Planning for 2020 – What are your Career Goals?

Welcome to 2020 – this will be the best year ever!  If you are like me, this the time to reflect on yourself – I like to think about my career, family and life in general.  It’s a great time to review things and make goals to improve yourself and life in general.

A Career Goal is a statement of your profession that you intend to pursue through your career.  A career goal may outline timelines, skills, education and experience.  With these things in mind, you can define your career goals and create an action plan.  I have found that reviewing your career goals quarterly or annually allows myself time to reflect upon these and make changes or modifications to my plans to keep me headed in the right direction.

Short term goals as well as long term goals are both part of the plan.  Short term goals can be achieved quickly; zero to five years.  Long term goals are longer, from five to fifteen years.

Here are some tips when creating and setting your goals:

  1. Be specific or measurable
  2. Be able to measure or quantify
  3. Be positive
  4. Write them down
  5. Review quarterly or annually
  6. Reward yourself as goals are achieved
  7. Think big – you will achieve more than you anticipate

Creating goals for yourself will motivate you to start and build the future you want.  It’s like having a to do list or agenda to keep you focused.

Here are few examples of goals that I have had or considered through the years:

  • Upgrading your resume
  • Starting a business
  • Volunteering or working as an intern to learn about a profession
  • Taking a computer course at at a local school like UBC, SFU, or BCIT
  • Creating or upgrading my LinkedIn profile
  • Applying for a new job or asking for a promotion
  • Joining a networking group like the Board of Trade or BNI
  • Landing that big account or client

Grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit down with yourself to reflect and create a few goals for 2020 and your career.

 

 

Good luck!