By Cindy Schinke, Senior Consultant
We made it through 2022 and into 2023. The new year is usually filled with good-intentioned resolutions that eventually fade away – usually quite quickly. Instead of resolutions, let’s aim for goals! Will this be the year that you identify, establish, and follow through on your career goals? After the past couple of years, now would be the ideal time to ignite that fire, revisit and refresh your goals, and even strive to challenge yourself (more).
Settings goals for the year will give us something to look forward to as we submerge ourselves into the months ahead. Goals provide a vision and clarity to that vision. Establishing career goals can motivate and provide direction for our future selves.
The first step in reaching your goals is to make sure you target something you WANT to do. But before you decide on an action plan, you need to go through a decision-making process to figure out where you want to be!
Have you taken stock of where you are in your career? Here are some self-coaching questions to help get the ball rolling:
- What do I like about my contributions?
- What do I want to do more of?
- What am I absolutely finished with?
- In which areas am I committed to stretching?
- Do I actually know what I aspire to?
- What do I need to start the discovery process?
- Who can I speak with to start the discovery process?
- How can I challenge myself?
Some initial goals could include:
- Complete an assessment
- Increase professional knowledge and training – enroll in a course
- Take on a new project at work
- Improve your networking skills and build your network
- Connect with a mentor
If you have a setback when you’re trying to reach a goal, a way to keep you on point is to outline a plan, track progress, and most importantly celebrate goals and accomplishments. Remember, setbacks are temporary and provide an opportunity to recalibrate and keep moving forward.
Good luck in turning resolutions into goals!