What Are My Goals?

The next 3 or 4 posts all have to do with what I am passionate about!

Financial - To be financially stable is my goal here.  I really need to find another job so that I can achieve this goal.  I hate having to depend on others financially.  Take today for example, today I had to call my aunt yet again to have her fill up my gas tank.  I am also out of smokes and I'm barely making it by puffing on my electronic cigarette.  It sucks!  Probably tomorrow I will be without internet and have to go to the library to use their WIFI.  I am not asking to be a millionaire, I just want to be able to support myself on a monthly basis.  So tomorrow, I will be looking for a job on the computer whether it is at home or the library.

Relationships - I have a lot of work to do in the relationship category.  I kind of like being single but at the same time I get lonely too.  I have a lot of friendships but they are mostly, if not all, online.  That is okay but I like hanging out with people in real life too.  I definitely need improvement in my relationships with family.  From my extended family, to my mom, siblings, and especially my kids.  The one relationship I need to work on the hardest is my relationship with myself.  For the most part, I just do not like who I am!  Sure I like things about myself but the negatives outweigh the positives.  I guess, again, that is what this whole blog is about!

Fitness and weight loss goals - There is always room for taking better care of yourself and I am no exception to that.  I, for the most part, like how I look.  I do have about 30 pounds of baby weight I would like to lose.  I would also like tighter stomach muscles again.  I have been doing 100 sit ups frequently and they seem to be helping!  My diet, or choices of food I way, is a joke tho.  I tend to gravitate towards sugar and carbs.  I should probably look into additional ways to exercise to keep fit as well.  I also believe that personal hygiene need to be addressed here.  For awhile, I'm talking months, i was not taking care of myself hygiene wise.  I was showering only when I had to, about once a week on average.  I wasn't brushing my teeth, I'd change clothes only when I showered and I was only brushing my hair after a shower as well.  As a result of this, I need to go see a dentist and when brushing my hair before, I would get awful knots out and now my hair is't nearly as long as it was.  My hair went from down to my shoulder blades to shoulder length.  Well for the past week and a half or so I have been showering, getting dressed in clean clothes and brushing my hair every day.  What a difference in my mind set and the way I feel about myself.  I can definitely tall a big difference.

Career or work - As I stated in my financial goals, I need to find a job!  I have called Papa John's to get my old job back.  However, Papa John's is not what I want to do for the rest of my life.  My ultimate goal is to own my own interior design/architecture firm where I can design houses from the ground up.  I want to create or help create the floor plan and be able to decorate the interior of homes.  To do this I will need three college degrees; interior design, architecture, and a business degree.  I have tried college sooooo many times and boy, do I struggle with it!  I just wish I could finish what I start.  I seem to have poor self-discipline skills.  One day I WILL get there!

Goal Setting Success Guide - How To Use A "To Do" List

Look over your to do list.

Do you believe that you can do it?

If you have doubts, take some time to think things through first.

• Are your expectations realistic?
• Have you succeeded or failed at tasks that were similar to this before?
• What can you do to improve your chances of success this time around?
• Are you a professional procrastinator?
• If so, what can you do to make sure that you will keep going until you reach your goal?
• Are you afraid of failing?

If so, work at improving the skills you will need. Or test the waters by taking an evening or distance education course before you sign up for a whole program.
If you are having trouble identifying your fears or figuring out how to deal with them, talk to people you trust. Ask for their suggestions, but always make your own decisions.
Put your plan into action from your to do list.
By this stage, you probably have more than one to do list. Now you need to put them all together into one comprehensive plan.
You must list tasks in the order in which you must complete them and set deadlines for the completion of any major plans.
Successful career planners keep themselves on track using a variety of methods, such as:

• marking tasks on a monthly calendar (noting important dates such as application deadlines or action plans)
• making a weekly or daily to do list and crossing off tasks as they are completed
• using a computer program to create timeline charts which give you your time limits for task completion
• using a commercial appointment book or a notebook

Use whatever methods work best for you. If it is absolutely necessary, ask a friend to check on your progress occasionally or question you on your successes.
You are more likely to get things done if you know you'll be asked about it.

Goal Setting Success Guide - Career Plan: Start Backwards!

A career plan often starts by planning backwards!
You look at where you want to end up with your career plan and then progressively backtrack, identifying each step which precedes the one under consideration.

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 and create the first step in your career plan.

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.

Four strategies can help you to develop an effective career plan.

• State your goal in very specific terms that you can accept
• Plan backwards from your goal for the best results
• Confront your fears and expectations immediately and progressively
• Put your plan on paper and into action as soon as possible

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. So start backwards and formulate your career plan!

Goal Setting Success Guide - Career Goals: How To Set Them

Before creating career goals, draft a simple outline of the factors you may want to consider and identify when setting and analyzing your career goals in a step by step format.

