American businessman, author, and philanthropist, Tony Robbins, says: ‘Setting goals is the first step to turning the invisible into the visible.’ By setting sharp, clearly defined goals for your career, you can:
- measure your progress
- motivate yourself
- take the steps toward the vision you have for your ideal work life
- see forward movement in what might otherwise feel like a long, pointless grind
- increase your self-confidence
Simply put, career goals are the things you want to achieve in your career – where you want to end up and how you want to get there. Your goals will represent the objectives, benchmarks, and milestones in your career. These objectives can be broad, such as, ‘I want to have a job I look forward to every day,’ or they can be specific, such as, ‘I want to be a Financial Manager of a national FMCG company.’ Whether your ambitions are specific or broad, certain or uncertain, identifying them is an important step in career planning.
When you are setting your goals, sit in a quiet room with a pen and paper and:
1. Decide what you want to do and accomplish in your career.
Here are some examples of goals you may want to set:
- Earn a Promotion
- Gain a Management Position
- Start a Business
- Get a Job
- Achieve a qualification
2. Split your larger goal into smaller and more achievable goals or targets that you can achieve.
For example, if you want to earn a promotion, you can split that into smaller, manageable step-by-step goals – such as,
- study the role you want to be promoted to;
- take the steps necessary to do that role better than it is being done now;
- apply for the role;
- build on your skills.
Here are some tips for setting effective goals:
- Express your goals positively.
- Be precise. Set dates, times, and amounts so that you know when you have achieved your goals.
- Set priorities so that you know which of your goals to focus your attention on.
- Write your goals down so that you can be reminded of them.
- Break down your goals into small, achievable tasks so that you get frequent opportunities to accomplish them and feel motivated to take on other goals.
- Set realistic goals that you can achieve and that are in your own control.
3. Establish a step by step plan that will enable you to start working towards achieving it.
Career goal setting can be the reason why one person loves their work and moves forward in their career, and the other finds their work stressful and lacking purpose.
Make it a 2017 goal to have the work life that supports the lifestyle of you and your family. Set achievable goals, be successful and conquer 2017!!