Developing career goals that make sense for you is an essential step in successful career planning.
Goals are the foundation to any plan. They give the plan focus and specify what you are shooting for. In essence, career-oriented goals are the whole point of a career development plan.
But you're probably wondering where to start with career goals, right?
Don't worry... I'm here to help, as usual!
1 - Keep Career Goals Short, Sharp & Tightly Focused
When starting out with career goal setting, it's crucial to set short-term, incremental goals. Work your way up to tougher, more complex goals in your career development plan later on.
Don't set the bar so high you can't succeed, or you'll just end up disappointing yourself. And that won't get you where you want to go.
Also, keep your goal time fairly short-term. Short-range goals are very important. Begin the first month and increase a little bit each month thereafter. Don't give up too early on... give yourself a chance to succeed.
2 - Set Reasonable and Reachable Career Goals
You MUST make sure that your career goals are reasonable. Same goes for your career development plan. So often, we act as though more is better. While, it is perfectly OK to stretch yourself and your abilities, if you expect to achieve total career success right away, you're bound to feel like you failed when it doesn't happen.
So, forget about being a superstar for now. Dreams definitely have a place in career planning, but remember that career success always takes hard work, determination, and maybe a little luck.
Shoot for achieving career success in small bites. As you move step-by-step through your career development plan and achieve each of your career goals, your confidence builds. If you fall down... get back up. Miss the target and make the correction. Go back again with renewed enthusiasm and determination.
