Setting Goals and the Steps to Get There

Achieving goals is important part of one's career and keeps us moving forward in new directions. Those who set goals have a higher chance of being more successful than others who might muddle through life aimlessly. Setting appropriate goals and ensure that these goals are achievable requires a little planning and reflection to get where you want to go.

Clearly Defined: 

Goals should be specific and obtainable. People sometimes make goals that are broad, murky, or ill defined. It is hard for them to know whether or not they achieved a particular goal if there is no easy start or stop position. A clearly defined goal might be "complete a training class on basic accounting in the next 6 months" while an ill defined goal would look more like "understand more about accounting".

In the first example you know exactly when you achieved that goal while in the second case you will need to guess. Having a clearly defined goal will let you know when it is time to adjust that goal and move onto a new one. Each accomplished goal provides new experiences and opportunities for growth.

Plan of Action:

No goal will be achieved unless you put energy into it. The effort you put forward should not be haphazard and wasted. It is much better to focus on some specific plan of action. That plan can be broken into steps that help you get where you want to go.

Think of how graduating from a basic accounting class will need effort in enrollment, completing assignments, writing, etc... Knowing what will need to be accomplished on a daily basis will help in ensuring that you meet those goals. It may be as simple as spending an hour a day working on your project until it is completed or finding some other combination of effort.

Assess Your Progress:

It is beneficial every once in a while to assess your progress. Take a few moments to look at where you are and what additional effort or adjustments are needed to achieve that objective. Sometimes you will need to put additional effort in while at other times your current progress will be fine. Try and understand what is needed and when it is needed