We all have goals for our lives. The question is, how well planned are these goals? Often, they are very general kinds of ambitions without specific timelines and measurements to pursue. Sometimes people do not even consider if they are attainable, why these goals are important to them or how long they should spend pursuing them.
That is why many career experts recommend developing a five-year plan as a professional. Creating such a plan helps you clarify your goals, make them more precise and be sure they are really what you want.
Here are the steps to developing your five-year plan.
Step 1 – Brainstorming
In this step, simply write down all of the career-related goals you can think of accomplishing within the next five years, no matter what they may be. Just let yourself go and write down whatever comes to mind. Come up with as many ideas as you can in this stage, narrowing down your ideas will happen as the process goes on.
Step 2 – Find Your “Why”
Take a look at each of your goals and ask why you chose it, in order to find the purpose of accomplishing that particular objective. The point here is to make sure your goals are pertinent to your true intention. For example, your goal may be to make a lot of money. But when you ask yourself why you have this goal, the reason could be that you want to have make enough money to travel frequently. So, your real goal is to travel.
Step 3 – Refine Your Goals
After identifying what you want to accomplish and why you want to accomplish it, the next step is to make your goals more actionable. Using the “SMART” goal-setting method works well for most people, making goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. For example, losing weight is not a very good goal. A smarter goal would be losing 15 pounds in the next three months.
Step 4 – Paring Down the Steps
The purpose of this step is to decide what is most important, allowing you to focus your energy on only the goals that are most important to you. You need to decide what goals are most essential to you in this five-year window, so you can focus all your energy on those goals. If you try to accomplish too much in too little time, you dilute your energy by trying to chase all of them.
Ask yourself, if you could accomplish only half your goals in the next five years, which would they be? Then repeat the process – which half would you keep? Do this until you only have one goal remaining.
Step 5 – Take Action
Break your goals into more manageable steps and figure out what actions need to be taken on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis in order to stay on track with your five-year plan. Once you know what needs to be done and how you will track your progress, get to work!
Is a New Job Part of Your Five-Year Plan?
If you want to find new employment or change your professional focus, Opti Staffing’s team of passionate and friendly recruiters can help identify the best professional fit for you. Contact your local Opti Staffing branch and start your five-year plan on the right foot.