At the international healthcare recruitment firm where I used to work, my colleagues and I often heard applicants make statements like, "my goal is to earn a Bachelor's degree." Then, years later, the candidates would apply for another position overseas and state the same goal – but over the intervening years they had done nothing about pursuing it. It begs several questions: Why have a goal and do nothing about fulfilling it? Were they just saying this in an attempt to impress us? Were they expressing a "should" – something people told them they "should" have but didn't want or need in their career?
There is nothing wrong with having short-term and long-term goals and goals that aim high and those that are more mundane, but avoid fantasy-illusion goals (at least stating them as fact!), that you have no intention of pursuing.
As you work through this exercise, remember that goals can interconnect (e.g., a goal to spend more time with your family will likely impact on work), fulfilling goals can be a lengthy process, and that most goals can be fulfilled in a variety of ways.
How to Set (and Achieve) Your Goals
- Brainstorm what your goals are, both short-term and long-term, whether directly related to work (e.g., become a supervisor within five years) or impacting on work (e.g., spend more time with family now, backpack through the Far East next year), and write them down.
- For each, decide why is this a goal? What thing – often intangible – do you hope to achieve by fulfilling this goal (e.g., satisfaction, higher salary, career advancement, more down time to spend with family, broader horizons)? In deciding what you want to achieve, you will discover overarching goals, which open up possibilities for fulfilling them in different ways.
- For each goal, make a plan about what you have to do to achieve it, including items such as, taking a course, completing at least two courses for a degree, developing a portfolio, switching jobs, relocating, working more/less hours. However, you don't want a plan that's so tight that you are likely to fail or so loose that you are unlikely to begin, so be somewhat flexible.
- For each goal, what are the potential obstacles (e.g., economy, family commitments, lower salary, fear), and what compromises or changes can be made to overcome them? Is there anything that you feel, at this time, cannot be overcome? What are your alternatives?
- For each goal, estimate how long it will take to achieve it, e.g., go to a part-time position immediately to spend more time with the family; sign up for the hospital's next available two-day ACLS course today.
- Decide which goal or goals you want to start working on now, and start working on them, whether this means researching new jobs, applying for school, cutting hours, increasing hours. The decision may be based on factors such as which is most doable now or which is most important now.
- As you accomplish steps toward a goal on your plan or a goal itself, check it off the list you've made.
And most importantly, revisit your goals' list periodically to add new ones, and feel free to remove those goals that no longer pertain to who you are. These steps will help ensure your goals become a reality.