Setting Goals (In Your Profession)
It's pretty difficult (and incredibly unlikely) to hit a target that you're not aiming for/at.
Similarly, it's difficult and incredibly unlikely to achieve a goal that you're not aiming for/at.
 |
| Image generated by Gemini Imagen 3 on 20 Sep 2024 |
Goal setting is a worthy endeavor both personally and professionally; but this article is specifically focused on professional goal setting. For some of you, your personal life may be closely connected to your professional life, and that's fine; the principles are easily translatable.
(At some point, another article will be posted on The Devine View about personal goal setting.)
What Career Goals Are and Are Not:
For the purpose of this discussion, "goal" means a specific task, effort, or achievement that should not be confused with other, higher-level terms like, "aspirations" or "dreams."
In other words, goals are shorter-term targets that I set for myself that I believe will move me toward the higher-level dreams, aspirations, or intentions.
When I was a supervisor/manager, I found these were often difficult concepts for people to keep separate; so, I'll take a few more words to clarify.
Aspirations/dreams/intentions are the "what," while goals are the "how."
Illustrations usually help.
Imagine that goals are individual steps on a staircase. They are relatively small, achievable obstacles that move you toward a destination (upward).
At the top of the stairway, let's say there is a beautiful mountain view, and maybe even a restaurant! Yes! Now I'm motivated!
My "what" (dream, aspiration) is the mountain view and the food, but my "how" (goals) is the next step, then the next step, and so on.
 |
| Image generated by ChatGPT on 20 Sep 2024 |
Depending on your perspective, it's fortunate or unfortunate that career goals are not as simple and repetitive as taking steps up a stairway. Doing the same thing over and over again usually is not enough to move you forward in your career. You need to be a bit more cognizant of the environment, of yourself, and of what the industry/field is looking for.
How to Write Career Goals:
Depending on where you work, you may have a template or format that your company requires you to use; and in that case, you're somewhat stuck with that.
One of the most common formats is called "S.M.A.R.T." goals, and it's common because it's pretty good. There are other formats, but let's take a closer look at this one.
S - SPECIFIC
M - MEASURABLE
A - ACHIEVABLE
R - REALISTIC
T - TIME-BOUND
Let's take these one at a time.
Specific
Use specific language in your goals, not general or high-level language. The goal should be crystal clear about what you are attempting.
Poor: Write more articles for my website.
Good: Write more new, original articles for my website.
Better: Write 10 or more new, original articles for my website over the next 12 weeks.
Best: Write at least 1 new, original article on my website every week for the next 12 weeks (12 articles total).
Measurable
This means the goal should include numbers (fancy word is metrics).
If you're not exactly sure which number to choose for a goal, it's okay to use ranges.
Poor: Create more good content for my YouTube channel.
Good: Create at least 5 new videos for my YouTube channel.
Better: Create at least 1 new video for my YouTube channel every week.
Best: Create at least 1 new video (2-10 min length) for my YouTube channel every week for the next 12 weeks (12 videos total).
Achievable
This means you should set goals that align with your abilities and available resources. You need to believe that you can achieve these goals.
As a matter of philosophy, some people will propose that goals should be challenging and "stretch" you to do something amazing; and I agree, there is value in that. But it needs to be balanced. All of your goals cannot be stretching you beyond your current limits. Maybe one or two can be like that, but the general rule is to make most of your goals be things you are confident that you can achieve within the proposed timeframe.
Poor: In the next 6 days, schedule an interview with a Fortune 500 CEO or CFO about current market conditions.
Good: In the next 6 weeks, schedule an interview with a CEO or CFO about current market conditions.
Better: In the next 6 weeks, schedule an interview with a successful entrepreneur about current market conditions.
Best: In the next 6 months, schedule an interview with a successful entrepreneur about current market conditions.
The variables tweaked between the goals are time and who I am interviewing. It's not just my abilities I need to take into account, it is the logistics and abilities of those I am trying to work with. How busy are they?
Can I expect to get a Fortune 500 CEO or CFO booked in the next week, or two, or 52 weeks? Probably not.
Realistic
This is the cousin of achievable, only I see it as being focused on the limits of reality rather than the limits of the current circumstances; so they are overlapping ideas that means slightly different things.
In the 'Achievable' example, I focused on who I was interviewing and whether that's achievable for me in my situation.
Are there people who can get a Fortune 500 CEO or CFO interview tomorrow? Yes, probably. Maybe there are a lot of powerful, influential, successful people who can just text Mark Cuban or Elon Musk and ask them for some time. Good for them! But that's not me.
But with 'Realistic,' we are bound by the laws of the universe, the laws of the country we are in, or perhaps the laws of the work we are doing. Let's look at examples again.
Poor: In the next 30 days, build a YouTube channel and get 100 million subscribers.
Good: In the next 6 months, build a YouTube channel and get 10,000 subscribers.
Better: In the next 12 months, build a YouTube channel and get 15,000 subscribers.
Best: In the next 2 years, build a YouTube channel and get 20,000 subscribers.
Time-bound
This one is pretty clear, but yet it's so often forgotten in goal setting! Don't forget about time, please!
Poor: Write and publish a book about Science and faith.
Good: Write and publish a book about Science and faith before I turn 50.
Better: Write a book draft about Science and faith and get it published in the next 5 years.
Best: In the next 2-3 years, write a book draft about Science and faith, and get it published in the next 5 years.
Outro
I hope you are using goal setting in your profession / career / job. As I mentioned earlier, your company or organization may require it; but I know how that is. Many people either don't set their goals at all or they only do the minimum required to get their manager to leave them alone.
There is great value in setting goals, not only so you can do performance reviews and get a pay raise or a nice bonus (though I'm cool with that, too), but also because writing goals and keeping them in front of you allows your subconscious mind to work on achieving the goals even when your prefrontal cortex (conscious mind) is not thinking about the goals explicitly.
Thus, writing out your goals and remembering them makes you more likely to achieve those goals.
If you enjoyed this article, please share it with someone you know.
If you would like to discuss more about career goal setting, let's connect online (see 'Connect' section on left sidebar).
