Setting and Achieving Career Goals can make a difference in your career journey. Without goals, you may find yourself going in circles and not knowing where you’re headed. This may make you feel stuck and question your skills and potential.
Career goals can help you figure out the best steps to enhance your skills, become the best version of yourself, and attain significant career growth. Even if you’re not interested in climbing the corporate ladder, you still need to have set goals that help you grow. Continue reading to learn how to set and achieve your career goals.
What Is a Career Goal?
A career goal is a well-defined statement that helps you understand your career path and the highest position you want to attain in your career. It is like a target you aspire to achieve through different steps and stages. It may also involve training programs, gaining hands-on experience, and building your professional network, among other things.
Types of Career Goals
There are two types of career goals, long-term and short-term. Long-term goals are goals that you plan to achieve in the future. They require a lot of planning, time, and steps and cannot be achieved in a short period. Short-term goals are goals set for the nearest future. They may involve big or small steps and can significantly change your career.
Difference Between Short-Term and Long-Term Goals
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Short-Term Goals |
Long-Term Goals |
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Short-term goals are set for the near future and can be achieved within six months to three years. |
Long-term goals are for further in the future and can take between three to five years, or even decades. |
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Short-term goals can be achieved in one or two steps. |
Long-term goals may require various steps and multiple short-term goals. |
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Short-term goals typically take far less work than long-term goals and are easier to achieve. |
Long-term goals may require lots of resources, training, and strategizing. |
Tips for Setting and Achieving Career Goals
Identify Your Goals
The first step to setting your career goals is to identify what your goals are. You need to understand yourself and what you want to achieve in the nearest and furthest future. Knowing your goals makes it easier to know what steps will be needed to achieve them.
Write Down Your Goals in Detail
Once you identify your goals and see what you’re looking to achieve, you can write them down in detail. Write down how you want to accomplish these goals, when you want to achieve them, how long it will take, and other important but specific details. Writing something down makes it easier to see, understand, and attain.
Outline Short-Term and Long-Term Goals
After writing everything down, you can divide your goals into long-term and short-term goals. It is vital to be realistic at this stage. You don’t want to write down a goal that will typically take years of growth as a short-term goal. Outlining these goals will make it easier to figure out the best steps and strategy.
Be Specific But Flexible
While it is essential to be specific, you should also ensure that your goals are flexible. This means that they can be tweaked or twisted when necessary. Being optimistic about your goals is excellent, but you should also be open to changing some steps or milestones when necessary.
Be Realistic
When setting your goals, be as realistic as possible. Setting unrealistic goals can affect your career journey. It can put undue pressure on you and make you stuck or overwhelmed. For instance, as an entry-level software engineer, you can’t set a goal to become a CEO within three years of working with a company.
Another aspect of being realistic about long-term goals requires researching your field and determining what opportunities will be attainable in the future. For example, careers in the nursing field have a job growth rate of 45 percent, according to BLS. Meanwhile, computer programmers have a job growth rate of -10 percent. While growth rates aren’t everything, it’s helpful to gather as much information about your chosen career as possible before making big decisions.
Create SMART Goals
The SMART method is one of the best ways to set and achieve career goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. This covers all the necessary guides to setting goals.
Tips for Achieving Your Goals
Visualize Success
Once you have your goals and timeline settled, the next steps require effort, time, consistency, and determination. Throughout the process of working towards your goals, it is important to frequently visualize success. You are one step ahead when you believe you can achieve your goals and see it working out for you.
Create a Plan
The next action is creating a plan that can work and help you succeed. This plan should be based on your career path, level of knowledge, skill, and experience, as well as how much time you have. For instance, as a data scientist, you may have to join a coding bootcamp to build certain skills required for career growth.
Celebrate Small Wins and Milestones
When you start taking steps to achieve your goals, you will progress and have small wins that take you one step closer to your ultimate goal. You should celebrate and acknowledge your progress each time you hit a milestone.
Don’t Lose Focus
Sometimes, forces beyond your control can get in the way of your goals. This is why you should prepare for delays, cancellations, and changes of plans. To do this, you must be very focused and determined, or you may lose track or come close to giving up.
Also, read What Is The Difference Between A Cemetery And A Graveyard
Conclusion
No matter how big your goals are, you can achieve them with the right plan, strategy, and resources. Setting and Achieving Career Goals is why it helps to follow the best steps to set and achieve your goals. If you make your goals specific, attainable, and realistic, you will be well on your way to a successful and fulfilling career.