Here are Your 2016 Career Goals

The new year is an obvious time to make resolutions for your personal life, but don’t forget to set goals for your work life too. It’s a known fact that you are more likely to accomplish your goals if they are written down and not just conjured up in your head. And you’re even more likely to accomplish those goals when they are accompanied by actionable steps.

Is furthering your career and landing a new job or higher position a goal of yours for 2016? Here are the steps you need to take and the questions you need to ask yourself to get your job search off to a quick start.

• Schedule a meeting with yourself—or two if necessary—to sit and reflect on what you’ve done so far in your career. Write down your accomplishments up to this point! (This alone will boost your morale and ready you for the next step.)
• Ask yourself, “What long-term career goals do you have going forward?” Write them down!
• Choose the goal from this list that you have the most passion for. Circle it!
• What steps do you need to take to get to that long-term goal? List the smaller steps that are necessary to get to that point. If you’re not sure what the typical steps are to reach this goal, do a little online research.
• Schedule each and every step into your calendar—in other words, make time to accomplish your greatest goal. This is the key to success! Try to tackle one task per week or per month.
• Find a friend, colleague, or mentor that will help keep you honest about your goals. Someone you can trust to check in on your progress.
• If you find you were too industrious about your goals, simply revise! It’s ok—as long as you are working on some kind of plan, you’re doing well.
• Plan rewards into your schedule. This is important! Motivate yourself with all those little things you’d like to have, buy, or do. Without a reward system, you could get burnt out, so don’t forget to treat yourself.

Take 2016 by the reigns with this goal-setting session. When you write it down, it’s out of your head and out there for the world to see. No more excuses!

Image via Kim Manley Ort/Flickr.