A significant part of career planning process is setting goals. Creating a plan to achieve your goals will not only help you have a successful career, but also a satisfying one. There are many different methods for planning out goals. One efficient way to do this is by creating a career action plan that includes long and short-term goals. Here are a few things to keep your goals on track:
Long vs. Short Term – You’ll want to set both long and short-term goals to achieve your overall career success. According to The Balance Careers, “You will be able to accomplish a short-term goal in approximately six months to three years, while it will usually take three to five years to reach a long-term one.” Throughout your career, there may be a few short-term goals you need to attain before you can reach a long-term goal. For example, if you want to be a lawyer, there are short-term goals you need to achieve before getting there. It may include getting into a pre-law program, earning good grades, excelling on your LSAT exam, getting into a law school, and finally, passing the Bar Exam. Reaching your higher ambitions ultimately boils down to how well you can divide out the two categories or goals.
Think SMART – All the goals you set should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely). Breaking professional goals down into these little steps helps you calculate a better plan. Having clearly defined goals is half the battle of achieving them. Come up with goals that are specific to what you’re doing and make sure they are measurable. You can make a goal measurable by attaching a number to it. For example, I want to generate “x” amount of sales over “x” amount of time. Remember that you should always look at your goals from a realistic perspective. It’s good to be motivated about reaching your goal, but setting unrealistic expectations can keep you from getting there.
Throughout your professional career, there will be challenges and roadblocks; sometimes, the plans you have will fall apart. When this happens, it’s important to change / modify your goals to meet your new situation.