Do You Hate Mondays? Time to Set Some Career Goals!
Its time to reevaluate your career goals when you want to write off every single Monday. God created the earth in 7 days. He never planned for us to wish away one of them on a weekly basis! Think about why you hate Monday…odds are because it is the beginning of your work week. It means you have five looooong days ahead of you doing something you obviously don’t enjoy. So what if you traded in your current job, set some career goals and landed a job you LOOKED FORWARD TO? It’s not impossible! I don’t care to waste my life away being miserable, investing a ton of time into a job that leaves me drained and feeling worthless making someone else a ton of money! I think you ALL will agree with me there, right? There is most definitely hope for you yet and it starts with finding out what job you would enjoy and setting some strategic career goals to get there!
Goals are Powerful!
I love how Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines the word goal.
goal noun \ˈgōl : the end toward which effort is directed
I suggest you read that again and dwell on it a bit. The “end” toward which effort is directed. There is no “maybe” in that definition. No “hopefully”. No “if your lucky”. No “if the stars have aligned”. No”if you know the right people”. Simply “the end toward which effort is directed”. If you direct your efforts toward your goal that will be your end! And this is the dictionary people! I didn’t make this up! So, if you aren’t setting career goals, life goals, financial goals, WHY? Specific and detailed, written goals are amazingly powerful tools!
In life, what you measure, improves. Think about it, when you decide to keep a budget, when you start tracking your calories or watching the scale, as you measure and keep track of something, it has a far better chance of improving. So lets reevaluate your long-term career goals. Is your current job a stepping stone in the right direction? What is your career goal? What do you want out of a job? What is important to you? Pay rate? Vacation time? Hours required? Motivating boss? No boss? Sense of accomplishment? Doing something of value? There isn’t a wrong answer, but make your list as big as necessary. Once you know what you want, we must work backwards setting career goals to get it.
How I Worked Backwards Setting My Career Goals
For me, I wanted a career that allowed me to earn a significant living (6+ figures), while helping people (best feeling ever) with the ability to travel (who doesn’t love vacations!). Those were my career goals. So, I knew what I wanted and I knew what I didn’t want. I didn’t want a desk job (I can’t sit still and get extremely stir crazy if I try), a boss (I tend to say how I feel and at times, that is not conducive to having a boss-ha!) or a meaningless career that didn’t add value to people’s lives. I understood that my parent’s generation believed in getting a job and leaving it 40 years later when they retired. THAT sounded dreadful to me! I wanted freedom and control and passion for my job! So I was on a mission.
With my career goals set, written down and visible, I started working toward it(definition of goal, remember?). I knew it had to be something I was passionate about. What are your hobbies? What do you choose to do in your free time and what if you could tie that into your career goals? That’s what I did. I enjoyed exercising. I know some of you are rolling your eyes! Ha! But, I do. I love the high I get when I’m challenging myself and pushing others to do the same. You’ve seen the Biggest Loser. How can you pass up the finale moment when the contestants hear from their former selves. MAN! What a rush! They are alive again! They have life in their eyes and a kick in their step! Anyways, as you can tell, I knew I would love to do SOMETHING in that field. BUT, I also knew personal trainers, for the most part, don’t make a ton of money and don’t have the freedom to travel if they actually DO have clients. So, you catch my drift. I needed a career that matched ALL of my career goals. Needless to say, I found it.
Career Goals= Dream Job For Me!
Crazy thing is, I didn’t even know my current job existed and in a way, it fell in my lap–THE POWER OF GOAL SETTING! For 2.5 years now, I have had the honor of being a Beachbody coach. I get paid (nicely!) for helping people on their health and fitness journeys and have the freedom to vacation, when I please, as I am my own boss and my business is mobile! Career goals- check, check and CHECK! I’m telling you this not to brag about what I’ve done, but to encourage you to set your own career goals and strive to spend your life doing something you are passionate about! You have one life. Take a risk! Dream big and pursue it!
Prior to becoming a Beachbody coach, I was a waitress for 14 years. I had some job offers but I stayed as a waitress for 3 reasons. First, I made good money and got to vacation (almost met 2 out of 3 career goals). Second, while other job offers were better, at times, they weren’t aligned with my career goals. Third, I disliked waiting tables just enough to keep me hungry and force me to chase my dreams!
Digging Deeper, Jessica Bowser Nelson
P.S. If you’ve set some new career goals, I want to hear about them! What are they? Write your career goals down. Ingrain them in your soul! Keep them on your fridge! Whatever you’ve gotta do! What steps are you taking towards transitioning these career goals into a dream job?