Staying on Track with These 7 Tips to Reach Your Career Goals

12 Jul Staying on Track with These 7 Tips to Reach Your Career Goals

You’ve got big dreams and aspirations! You want to accomplish things in your career, places you want to go, and things you want to achieve. That’s wonderful!

But how can you make sure you’re working towards these goals? How do you keep yourself on track and accountable? 

Here’s some advice: 

1. Tell someone.

Sharing your thoughts with someone else can make goals feel more real. If you have a friend, colleague, mentor, or relative who you can trust to be encouraging without being pushy, confide in them. Tell them what you want to do, and how much time you’d like to accomplish it. They can help keep you focused and encourage you along the way. 

2. Keep a journal or diary.

Write out your goals and identify the steps needed to achieve them. This can work really well for short-term projects as well as long-term ones and can help break big items down into smaller steps. Plus, it feels really good to cross things off as they’re accomplished (or even started!). You’ll feel so much better when you can look back and see how far you’ve come.

3. Talk to someone who knows.

Is there someone whose career trajectory matches what you’d like for your own? Talk to them. Find out what they did, what skills they needed, how they were able to accomplish the steps needed to get where they are. They can serve as a kind of mentor and guide to help you navigate the possible path in front of you. 

4. Check-in from time to time.

If we can learn anything from the past year, life can change in the blink of an eye. The goals you set today might not feel right in six months or a year. Every so often, sit down and think about where you are in your life and career and see whether your goals still make sense. If not, that’s ok! You can always make new goals and reassess them when needed. This isn’t a failure, it’s changing your aim. It’s also very smart and useful — you might start working toward something and realize it’s making you miserable, and why would you want to commit to something that isn’t at all what you wanted? 

5. Reward yourself for accomplishments.

This doesn’t have to be anything big, but you do deserve to celebrate the steps in between. So whether this is something practical, like a new interview outfit or laptop case, or something fun like an unscheduled day off or weekend away, take a moment to enjoy the hard work and time you’re investing in yourself and your future. 

6. Set deadlines.

This might feel overwhelming or like a source of stress, but it can also help you focus and keep motivated. Set small, incremental deadlines to keep your momentum moving forward and your sights set on your goals. This will also help you measure progress toward where you want to be. 

7. Be realistic.

Nothing happens in one day (other than winning the lottery, but that’s not practical). Give yourself time and set reasonable expectations for your progress. There might be setbacks, but there will be progress! Your goals should be longer-term, for the big benchmarks at least, with little steps marked along the way.

Having goals is only half of the battle. Figuring out how to make them real puts you on a path toward success. You can do it! 

Reach Your Career Goals with LeadingEdge

If you’re looking for other career advice, or you’re ready to make a change in your workday, contact LeadingEdge Personnel. We work with some great companies looking for people with just your skills and qualifications. So call LeadingEdge today, and let’s get you started!