Can you believe the end of the second quarter of 2018 is almost here? Many of use set personal and professional goals for ourselves back in January and now it is time to check in to see if things are going as planned. If you are shaking your head in dismay because time feels like it is slipping away, you can rest assured that it is not too late to set and ACHIEVE your career goals for 2018.
Whether you want to take on more responsibility at your workplace…or give some up…we have you covered with the Top 5 Most Common Career Goals for 2018!
#1: Work/Life Balance
One of the very first things you should consider when setting career goals is where do you want your work/life balance to be. Also known as: how much time do you want to spend working and how much time do you want to spend not working. The reason this goal should come first is it can dictate how willing you are to commit to the hours it will take to achieve other goals.
Luckily, it doesn’t have to be black and white, you can allow your free time and work time to blend together which will result in an overall better work/life balance. For example, schedule a day every week for your spouse to meet you for lunch or for you to have lunch once a month at your child’s school. Plan to attend extracurricular work activities that will allow you to have fun and network at the same time. (put on shared calendar with spouse calendar and repeat every week)
The big takeaway here is to plan to do these things because they are easy to skip when the time comes to attend. Look at the areas of your personal life you feel are lacking and see where you could blend them with your job to increase your overall work/life satisfaction level.
#2: Money
Now that you have your work/life situation figured out you can really look at how happy you are with your compensation. Figuring out how much money you want to make can be a slippery slope because your answer is always going to be “more!”. The best way to go about settling on a magic number is to think about the things you want to spend that money on. Is it a certain school for your children? A retirement plan? A fancy fitness program? A yearly overseas vacation? Once you are able to incorporate your realistic wishlist into your current budget and see how much more money you need to make you will be able to confidently say how much you want to be making a year.
Now that you have that magic number, and it’s inline with the fair market value of your position and the size of your property, you can approach your boss and ask them what will it take to get your compensation where you want it to be. This leads us into our next goal.
#3: Growth
Growth in the workplace is something we should all constantly strive for. Not only will it almost always result in a better salary, it will also enhance our overall happiness in your career. When setting a goal in workplace growth, it is best to work backwards. Put some thought into what you want your career to look like in December of 2018. What activities did you participate in? What contests did you win at work? What certifications did you receive? What skills did you improve on or learn?
Perhaps you want to move into a different position in your workplace. Are you a leasing agent that wants to be a community manager? A manager that wants to be a regional supervisor? Perhaps the company you are working for is too small to accommodate the growth you want to experience. By thinking ahead you are able to take an objective and practical look at your current surroundings and decide if they are able to give you what you want.
#4: Relationship With Management
Some people never think to purposely work on their employer/employee relationship, however this is something that is very important. Your boss is often the gatekeeper to obtaining your goals and you need to make sure you are both interacting at an optimal level. Get out a piece of paper and a writing tool and make a good old-fashioned list of the things you love about your boss and the things you hate. The latter category is the one to focus on. You can easily turn a negative into a positive with a little bit of concentrated effort.
For example, if you are a leasing professional and you hate that your community manager is always stressed out in the office. Make it a point to find out their stress triggers and try to keep them at bay. Or perhaps start a productive and respectful dialogue at the beginning of the year with the objective of having you lend your support to your boss in the areas they decided they need. December of 2018 will look a lot brighter once your working relationships are firing on all cylinders.
#5: Executing Your Ideal Day
Controlling your ongoing daily activities can sometimes seem futile. However, you CAN sit down and put some thought into the things you actually want to be doing every day. Perhaps you want to go to the gym in the mornings, or meet friends for happy hour bi-weekly, or help one resident at your community a day with an issue. No matter what the tasks, you can actively decide on the things you want to take up your time. Once you have identified these things you can plug them into your calendar and keep yourself accountable when things seem out of control. If you don’t have a plan you can easily slip into something very unproductive (such as getting caught in a social media black hole) and decide to easily let it go and focus on something that actually made your list.
Now is the perfect time to put some effort into making 2018 your best year ever. Don’t let anything hold you back!