When I saw this quote on a website, I had to write it down. I have read many books on goals and what helps people grow both personally and professionally and no matter what, it always says you need goals. And according to Brian Tracy, not many people actually have goals.
So how do you set professional success goals for yourself? The formula is always the same:
- Get an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses
- Have an idea of where you would like to be at the end of a specific timeframe (this year, next year, in 5 years)
- Create a plan to get there, what steps will you take, which actions need to be completed, any research or investigation
- Set yourself milestones on the way to the end result to build in a way to monitor your progress
- Evaluate the investment in time and resources this will take and do you have the investment available
- Determine if it is realistic – can you actually do this?
- Write it down
Planning goals properly can take time, and is essential to your own success that the goal be well-thought out. Once your plan is in place, you can go back and tweak it by inserting dates for each milestone and noting the same on your agenda.
Remember to always spend at least 10-15 minutes per week reviewing your goals and how you are progressing. The goals are your own and only you will know about any changes that you make. In order to keep yourself accountable, you could enlist the help of a colleague, friend or coach -this will help keep you focused forward.
Just like the picture - have a plan to get across the water, with a backpack full of your strengths and abilities, working hard to get across each stone on the journey to success.
