Posted by There is no universal path to success for everybody; we all have to make it by ourselves. Your dreams are your final destinations. Your goals define your path towards achieving them. For example, if you dream of becoming a recognized doctor who saves lives but don’t have a strategy on how to make it come true, high chances are that this dream will be only a dream. However, if you start planning your path, setting long and short term career goals, you will definitely achieve what you dream about.
What Are Career Goals
How you think and what you do can really bring you closer to a successful rewarding career. In your head, you should always have a clear plan that consists of your career goals and objectives. A roadmap that clearly shows you what you should do next is called a career action plan. The more detailed it is, the better.
Career goals are a set of milestones that help young people that need to be achieved to proceed with your career advancement. If you do not believe in your professional goals, there is no way that you can reach them. Thus, do not deceive yourself. Make your goals realistic and achievable within a specified time perspective.
What Are Short and Long Term Goals
Your career plan should cover both short and long term goals. The difference between them can be expressed using time: short-term goals take from 6 months to 3 years to accomplish, while long-term goals take from 3 to 5 years to reach. Moreover, long term goals are often more complex and cover several short-term goals.
Long term goals examples may be the following: graduating from college or university, completing an internship at a reputable clinic (for doctors), finishing major scientific research project that requires teamwork and takes around 3-4 years, etc. In contrast, short term goals examples are getting enrolled in the dream university, appearing in the Dean’s list, etc.
How to Set Your Career Goals
To set your short and long term career goals is not so easy as to ask EssayOn Time for writing help and get a quick result. You cannot delegate this task to someone else because it is you who knows what you can do and what time you need for it.
Thus, put yourself together, concentrate and follow 7 easy steps that can help you create a road map to your first job:
Understand Your Own Mission
To define your career goals, you need to envision what you are doing it for. When you see the final destination, it is easier to create a roadmap. Thus, before you start writing your goals, reflect on what you want to reach at the very end. What career do you want to build? Where do you want to work? Whom do you want to help?
Define Specific Goals
You can start with short-term goals, or frame your way with long term ones, or write them all together. The only condition is that you set specific goals. Do not be too romantic, like “I want to be a good doctor, or engineer, or programmer.” Say “I need a degree from Medical School to start a career in a reputable hospital and finally become a doctor.”
Be Flexible
Do not think that once you set your goals, you cannot change them. You need a roadmap to show you the way, but if you spot a better opportunity, you can make changes. Do not be afraid of letting yourself down. Sometimes, the best decisions come along the way, so you need to be flexible and adaptable to make the most of them.
Make Your Goals Accessible and Realistic
Again, we want to highlight that you need to set goals that you can really achieve. Setting unreal timeframes or pursuing goals that you do not believe you need to reach will not do any good. Be humble with your appetite but be sure you aim for something that you really need and want.
Think of Timeframes
Even if you set realistic goals, you can still make a mistake with timeframes. They should be sufficient enough for you to achieve the goals, but not too extended to slow down your rhythm. Try to find balance with your goals; sometimes small steps guarantee better results than giant leaps.
Bridge Your Goals with Real Actions
Your goal is nothing until you know how to reach it. Thus, when you set something in your mind, make sure you know how to achieve it. Think of a real action that is required from you and pair it with your goal. This is the only way to make your career action plan really efficient.
Be Positive
When you are finally getting to set your short and long term goals, make sure you do it when your mood is up. It is better to skip this activity if you feel that you are down because the value of such an action plan decreases significantly.
Final Words
It all starts with a dream. At first, you want to be successful, and then you plan how you can achieve it. Goal setting is an important process that helps you see the way to your dream. If you do it right, reaching success will not seem too difficult. Your progress will be split into several stages, with each of them being comparatively easy to achieve. Try on your own and see how easy it is to pursue your dreams.
Susan Wallace
Susan Wallace is a freelance resume writer who works with a different population of job seekers. She specializes in consulting students and young people on getting entry level positions. In this article, Susan sheds light on goals setting and career action planning, as well as on their importance for future success at work.
