How to Reach Your Careers Goal

Setting career goals is a process that can start off dreamy and quickly go south if you miss the mark. That’s because setting goals is one thing while reaching them is another. Achieving your career goals entails visualizing, planning and executing the steps required for success. If you need help getting started, here’s a strategy you can use.

We’ve all been there at the start of a new year — full of possibility and raring to go! We make our list of resolutions then before we know it, it’s mid-February and we’ve lost the spark. Well, setting career goals can be similar. When the daily grind has you just staying afloat, it can be hard to focus on what’s needed to move your career from point A to point B. Let alone, feel accomplished while doing so. That’s where a solid plan with actionable steps can help you succeed.

You’ve probably heard of SMART goals . SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For many, it’s the starting point for most goal-setting strategies. But if you want to know the secret to reaching your career goals there are some other areas you may want to consider first.

Decide what you want

Setting career goals will be more meaningful if you incorporate your interests and activities you enjoy. Take a look at where you’d like to be overall. For example, do you want to spend more time with your family? Do you want more financial freedom? Do you want to travel more? Paint a picture of the life you want and visualize how your career will support it. It’s helpful to conjure that picture in your mind from time to time when you need a reminder of why you’re putting effort into your goals.

While you should set your sights forward, Career strategist, Bec McIntosh , says you should review the past few years of your career as well. Decide which things you want more or less of and plan your new career goals accordingly.?

McIntosh notes it’s equally important to make sure the goals you set are inspired by you, and not simply influenced by friends, media, or other entities.?

Next, think of various steps you can take to help make that mental picture a reality. The key is to remember that these are steps YOU can take toward that destination. For example, wanting more financial freedom could mean asking for a raise, finding a new job with a higher salary or overhauling your spending/saving strategy. It should not mean spending more money on lottery tickets in hopes of hitting the jackpot or assuming you’ll get a big bonus at the end of the year.

Set some big goals

Create overarching goals that give you something to work toward. Think of the larger goals as a big umbrella with smaller goals beneath it. Angela Duckworth , who is the author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance , said job seekers shouldn’t be afraid to set ambitious goals for themselves. These long-term goals give you something to work toward and also give meaning to your everyday tasks.

For example, a person who wants to dig into finances as a forensic accountant may not like traditional bookkeeping. Yet, learning the basics is an important step in becoming a specialist, meaning that it’s a stepping stone toward your ultimate goal.

“When you have a purpose, it does somehow give meaning to the mundane,” said Duckworth, who is also a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the founder and CEO of Character Lab . You can read that edition of #GetHired by clicking here .

The idea of setting long-term goals resonates with me because this is something I’ve done since high school. Yet, I learned that I need to work on smaller goals if I want to achieve those long-term objectives.

Work on smaller goals

?This point in the process is a great time for implementing SMART goals. Once you have those long-term and “big picture” goals in mind, you can start looking at the steps you’ll need to take to get there. Those smaller goals will be what propels you along the path. The key is to be smart about setting those smaller goals. Doing so will increase the likelihood of success.

You need to pick goals that are within your control.?

A person who sets a long-term goal of getting a new job may want to create a smaller goal of getting one job interview each week. Unfortunately, job interviews aren’t within your control. Recruiters, hiring managers and a number of other factors affect the scheduling of interviews.

Instead, a person who sets a long-term goal of getting a new job should look at other steps they can take toward that objective that doesn’t depend on other people. Since skills and networking are key to a successful job search, you may want to set a goal of spending a certain amount of time each week taking online courses or expanding your professional network. Those goals are within your control and set you up for success.

Be aware of obstacles

Although you may have good intentions, obstacles will arise that can knock you off the path to reaching your goals. It’s important to understand and access ahead of time, what those obstacles may be. Try to evade them if possible.

Moving around barriers to success may include the following:

• Sharing your goals with others who can help keep you accountable
• Utilizing resources like professional organizations or courses to gain knowledge
• Managing goals through tools that include reminders and deadlines

Implementing a combination of these points can help you overcome roadblocks and spur you to the finish line.

Reevaluate your goals

You should take time to periodically evaluate your short- and long-term goals. Your needs will change as you work toward these goals. Also, you will learn more about yourself along the way.

A person who wants to work in sales may find out that they don’t like a particular industry, for example. They may need to recalibrate or create new goals along the way.

The key is to know that your goals will change and be kind to yourself when they do. Sometimes those changes are beyond your control — something we learned during the pandemic.

?Apply your goals to your personal style

One of the reasons people often fail to reach their goals is that they try to override their ingrained habits. It’s important to learn how to harness your everyday behaviors to increase your odds of success.

For example, a person who considers themselves a night owl may not want to work on their applications or online courses early in the morning. Instead, it may be best to save that work for the end of the day.

Similarly, some people may find it necessary to keep a journal about their goals while others may prefer a more informal system. Just as some like a personalized program and others, a more in-depth system.

Of course, the key to making this work is to find a process that works for you. What I presented above is simply a framework that I’ve cobbled together from experts over the years. I hope that you’ll pick and choose the pieces that work best for you.

Regardless of how you prefer to work on your goals, adapting them to your personal style and rhythm is one way to make your journey a bit easier.

(Reporting by Andrew Seaman , Editing by Onjeinika Brooks )