Journalists have to answer all of these questions in order to get the full story. That is the same thing that you have to when setting career goals.

The Questions:

• Who
• What
• Where
• When
• How

Who will I ask for help? What do I want the outcome to be? Where should I start? When should I begin? How should I begin?

Who will benefit from my career goal? What will I do to get started? Where will my career goal put me in 10 years? When Do I want these goals to be reached? How will these goals affect my future?

Who will I work with to accomplish my goal? What will really make me happy? Where will I apply my resources? When will I apply my knowledge to begin attaining my goals? How do I really feel about the goals that I have chosen?

All of these questions have to be directed before you can begin to work on your career goals.

They will take some real thought and honesty to set them properly. When you have answered these questions you next have to begin to prioritize them.

Lets take a look at an example.

John Smith wants to be the President of his company one day. Right now he is a mere data entry clerk. His company is a large corporation that works with computer repairs and security. John knows everything there is to know about computer repairs and can fix almost any computer he will ever look at.

He is efficient at using and finding hackers and securing computers are not hacked into. His boss is currently ignoring his advice so John is not so sure how to go about getting his dream of being president of the company someday which he is more than capable of doing already. What should he do?

This is a time when John should begin to prioritize and decide how he can get to his goal.

When you see that your company needs help on something work in secret and bring in a finished product at the right time or schedule private meetings with your boss.

This shows that you are motivated and determined. You must take the steps in succession and not try to become a president in 1 year. That is unrealistic.

Although John will want to begin working for his long term goal he should also begin by setting short term goals that will lead him there.

The first goal can start with moving up one position at work and continue on in this method. That way he can celebrate each promotion and advancement separately and get satisfaction from the step by step progress he is making.

Just remember that you have to develop an action plan if you are going to succeed in achieving career goals.

Setting Realistic Career Goals

When it comes to planning your future, "realistic" can mean many things. Essentially, setting realistic goals means selecting ones that you can actually achieve. We only have so much time, energy, interest and aptitude for developing our career paths, and if you haven't set realistic targets for yourself, you may feel discouraged. In order to keep your career vision realistic, consider the following questions:

• Do you have the time to commit to the goals you've set for yourself?
• Do you have the needed education or skill sets? If not, will you be able to learn these skills?
• Do you have the resources available to meet your objectives?
• Do the items on your list suit you as a person -- your personality and interests?
• Do they fit the lifestyle you have or hope to have?
• Do your goals complement one another? In other words, does achieving one goal conflict with your attempts to achieve another?
• Is the market for your chosen career limited?
• Are your ambitions achievable in the time frame you've set?

Another way to make sure your plans stay realistic is to share your ideas with trusted friends and family members. Ask for an honest assessment of your aspirations from the people who know you well. While it's true that you know yourself better than anyone, it's also helpful to have an outside perspective on such an important decision.

Don't ignore your strengths and weaknesses -- realistic self-assessment is important. Mapping a career path is both an exercise in self praise ("I am fantastic at math!"), and an exercise in humility ("I'm not a very good singer"). You can always learn and develop the skills needed for almost any job, but you shouldn't ignore your natural talents since those are, after all, what you do best.

You can start this planning process at any time. Whether you're a high school student trying to figure out whether or not to go to college, a recent college graduate looking to land your first job, a professional seeking to advance in an existing career or a person who wants to change careers, it's never too soon (or too late) to start planning. To find out more about goal-setting and career planning, the links on the next page will point you in the right direction.

Short-term Career Goals

Now that you've thought about where you want to be a few years down the line, it's time to shorten the scope and think about the things you should be doing now in order to achieve those long-term plans. These intermediate steps are your short-term goals, or things that can be achieved in a short period of time.

Just as you did with your long-term ambitions, you'll want to consider both conceptual and operational short-term aims. When deciding on conceptual short-term objectives, think about things you need and want that can be achieved in five years or fewer.

Ask yourself questions like these:

• What skills do I need to have in order to achieve my long-term aspirations?
• What knowledge do I need?
• What industry should I focus my attention on?

Some examples of short-term conceptual goals include gaining more responsibility in a current position, furthering your education to make you more qualified for a position you want or even finding a source ofmoney to pay for school. Remember, your short-term targets should support your long-term objectives, so you should constantly compare them to make sure they line up.

The last piece of this planning process is developing your short-term operational targets, which are the specific things that you can do in a short period of time that help you achieve not only your short term conceptual ambitions, but all of your long-term objectives as well. These types of goals might include applying to five different publishing companies for an entry-level position, taking a computer class to learn how to design a Web site or asking for an opportunity to lead a project at work. Your short-term operational plan includes the small steps you'll focus on day to day. It'll act as a benchmark for measuring your progress, help you to stay motivated as you accomplish it and go a long way toward helping you achieve your long-term career vision.

