How to Develop Personal Goals for Jobs

Develop your professional goals to achieve success.

Everyone needs direction to achieve professional success. Getting ahead often requires following a specific path. To follow a specific path you must understand what you are working for---you need to define your goals. Your goals should be specific, realistic and coincide with your own value system. Setting your personal work goals will motivate you to accomplish what you want.

Instructions

1. Brainstorm on paper what you want to achieve at your job. Write everything down that comes to mind---don't worry about perfect structure. Keep writing until you have nothing new to add. These are your dreams.

2. Circle the dream that is most important to you. That is the one you will narrow down and turn into a goal first. Your dream might be a big promotion or a raise. The dream you circle could even be to own the company you currently work for.

3. Rewrite your dream to be a very specific goal. How much you want for a raise or the title of the promotion you are seeking should be clearly defined.

4. Establish a timeline for completing your goal. Without a timeline, your goal no matter how specific will remain a dream unless by chance it comes true. You need to take chance and luck out of the equation in order to ensure your goals are met.

5. Write out specific objectives that will help you reach your goals. Objectives give you a path to your goal. For example, if your goal is to train your co-workers to pass a skill evaluation, your objectives could include creating a training schedule, conducting training, evaluating co-workers and conducting remedial training if necessary.

6. Evaluate your progress as you work towards your goal. You must reassess your goal often to ensure you are able to complete the objectives and meet the deadline you created. If you are unable to complete the objectives of your goal, revise them.

References

• University Minnesota Duluth: Reaching Your Goals
• USU: Goal Setting