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  If your goal is to climb the corporate ladder or make a career change, it is important you learn how to set and achieve career goals, as it is g essential for professional growth. A career without goals is like embarking on a road trip without a guide or map, you would end up wandering in circles and maybe even come back to where you started.
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A career goal is a well-defined statement that explains the profession that an individual proposes to pursue all through his career. Every employee needs to clearly define their career goals, as this would help them come up with effective action plans and navigate their way through the corporate ladder. Before setting career goals, it is important to know the types of career goals, they include:
  • Short-term goals: These goals can be achieved within six months to three years.
  • Long-term goals: These goals may take three to five years or more to achieve.
In other words, your short-term goals are the milestones you have to achieve before you can finally achieve your ultimate aim or your long-term goal.

How To Set Career Goals

It is not enough to know of simply defining your goals, because without developing and mapping out your goals properly, it will be harder to achieve them. When setting career goals, an individual should ensure that they meet the following criteria:
  1. Specific: Define what success means to you, how career success applies to you and milestones to reach as well. You shouldn’t just focus on being successful, you should be specific on what success means and how successful you intend to become, this is because the ultimate success for one person may just be a milestone to achieving bigger goals for a different person.
  2. Measurable: As you set your career goals, there should be laid down methods to measure your results or outcome.
This can be achieved by setting a timeframe for each goal to ensure that each goal is attained within the specified time. This helps you channel your resources towards achieving your goal within that period. And the moment you attain your short-term goals within a set period, then you are on the right path to achieving your ultimate goal.
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  1. Realistic and Attainable: Do not set goals that are not realistic, as they might leave you disappointed in the long run. It means that the goals you’re setting for yourself should be achievable and feasible. To ensure it, ask yourself whether you have all the resources required to accomplish this goal. This way, you can determine if it’s achievable or not.
In addition, your goals shouldn’t be too simple and easy, it should challenge you and stretch you beyond your comfort zone. If your goals do not make you slightly uncomfortable, then you should probably set higher limits.

How To Achieve Career Goals

  1. Write them down: It may seem old-fashioned, but writing your goals, makes it easier for you to achieve them than when you don’t. When your goals are carefully and properly written down, it helps you with accountability as you can go back to appraise yourself on areas you’re doing well. Writing your goals down also forces you to think critically about how to achieve your goals.
  2. Break career goals down into smaller goals or steps: Identify the main goal, then break it down into smaller goals or action steps. This breakdown helps to put your mind in order and build momentum. You will also be less likely to procrastinate, because your goal suddenly seems easier to attain.
  3. Envisage success constantly: By visualizing success instead of failure, the chance of reaching your goal increases exponentially. In addition, it helps to boost your confidence and places you a step ahead to achieving your goal.
In conclusion, a career goal involves setting short-term and long-term objectives related to one’s career path. Taking the necessary steps involved to setting career goals helps propel you to achieving your goals. Featured Image Source: FlexJobs
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This article was first published on 19th January 2022

grace-christos

Grace Christos Is a content creator with a proven track record of success in content marketing, online reputation management, sales strategy, and so much more.

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