The Number One New Year’s Resolution You Need For Your Career

By Ashley Stahl, Originally Published in Forbes

With the holidays in full swing, the Times Square Ball is going to be dropping before you know it.

And you don’t want your resolutions to go down with it.

Every year people look at the New Year ahead, or in this case, the new decade, as an opportunity to set a goal and make a resolution for change, but 43% of people will give up by February. The most popular goals are exercising to get in shape, diet to lose weight and saving money.?

These are amazing goals, but, why not focus your goals on the one thing you do nearly every day: work.

Here’s the thing, setting goals can be difficult, but when done correctly, they have powerful results. The research is clear... people who set goals are more successful.?

So, how do you develop a career plan and stick to it? Here are three steps you can take right now to build a career plan for 2020, and beyond.

1. Reflect.

With a little break during the holidays, carve out some personal time to reflect on the past year, and look to the future for what you want in your career. After all, you can’t change what you haven’t noticed, right? Reflection is key to success. When you are able to evaluate experiences from the past, research indicates that your performance and productivity will increase.

To deepen this reflection in your career path, considering looking at yourself and your core values. Your career path has two elements: the “what” of what you’re doing and the “how” of how it’s done. Your core values help align your career with your personal principles. Reflect back on your year, and tune into what your top moments have been at work, and notice what skill sets you were using when at your best. The things that come most natural to you are sacred for your career. Do you use that magical skill set you’re best at on an ongoing basis? If not, it’s time for you to consider a career path that does harness your zone of genius. Life’s too short to go against the grain of your natural skills.?

According to research, those who write out their goals are 33% more successful in achieving them, compared to those who formulated the outcomes in their heads. Don’t do it just once! Repeatedly return to writing your goals. I suggest creating a mantra that includes your plan. Repeat it to yourself in the morning and write it down in a journal every day.

2. Set the goal, with a game plan.

With your vision in mind and career path solidified, it’s time to set a highly-specific goal.?Make the goal as vivid in writing as possible, because a granular and detailed goal setting makes you 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to accomplish what you set out to create. If your career plan is to one day become a manager, that’s great! But it’s also vague. Get even more clear, by setting goals like “manage a team of 5 or more senior employees by January 2021. This goal just got much easier to visualize.?

Also, you may have heard of SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound), and for good reason... studies show they really do work. Spend time building this SMART goal clearly, and I can’t reiterate enough how important it is to write it down.

One thing to consider when creating a career plan that you want to move forward is this: it can actually be easier to add something to your life than to take something away. For your career plan, this might look like carving out 30 minutes a day to learn a new skill set for the role you want to step into, or it might look like networking monthly to meet people in the industry you are looking to pivot towards.?You’d be surprised at what you can add to your life when you value (and focus on) the outcome.

3. Work with your fear.

This is often the most difficult step to take. The career plan you have laid out for yourself should involve some form of change, and change is often associated with fear. This fear manifests within your body and might even cause visceral reactions such as increased heart rate, rapid breathing, and pupil dilation. If you are looking at this plan and feel a building knot in your stomach, it could be associated with the fear as well, since non-vital organs, such as your gastrointestinal system, slow down under stress.

In order to beat this fear of failure that often results in inaction, recognize that it is a learned behavior. In the past, making a change, or shift in your life could have been associated with discomfort and pain. This sort of pain, the kind our body remembers and carries, can become trauma. Combat this by making a list of times you took a chance and succeeded. This evidence can shift your brain’s wiring and help you notice where life is working for you, whether your memory is at a sports event, asking someone on a date, or investing in a new investment stock. Whatever you can think of, keep these memories close, and recall these times as evidence that change can be good.

David Foster Wallace touches on fear beautifully in his commencement speech here. I highly recommend you give it a listen!

With fear out of the way, or at least under your control, share your plan with a close friend, family member or coworker... and ask them to hold you accountable. A study on goal setting found that 76% of participants who met weekly with someone to share progress were more successful. So, find someone that will not only listen to your progress but will encourage and keep you motivated when times get rough (and they will if you set a career plan in motion that is truly a reach goal). The Kohler effect, when a person works harder as a member of a group compared to working alone, is a real thing and can be used to your advantage to help you keep your career plan in motion. Don’t be the weakest link in your own career plan.

Look at where your career stands to this point and ask yourself if you are ready to take it to the next level or make a transition. The answer is likely yes. Now is the perfect time to set a plan in place and make it happen!

For a FREE course to land a new job you love, launch your dream business, or find your purpose, visit https://ashleystahl.com/ ?