Setting Career Goals for the New Year

What are your career goals for the next year? What about the next five years? Whether you’re thinking about your short-term career goals or looking farther into the future, there’s no time like the present to plan the steps you need to get there.

We’re here to help turn your educational and career goals into a reality. Everyone’s long-term career goals are different, but the following are a few ideas that make sense for everyone.

Make Time for Yourself

It’s easy to get caught up in your job, especially if it’s something that you’re passionate about. Before you know it, you’re working nights and weekends trying to get ahead. But if you have too narrow a focus on your work, you’ll start to experience burnout. 

Burnout is rampant in today’s professional world. Excessive stress can limit your memory, decision-making abilities, emotional control, and your ability to focus. Set a goal this year to do something that’s just for you, whether spending time with your family or simply going outside. You’ll feel happier and healthier, and you’ll be more productive and accomplished as a result.

Give Yourself Credit

Everyone loves hearing that they did a good job, but those compliments aren’t necessarily forthcoming. If you’re not feeling recognized for the good things you do, feel free to compliment yourself!

More and more jobs in the modern era require less interaction with bosses than before, so you might not have the same opportunities for feedback that you used to. One of the downsides of working from home, as millions of us now do, is that we’re missing out on the face-to-face interaction that we usually get at our jobs.

Keep a journal of the things you accomplished. They can be big goals like finishing a longstanding project that’s been on your back burner for a while, or you can recognize the small steps that you took on a day to day basis. When you need inspiration, take a look through your journal and remind yourself how far you’ve come.

Ask for Feedback

This year, resolve to go out of your way to solicit feedback from your colleagues. Ask them whether you’ve been holding up your end of projects, what you can do to go the extra mile, and whether they need any help from you. Even if you’re doing great work and they don’t need anything more from you, they’ll appreciate the outreach.

Set SMART Goals

Remember that it doesn’t matter what your goals are, as long as they’re well-thought-out. Whether you’re setting career goals or prioritizing your education, it’s a good idea to make your goals SMART — an acronym that stands for:

• Specific: If your goals are too broad, it’ll be hard to tell whether you’ve met them. Don’t set a goal to “get a job in tech,” set a goal to become a network engineer.
• Measurable: Set quantifiable goals so you can track your progress. You might tell yourself that you’re going to earn a specific certification, then apply for at least three jobs a month.
• Attainable: Failing to meet your goals is always disheartening, so ensure that your goal is realistic in the time scale you give yourself. You won’t be the CEO of Google by this time next year, so don’t choose that as a goal.
• Relevant: Pick goals that are directly related to your values and your long-term plans. If you’re determined to get a job in network maintenance, learning French isn’t a relevant goal.
• Time-bound: Set an end date on your goals to keep yourself accountable and give yourself something to strive for. If you’re going to start an online certification, set an end date by which point you should finish the course.

Putting your goals into this framework accomplishes two things. First, it incentivizes you to think about which goals are most important to you, which will help keep you from feeling overwhelmed or biting off more than you can chew.

Secondly, using a SMART goal framework helps you set boundaries and intermediate steps along the way toward meeting your more significant objectives. If you select a lofty goal like “become a network administrator,” you’ll also need to set a lot of smaller goals between where you are now and the finish line. You’ll want to map out any certifications you might need, people you should talk to, companies in your area that you can apply to, additional degrees or qualifications that could help you, and so on. The more organized your goals are, the better.

Expand Your Skills

Finally, resolve to learn something new! The scale is entirely up to you — you might want to simply audit a class on a subject you’re passionate about, or you might want to earn an entirely new degree and change your career direction for the better.

Whatever you want to learn, CSU Global can help. We offer hundreds of courses on a wide variety of topics and can help you expand your horizons from certificates up to bachelor’s and master’s degrees. If you’re ready to commit to broadening your mind, get in touch with CSU Global today!