Committed to Your Success Coaching & Consulting

This is part 2 of steps for successful career management, which involves the power of goal-setting. What is a goal? It is an end that one strives to reach; it a desired career outcome that you want to attain. Goals can provide us with direction and focus and can serve as reference points we can use to assess our progress.

Goals need to be measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound for them to be effective. I like the SMART method to describe goals:

S            Specific - a goal must be understood and have a purpose, and state specifically what you want to accomplish

M          Measurable - a goal must be measurable so that there is no question if you are successfully reaching the goal

A            Attainable - the goal must not be too difficult or too easy; if it is too difficult, you will become frustrated and give up and if it’s too easy, you will lose your motivation to continue

R            Relevant - a goals must have signficance, be important and have meaning in your life

T             Timebound - goals need to have specific parameters and deadlines for when they need to be completed

The key to successful goal attainment, which can be used in both your professional/career and personal life, is to be in the right state of mind and have the right focus. State of mind involves your attitude, your perspectives, and the way you look at yourself and the world around you. Being in the best state of mind involves a mindset of contentment and happiness that lead to being our “best self”. Our minds are very powerful, which we have total control over so positive thoughts lead to positive behaviors. Focus is the place you are in at any one moment. It involves absorption, connection, and concentration of any given task. When you focus on the steps taken in managing your career, it will lead you to accomplishing your goals.

Another step in reaching your goals is commitment. You must make the conscience effort and own the goal, it must become part of you. There are some simple steps you can take to never lose sight of your goal:

• have a written plan - it doesn’t have to be lengthy, but writing it down commits you to doing. I like using a whiteboard, as you can erase as you complete and are a very visual reminder
• have a mental picture - it may be helpful to take a picture, cut a picture out of a magazine, draw; creating the picture in your mind helps to make it real and keep it in front of you
• written daily reminders - index cards, sticky notes, day planner pages, white board- it doesn’t matter what system you use but keeping daily reminders keeps you focused
• do something every day - you don’t have to complete all tasks in one sitting, which is how most people set themselves up for failure. Break down your tasks and set a time limit, say 15 minutes; before you know it, you will have finished all tasks and reached your goal
• have a reward - this is great motivation for goal accomplishment and will keep you more focused to act and accomplish. Suggestions could be a massage, taking a trip, or buying something you’ve wanted. It doesn’t always have to involve money, as it could be as simple as taking a day off, taking a walk, a relaxing bath, having a glass of wine while listening to soft music, visiting a friend, etc.
• review and recommit - it is helpful to review your goals, and action steps, and recommiting to reaching them; I recommend doing this weekly. This is the time that you may need to alter or amend them to make them work for you.

Keeping your “eye” on your goals will keep them real and motivated and lead to your ultimate success!