In my plan for 2016, my three tasks to change my career pathway were to:
-Apply for jobs that interest me and that I am qualified for (i.e. I shouldn’t apply if I’m not more invested in the new gig than my current one.)
-Actively seek out new skills to build my freelance portfolio (i.e. Even if the new opportunity was out of my comfort zone, I wasn’t going to turn it down because not doing it would be easier)
-Take advantage of my network (i.e. I knew lots of people in lots of fields… but they were never going to know I was unhappy and looking for a new opportunity if I didn’t tell them).
I gave myself a timeline for each goal, and set a date to check in to ensure I was making progress.
6. Look at your list of large goals—those are now your long-term goals for 2017. The smaller goals beneath them are your short term goals. However, this is not to say that you should begin all of your long and short term goals at once. Instead, I take on 1-2 large goals a month. I like to tackle one from my personal life, and one from my professional life to try to keep a balance between the two.
7. Before you wrap up your 2017 planning session, there’s one more step you need to complete. You need to make an appointment with yourself once a month for a check in. Set a time in your phone, write it on your calendar, and keep it. Once a month, you should take time to reflect on the work you’ve done. Keeping this appointment will ensure that when you do get off track, you remember your goals before the end of the year when you bemoan what could have been.
Setting aside this time to plan for your hopes, dreams, and aspirations does not guarantee a successful outcome. We all know that life happens, and sometimes years bring news and circumstances that we couldn’t have anticipated. But beginning the year by setting an intention will give you something to hold on to, something to go back to, when the days all begin to run together. You will have a space to stop, to remember, and to begin again, reclaiming that day as the start of your new year.
After all, you knew it on January 1st—this is the year.
No need to change your luck. We're going to change your plan.