We've talked about the planning process -- what to think about first and what to focus on now -- but when it comes to actually naming your goals, how do you make sure they're realistic and that they work for you? On the next page we'll look at a few of the ways you can make sure your career objectives are realistic and, most importantly, achievable.

Long-term Career Goals

As we just mentioned, creating objectives for your career involves working in reverse -- deciding where you want to go and then working backward to figure out the steps that will get you there. Why? To put it simply, it's hard to map a route without first knowing the destination.

To do this, start with your long-term goals, or things you hope to accomplish in the distant future -- say, in five years or more. Then, break these down into two parts: conceptual and operational. Remember, conceptual goals are broad and focus on your wants and needs, and operational ones are the steps you take to meet those wants and needs.

First, think about your long-term conceptual ambitions.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What do I enjoy doing?
• What am I good at?
• What characteristics of a job are important to me?

Use the answers to these questions to help develop your conceptual targets, which may look something like this:

• I want to work from home to be closer to my kids.
• I want a job in a creative profession.
• I want to own my own business.

Once you have an idea of what type of things you like, want and are good at, use those as a starting point for thinking about long-term operational plans. Consider specifics about what types of jobs or roles would help you to achieve your conceptual targets. For example, if one of your conceptual goals is to work in a creative profession, an operational aim might be to become a graphic designer for an advertising company.

If you're already in a profession and are looking to advance your career, think about what specific position you would like to have. If you're a recent graduate looking for your first job, you might want to research jobs that support your long-term conceptual aspirations.

Let's say you're a recent college graduate and your long-term operational objective is to become the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. A career accomplishment like that takes many years and many intermediate steps along the way. That's why, in addition to having a long-term vision, it's important to think about the short term, as well. In the next section, we'll look at how short-term steps act as a ladder to reach your long-term aims.

How to Set Career Goals

For a few very fortunate people, finding the right career is a matter of luck. But for the rest of us who don't wake up one day to our dream jobs, getting into the right career takes a little bit of planning. A major part of that planning involves establishing -- and working to achieve -- your career goals.

Did you know that average employed Americans spend more than half of their waking hours each day working [source:Bureau of Labor Statistics]? This means that your career is likely to be a huge part of your life, let alone your time. Also, studies show that having obtainable objectives can lead to increased job satisfaction, better self-esteem and improved overall well-being [source:Helms]. With these facts in mind, devoting some time to planning your career path makes sense.

So what are career goals and why are they important? Career goals are simply the things you want to achieve in your career -- where you want to end up and how you want to get there. Objectives can be broad, such as, "I want to have a job I look forward to every day," or they can be specific, such as, "I want to teach eleventh-grade world history." But whether ambitions are specific or broad, certain or uncertain, identifying them is an important step in career planning.

In many ways, setting career goals is like consulting a map before a trip. Without a map, there's a good chance you'll get lost or spend a lot of time wandering about aimlessly. If your career is a destination, your goals are the map.

Remember how we just talked about broad and specific goals? The broad goals -- the ones that deal with your ambitions, interests, preferences, values and aptitudes -- are called conceptual goals. On the other hand, operational goals are the specific jobs and tasks you set for yourself -- the steps you'll take to achieve your conceptual goals [source: Greenhaus]. Think of conceptual goals as the destination and operational aims as the journey, and it's important to have both.

So where do you start? In most cases, setting career goals is an exercise in backward planning. Begin with where you want to go, and then work backward to where you are. In this article, we'll walk through the backward planning process of identifying your career aspirations and look at some ways to make sure you're constructing realistic targets for yourself.

How to Set Career Goals

Instructions

1. • 1
     Take inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. Personal strengths often flow from the attainment of earlier goals in life and indicate areas where a professional may easily succeed. Weaknesses provide insight as to which goals you've struggled to attain along with an indication of which goals may help overcome previous limitations.
   • 2
     Determine an overall goal. This typically takes the form of the question: "Where would I like to be in X number of years?" where "X" represents the desired length of the major goal. Consider financial improvement, family and personal development as well as other interests when setting this first goal.
   • 3
     Evaluate the actions needed to reach the overall goal in the specified period of time. Consider which of these pertain to your strengths and which may provide difficulty due to personal weaknesses. Decide which difficult goals require assistance to overcome, and where or how to find that assistance.
   • 4
     Create career goals to measure the progress of the overall goal. Each of these provides a milestone on the path to the overall goal as well as a sense of accomplishment upon attainment.
   • 5
     Write down the overall goal and the milestones. Provide specific details on each including the definition of the goal, how it pertains to career advancement and difficulties to overcome. Career goals gain much greater weight when written.