How to smash your career goals
Photo by S O C I A L C U T on Unsplash
You’ve set yourself some career goals at the start of 2023 and now that we are half way through the year you’re feeling that you haven’t got anywhere close to achieving them.
Does this sound familiar?
Well, you’re not alone.
Like millions of others who set New Year’s resolutions, unless they are backed by lots of small steps that are easy to implement, they all tend to fade away.
In this blog, I share some ideas for action that may help you break through that sense of ‘feeling frozen’ and move into action.
But first, some inspiration words about goal setting.
Goal setting is a process that starts with careful consideration of what you want to achieve, and ends with a lot of hard work to actually do it. In between, there are some very well-defined steps that transcend the specifics of each goal. Knowing these steps will allow you to formulate goals that you can accomplish.
“The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there”
So achieving our goals is all about having belief that we can achieve them, not limiting our dreams and putting in the hard work to achieve them.
Here are some of my ideas for action:
1. Write it down and say it out loud
The physical act of writing down a goal makes it real and tangible. You then have no excuse for forgetting about it.
Saying what you want to achieve out loud creates an accountability to ourselves and those we say it to, to actually do something about it.
There is research to support the fact that talking to yourself out loud helps to shape your behavioural patterns. It can make you focus on your short term goals and curbs self-criticism. It can also help you get more intentional and motivated with whatever you are trying to achieve.
2. Make it SMART
You have probably heard of SMART goals already. But do you always apply the rule? The simple fact is that for goals to be powerful, they should be designed to be SMART. SMART stands for:
Specific – a specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished. For example, a general goal would be to exercise, while a specific goal would be to do spinning classes 3 days a week.
Measurable – establish concrete criteria for measuring progress. How will you know that you’ve been successful?
Attainable – the goal should stretch your abilities and be challenging but still remain possible.
Realistic – the goal must represent an objective towards which you are both willing and able to work.
Time-Bound – your goals must have a deadline. This means that you know when you can celebrate success. When you are working on a deadline, your sense of urgency increases and achievement will come that much quicker.
3. Approach in bite size chunks
Wellness expert Brett Blumenthal suggests rather than setting yourself up for disappointment by setting big goals, try one small change per week for 52 weeks.
You might call it the “yard by yard it’s hard, but inch by inch it’s a cinch” approach to personal improvement. It’s a surprisingly simple formula: focus on one small, achievable change every week. Then enjoy the accumulation effect. Breaking a big goal into smaller components makes the process more manageable and less overwhelming.
4. Find an accountability buddy
If you have a hard time reaching milestones, maybe it’s time to find an accountability buddy. An accountability buddy is someone who helps you stay on track while you work toward achieving your goals. An accountability relationship is a mutual partnership in which you and your partner agree to check in regularly—or even coach each other—and exchange honest feedback as you both move toward specific goals.
Having a good accountability buddy can improve your performance and keep you on track; however, it is still ultimately your responsibility to make sure you reach your goals.
5. Set review milestones and celebrate successes
It’s important that we set some time aside to review our progress and take the opportunity to recalibrate if needs be.
Mid-year for me means time for reflection, reset and recharge. It’s important that we don’t just plough through the rest of the year without taking some time to reflect on how things have been going so far!! Take some time to think about what went well, what went wrong and what you want to focus your energy on for the rest of the year.
Then also take some time to look ahead at what you want to achieve by the end of the year – what do you want to be known for, what opportunities do you want to explore and what do you want to learn.
And most important, it’s vital that we give ourselves time for celebration. Celebrations help motivate us to keep going to achieve even more.
Celebrate all your successes, no matter how small.
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate”
I hope you find these tips useful in reaching your career goals and wish you every success for a positive result. Give some of them a go and see if that energises you to get back on track.
If you are in a place where you need someone to hold you accountable and to help you build a roadmap to success, book in for a chat and see how I can help.
