Reach Your New Year Career Goals With This Simple Tool
As we step into 2024, it's the perfect time to cast a retrospective gaze on the year gone by. Whether it's assessing your relationships, lifestyle choices, or career milestones, a thoughtful evaluation can unveil your growth and pinpoint areas for improvement in the year ahead. One effective tool for this introspection is a Post-Mortem, offering valuable insights into your 2023 career success and beyond. Let's delve into the journey of self-reflection and goal-setting for the new year.
A Post-Mortem is actually a tool mostly used by designers to evaluate the success of their work. Contrary to popular belief (even among designers) a design project does not come to an end when the final product is delivered to the client. Instead, good designers run Post-Mortems with the goal of clearly understanding what was successful or not in their designs while the project is still fresh in their minds. This allows designers to learn from their work and excel in the next project.?
So, how can you?use a?Post-Mortem?to improve your?career?in 2024? Well, at the end of every Post-Mortem you?should?get concrete answers to three questions. These are:?
What went right and should be repeated in the future??
Successfully keeping your job throughout 2023 is a testament to your competence and numerous accomplishments in your role. Now is the time to slow down and?think?about?all those?2023 career successes,?write down each step you took?to?accomplish?them, and?plan ways to?repeat them this year.?It is?recommended?to?have?a?moderator?around?when?you run?your career Post-Mortem. This person?needs to be?close to you professionally,?like a?manager or?coworker. They can?help you by?pointing?out successes that you might not remember at the time,?reminding?you of a key step you took to reach?a goal, or simply bringing a?new?perspective. Evaluating your accomplishments and knowing exactly how you reached them?last year?will?uncover?paths?that you can once again take?to?reach?your 2024 goals.?
What went wrong and should be avoided in the future??
Were you close to achieving a goal but were not successful??Did you make a mistake that forced you to start a project from scratch??Do?some of your responsibilities take too long to get done??If you?did not reach a goal?in?2023?this is the time to?come up with?ideas to?make it right and?achieve success this year. Again,?make sure you?evaluate?each step?you took,?and most importantly brainstorm ways?to get past that?barrier that?didn’t?allow?you?to?reach your goals.?You can also use this time to research ways to automate or speed up your processes to make you?a much more effective and?productive professional in 2024.??
What should be done differently next time??
This question should be easy to answer. The results of your evaluation, research and brainstorming will cover it neatly. Make sure to take your time to plan every single step you will take to reach your current goals and any other that you wish to incorporate for 2024. If necessary, create a calendar with deadlines for objectives that you wish to accomplish throughout the year. This calendar will not only allow you to keep track of your progress, but will also motivate you, and will help you build responsibility towards your career goals.?
As you can?see,?a Post-Mortem can be used outside of the design field to analyze, evaluate, and plan success?in other areas of your life, like in your career.?Use this tool to brainstorm solutions to your current career struggles, plan ways to reproduce your successes, and?make yourself a more productive professional in 2024.??
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Happy New Year from ISGF to you. We cannot wait to see what you will accomplish this year!
Written by
Jose Caceres
Marketing Manager
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