Have you ever noticed that people who succeed tend to have a very focused mindset and specific goals for their career? To get where you want to go professionally, you have to know what the end goal is and break that goal down into smaller steps that will lead you to the success you desire.
Setting professional goals allows you to focus on the tasks that will help you do your job to the best of your ability, force you to be a team player and allow you to see the big picture at work.
Over time, these goals can change. Perhaps you’ve already met your first target, or maybe you just have different priorities than when you first started your job. It’s smart to revisit your professional goals at least once a year and reevaluate them. Here are five tips that will help you as you figure out your game plan for the coming year:
Identify Your Professional Values
The first step in setting professional goals is to evaluate your professional values. What do you want to accomplish in your career? Why did you choose this line of work in the first place? If you could achieve anything, what would it be? Don’t be afraid to dream big as you figure out exactly who you are as a professional.
Set Career Development Goals
Once you know why you do what you do, it is time to look at some development goals you can set for the coming year. A good place to start is by figuring out what your strengths and weaknesses are. What knowledge do you need to achieve what you want in your career? Once you determine what you need to strengthen, you can figure out the best way to develop yourself into the worker you want to be.
For example, if you have a hard time juggling multiple tasks, take some organizational or leadership courses. Organizations such as Dale Carnegie, or your local community college, offer various classes that can help you develop specific business skills. You can also find many courses online but read the reviews first to find the best courses possible.
Challenge Yourself
Next, set some targets for what you want to accomplish in your job this coming year. Don’t make the goals too easy. Challenge yourself and stretch beyond what you would normally do. While you don’t want to make your goals unrealistic, try to imagine what you could achieve if you put in that extra effort each day or sought out additional training or help from your co-workers. Sometimes just learning to delegate tasks can increase your productivity.
Write Out Your Goals
In a study involving recent graduates from Harvard’s MBA program, researchers found that only 3% of the graduates had clear, written goals for what they wanted to accomplish and a game plan to move forward. When they interviewed the same people ten years later, they found that those who had written out their goals and plans were making ten times as much money as the other 97% of the class.
Writing out your goals gives you focus. Take the time to write out what you want to accomplish in the coming year.
Think Through Roadblocks
Take the time to think through what might prevent you from reaching your goals this year. Write down potential road blocks. For example, if your goal is to get a promoted to a management position, but you don’t have any management experience, you might be a few steps behind other candidates for the job. What are some ways you can address this in advance to overcome this roadblock to your promotion? Perhaps you could take a business leadership course.
No matter what your goals are, there will be roadblocks, ranging from your own weaknesses to co-workers vying for the same raise, promotion or extra perks. Knowing what the roadblocks are will help you create an alternate route that will still get you where you want to go.
Taking the time to establish and write out professional goals will put you ahead of most of your co-workers. While it would be ideal to reach every goal you set, don’t grow discouraged if some goals take longer to achieve than others. Just keep working on them and setting new goals along the way.
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