you've come.

Goals page
Goals page

How Goals Are Organised

The Goals page is titled Aspirations & Goals. Goals live inside Aspirations: broad themes or focus areas that group related goals together. There is also an Unlinked Goals section at the bottom for goals not yet attached to an aspiration.

Creating an Aspiration

New Aspiration form with title, description, time horizon, and theme
New Aspiration form with title, description, time horizon, and theme
  1. Navigate to the Goals page.
  2. Click + New Aspiration.
  3. Give it a clear name: this is the overarching theme (e.g. "Learn data engineering practices").
  4. Click Create.

Adding a Goal to an Aspiration

  1. Expand the aspiration you want to add to.
  2. Click Add Goal under that aspiration.
  3. Write a clear title: what do you want to achieve?
  4. Add a description with more detail.
  5. Set a target date.
  6. Click Create.

Tip

Use the SMART framework: make goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. "Improve my public speaking" is vague. "Give a 10-minute presentation to my team by March" is SMART.

Let AI Suggest Goals

Not sure where to start? Use Suggest goals to have MentorStack draft goal ideas from your profile and aspirations. Review the suggestions, edit anything you want, and keep the ones that fit. (AI suggestions use credits: see AI Copilot Features.)

Linking a Goal to Your Match

Use Link to match to connect a goal to a specific mentoring relationship. Linked goals appear in that match's shared view, giving your mentor the context to help.

Per-Aspiration Actions

Each aspiration row has four controls:

  • Add Goal: add a new goal under this aspiration
  • Edit: rename or update the aspiration
  • Achieved: mark the aspiration as complete
  • Archive: hide it from your active view

Tracking Milestone Progress

Goals within an aspiration (and in Unlinked Goals) show a milestone progress bar. Each goal can have multiple milestones; the bar fills as you check them off.

Goal Visibility

Your goals are visible to your mentor and program admin. This shared visibility is a feature, not a limitation. When your mentor can see your goals and progress, they can prepare better advice, spot where you're stuck, and celebrate wins with you. That accountability also keeps you moving forward between meetings.

Tips for Effective Goals

  • Start with 2–3 goals, not a dozen
  • Break large goals into smaller milestones
  • Review goals with your mentor during meetings
  • Celebrate completions. They matter.

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