It’s important to set yourself goals in both your personal and professional life. This can help establish plans to gain knowledge, up-skill, or improve your overall performance in your role. Knowing what personal development goals are and how to set them can make a big difference on developing your career.
83% of people don’t have any goals set, and only 3% of the population actually set themselves goals. This is surprising as goal setting makes people 10 times more successful in achieving goals. Writing down your goals increases your chances of success 3 times more than those who don’t. So, it’s not only important to set yourself goals, but to also write them down!
In this article, we will explain what personal goals are, and how you can use them to gain traction with your personal development.
What are personal development goals?
Personal development goals are specific targets which you may set for yourself to develop or progress in a specific area in your life. Set these goals as part of a period of reflection on areas of your professional or personal life that you want to improve. You can then use personal development goals as part of a personal development plan with actionable steps you intend to take.
Types of goals for personal development
Personal development goals can have a different meaning to you, and they can vary depending on your current needs. Whether they are professional goals or personal ones, you can set goals in any area of your life.
Before we lead on how you should structure your goals, let’s take a look at the different types of goals:
1. Short-term goals
Short-term goals are ones which you are looking to fulfil soon or immediately. You’ll use them to implement an immediate change in your life, or to contribute towards a bigger goal in the future. They’re great for building positive habits and disciplines which can help you achieve bigger things. For example, I can set myself the goal of registering for a coding class – contributing to my overall goal of becoming a qualified software developer.
2. Long-term goals
These goals are objectives which you have for your life and work that are firmly set in the future. These can be ambitions and aspirations that you work towards, where the journey to achieving this goal involves having smaller short- and medium-term goals. Using the previous example, I have the long-term goal of becoming a qualified software developer, where I cannot do this without taking specific classes, tests, and work experience.
3. Lifetime goals
You can create lifetime goals for accomplishing things you want to achieve throughout your entire life. These are the ‘big dreams’, like starting a family, travelling the world, or retiring a billionaire. People often ground these more expansive goals in their values, religion or sense of purpose.
4. Career goals
Setting career goals is key to progress in your chosen career path. This can improve your overall productivity, where goals may span your entire career. This may consist of short-, medium-, or long-term goals. Setting these goals is often a response to reflection on your career or a company appraisal, where you give real consideration to what you desire to accomplish. An example may be that you aim to be promoted within the next 2 years (long-term goal), where to achieve this, you aim to hit a specific weekly number of sales (short-term goals). It’s a good idea to liaise with your manager to help you set goals like this.
5. Financial goals
Financial goals are another type of goal that you can set on a short-term or long-term basis. Focus these types of goals on what you do with your money. Whether that’s budgeting, saving, investing, or big purchases – you can set financial goals in many different ways. For example, if you’re looking at saving up for a deposit towards a mortgage, then you can contribute a specific amount of money per week to achieve this. The good thing about financial goals is that they’re easily measurable and forecasted.
6. Family goals
Family goals help you improve your home and family life. Setting goals that may enrich your personal life and the lives of those around you is extremely satisfying for the mind. You can build a routine, achieve work-life balance, or take up a shared hobby.
The benefits of setting career goals
Looking at career goals more specifically, let’s take a look at how these can benefit your overall career and professional life.
#1 Your goals can direct you. Having daily work duties can cause you to become bored, and therefore lose sight of the progress you make professionally. Career goals can act as landmarks which help you maintain focus on your career aspirations. Setting goals means that you can prioritise your actionable tasks.
#2 They can improve your work ethic. Career goals can boost your motivation at work. Try and set up short-term goals with corresponding rewards, while continuously setting yourself new goals. Having targets means that you can work towards something, thus you are provided with more of an enjoyable and motivated experience at work. Read here for more tips on how to boost your motivation at work.
#3 Enhance workplace relationships. You can set career goals to promote more positive habits and behaviours which may improve your relationship with your colleagues. Through setting goals, you can correct any negative traits, and improve your positive traits towards teamwork and leadership.
#4 Show off your progress. You can use a journal or portfolio which documents your progress in achieving any career goals you have set yourself. With this, you can then demonstrate to any interviewers that you have a focused ambition on your personal development. A prospective employer loves to see this in action, so it’s a good idea to have examples to support any claims you have about your development.
How to set career goals
Setting career goals may not be easy at first, but once you get into the swing of things, then you can definitely get on the right track to develop in your career. Before you set any goals, try and be as reflective as possible to know which areas you are wanting to work on. Use employee and peer reviews as an opportunity to get a subjective understanding of areas for improvement.
Here are the steps to take with setting your new goals:
1. Establish a vision
Visualise where you want to be or what you want to achieve. This is usually the long-term goal which can help shape the short-term goals you set yourself. Set yourself SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). This is discussed more further down.
2. Make an Action Plan
Build a plan that collectively has individual goals which work towards your vision. Group the plan into specific areas you intend to work on to accomplish your vision, and develop personal development goals for each area. Through breaking a big vision into smaller sub-categories, it makes the overall goal easier to achieve.
3. Track your progress
Keep a record of your development towards the goals you have set, and try to share these with a trusted manager or mentor. Keeping a diary or journal can be a great way to track your progress, by reflecting on new skills, achievements, or the things you find difficult. Your record can also be helpful if you change or adjust your goals at any point, as you can refer to what you have accomplished to help create new personal development goals.
4. Undertake regular reviews
Scheduling reviews and reflective activities can help you stay on track with your career goals. Dedicate some time regularly to consider the progress you have made, and determine if you are still on the right path, or that the tasks you are doing are still relevant to the vision. A mentor or trusted manager can provide helpful feedback and advice for this process.
Setting SMART goals
Structuring your goals with a SMART framework helps make them more actionable, and achievable within a reasonable time frame. Having SMART goals can increase your chances of success 10 times more than those who do not write them down in any format. The SMART acronym stands for:
- Specific: Make sure your goals are precise. Be descriptive so you can stick to them.
- Measurable: Make them easy to measure, so you know when they are achieved.
- Achievable: Make your goals realistic, where you can achieve them with the time and resources available to you.
- Relevant: Make sure your goals are relevant to your career and overall vision. This helps you say focused on the long-term goal.
- Time-bound: Without a deadline, you are less likely to accomplish your goals.
Here is an example of a SMART goal I have set myself:
S: I want to make £10,000 next month as a Freelance Recruitment Consultant on Rekkruut.
M: I can measure my progress through my dashboard, which keeps track of how much money I generate.
A: I made £7,000 this month, so I know I can make £10,000 next month if I dedicate another day per week.
R: My overall long-term goal is to purchase a house, and earning this much will definitely help me work towards this long-term goal.
T: I will set a deadline for this goal for the 30th June (1 month from today).
Let us know how you get on with setting SMART goals!
Have any other suggestions for setting career goals towards your personal development plan? Setting yourself SMART goals? Give us an email at [email protected], or let us know on our LinkedIn or Facebook Pages!
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