Resolve to set career goals rather than hoping you might “manifest” them
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The arrival of a new year sees many people wanting to improve aspects of their lives and whilst the intentions are great, most people who start off working towards new goals and dreams end up living most of the year in the same way they’ve lived previous years.
There have been billions of views of #manifestation content on TikTok and Instagram which is the concept that one’s thoughts can cause positive events just by thinking them. The idea that thought itself, honed and directed well enough, can impact the physical world is not new however despite many insisting these methods have worked for them there is little evidence of causation as opposed to correlation. Visualising and believing you can do something does increase the likelihood you will do that thing, but focussed application and effort are the more vital steps in my opinion.
I’ve long since advocated everyone should have their own career plan and in much the same way as with Resolutions this shouldn’t be something which comes without a set of actions and goals that you work towards A lot of new year resolutions fail because people don’t have a realistic plan to help them sustain their initial resolve. It’s always good to plan and prepare yourself for new challenges in your professional career, in both good times and bad.
A career goal is a specific statement of what you want to achieve within a realistic timeframe and is reinforced when there are milestones throughout the year to keep you focused.
Think about what steps you can take to progress, and a healthy way to develop yourself is to consider what skills and experience you would need to make your case for the next level up in your own business? Identify potential pathways and then break them down into smaller actions. Taking this approach helps to focus your thoughts and build momentum. You will also be less likely to procrastinate because the steps seem easier to attain.
What will you need to accomplish by the end of the next six months to progress toward achieving this goal? What actions should you challenge yourself to take within the next 30/60/90 days to move towards the goal? What are the most important skills you’ll need to develop to achieve this goal? How will you develop those skills?
Once you’ve asked yourself these questions and come up with some answers, it’s a good idea to talk to your line manager to hear their perspective. This will help you to validate and challenge your own perceptions and assumptions about the role dynamics that you are aspiring towards and identify the gaps between what you’re doing now and what would be required in that enhanced role, and moreover consider the actions you can take to get exposure in these areas and what allies and mentors might be essential to achieve that goal. This will be an important part of reinforcing and supporting your aims.
Whilst planning, consider the hurdles likely to get in your way, and have a plan how you will navigate those. If you do miss some of your milestones, instead of blaming yourself, try to look at your behaviour to figure out where the process is breaking down. By analysing why something hasn’t worked there will be evidence of how you respond to situations such that you can consider how you will manage them next time
On your journey toward achieving your resolutions, your life goals. or your career plans, one of the tactics that can help is to have an added “consequence “, namely, by sharing your goals with people who know you well there is an accountability to that target that goes beyond self-fulfilment into the realms of not being prepared to fail in front of others.
I trust people don’t confuse resolutions (and manifestations ) with goals and do not allow career goals to slip off the agenda just because the year is underway and the needs of the ‘day job’ distract from the bigger picture aims.
2023 starts with lots of uncertainty ahead and the likelihood is that this will continue for a while. Change doesn’t mean it will be worse, it just means it will be different. With so much uncertainty about what tomorrow will bring, it is understandable that some may be feeling anxious about job security, which is completely natural, which in turn accentuates the importance of taking ownership for the aspects of your life that you can control.
It is never too early, or too late, to start mapping out your career objectives. Setting goals is crucial because it gives you a framework to achieve milestones( identify the steps required , monitor progress and record outcomes) . Remember, dreaming of a destination feels good but it is goal setting that provides a path for you to actually get there.
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