Achieving your goals is not a foregone conclusion. There will be surprises along the way - both ‘good’ and ‘bad’. And even the ‘bad’ can be ‘good’ if you can learn something from them. You’ll need motivation - and a positive attitude – to keep moving forward, step by step. And nothing will help you to keep a positive attitude like being grateful every day! Be grateful for that ‘good’ thing that happened to you…and for that ‘bad’ thing too – provided you took away a good lesion from it and ‘turned the lemon into lemonade’!
This step is where you begin to set your goals – from a place where you have clearly identified what you want and where you have reconciled with your past. If you’re lacking in that clarity, go back and write down what you think you want – in all domains of your life. And if you still feel a strong sense of cynicism, go back and examine the potential beliefs that are sure to sabotage you…and replace them with new beliefs that to you are liberating.
Have you ever set a goal – for the 2nd…or 3rd…or nth time!? How frustrating! Obviously, something is holding you back…or you really don’t want it very badly after all. Unless the goal is totally unachievable for some reason, it’s likely that your obstacle is something from the past. It could be in the form of doubts that you have – limiting beliefs that are holding you back. In order to liberate yourself from those doubts…and eliminate the frustration from trying the same thing yet again with eroded confidence…you need to find a way to put the past in the past.
Writing down what you want may seem like an obvious step in goal setting. However, it’s only a first step – and it’s often the one and only step for many goal setters. There are several keys to doing it effectively – in a way that will help bring you closer to realizing your goals. One is to get you to dream a little bit…to clarify what it is that you want out of life.
Are you at the very beginning of your career - or in the later stages? In the former case, you need to think more about where you want to be than where you have been. In the latter case, you need to consider what you have done to this point - as that usually provides a lot of direction for your next steps. In the earlier stages, it can be challenging to gain a focus, whereas in later stages it can be difficult to think about things out of a particular range of focus!
It can be helpful to take some various tests that can give you some insights about yourself - and about other people with whom you might work – and how you work in various situations. These can enable you to more confidently and comfortably set a direction, manage a situation, or develop some aspect of your capabilities. Some examples of these tests include: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Career Strengths Test, and the MAPP Career Assessment Test, but there are many more.
Preference for hard skills versus soft skills is a key career development consideration. Hard skills, where there is definite knowledge and expertise, is preferable to many people. Soft skills, which includes such things as communications and ‘people skills’, may be your preference. Ideally, anyone will have some combination of both – but there is an inherent preference and a tendency to rely on one more than the other. In terms of career the best combination for you?
You may prefer a more structured environment…or a more loosely structured environment. It’s a personal preference, and in all likelihood any environment will necessarily have elements of both. Your preference, and the jobs and environments that you desire will surely have a clear influence on how you develop your career – and your skills. In the end, you just need to know what you are doing…but how you get there is up to you.
Everyone makes mistakes. And we’ve all gotten lost. Back in the day, it used to be that Mom had a huge, unfolded, small-print map on her lap sitting in the passenger seat, and Dad impatiently asking for directions while motoring along. Occasionally that caused many turnarounds and sometimes, tirades. And navigating at night was literally a nightmare.
When global positioning system units (GPS) first came out, the costs were prohibitive and only the richer among us could afford them.
We all make a lot of choices every day and it can be a very private issue but what if your decisions are based on something else? What is it that we use to make choices? Better still, what is the benefit of making good choices and how are we nudged to make up our minds? What is a nudge and do we even know when we are being nudged? These are important concepts that will help to inform what’s important to you and how you are helped to create decisions.
