Mental Health Drop In Center

Setting Career Goals

One of the toughest issues in making a good career choice and career goal setting is identifying what it is that you want. Even when it seems that you know what you want, you may still have doubts on if your career choice is the right one for you.

Reaching clarification in these issues may be the most important thing you can do in your career planning and goal setting . Here are a few career goal setting guidelines that can help.

Most people, even very successful ones, have some periods in their career path when they seem unsure about their career choice and goals. It is totally human to feel that way.

Often, such periods just come and go. For example, they come when you face some overwhelming obstacles on your way. It is all over as soon as you get through these obstacles.

That situation by itself is not a problem of choosing a career, only a test of your determination in seeing it through but what if those doubts persist, or if they always live somewhere in the background of your thoughts? If it just does not feel right? If this is the case, then it is time to look more carefully at your career choice and overall career objectives.

Often we choose or are placed in a career because it just seems like the right step to make or that is what your studies have focused on. The only problem is that sometimes that passion that we once had as a young adult are now gone, or the realism of the job has taken the interest and joy out of it.

That is when it is time to set a new career goal or objective. Choosing the right career goal to sink into requires a great deal of soul searching. You need to ask yourself these questions beforehand:

1. Am I making the kind of money that I want to make?
2. Do I want to make more money?
3. Does money even matter to me?
4. Do I like what I’m doing right now?
5. What am I passionate about?
6. What could I be doing that would make me happier than I am right now?
7. Would I be happier simply switching positions or getting a promotion; or would I be happier changing careers all together?
8. Why am I still working here?

Your Goal

Planning a career move is much like mapping your route for a road trip. If you don’t know where you are going, you can’t decide how to get there, but if you do know where you are going, you’ll get there faster.

Goals like “Go back to school” are too general and not specific enough. You have to translate these goals into specific statements such as “Enter a college accounting program by next fall” or “For the next two months, search for work in the computer securities field.”

You have to know exactly what you want to do and when to go about it.

Plan Backwards

One of the best ways to move forward is to plan backwards. Start by asking yourself if you can accomplish your goal today . If you can’t why do you think that is? What do you have to do first? Is there something you have to do before that?

Keep thinking backwards like this until you arrive at tasks you could do today. This will help you to attain the goal’s starting point.

For example, if your goal is to take a two-year business administration program, could you start today? No, you have to be accepted to the program first. Could you be accepted today? No, you have to apply first. Could you apply today? No, you have to decide which post-secondary institutions to apply to.

Could you decide today? No, you have to do some research first and so on. I could do this all day but you get the point. Don’t worry if your list of things to do becomes several lists.

My next article will focus on
Deal With Your Fears and Expectations of Yourself

Scott Barker- EzineArticles- Expert Author

This article may be freely reprinted or
distributed in its entirety in any Ezine,
newsletter, blog, or website. The author’s
name, bio and website links must remain
intact and be included with every reproduction.

Filed under: Motivation, Self Help, Self-Improvement