New Year, New Goals
New Year, New Goals
December 24, 2012
Whenever a new year approaches, I like to do a lot of self-reflection about what I accomplished in the last year. For me, I graduated University, landed a full-time job, and started volunteering at an organization that is close to my heart. I also joined the gym and have started reading leisurely. I see my friends more often and I’m eating a lot healthier than I was when I was in school.
However, despite achieving some goals, there is still the age-old question, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” that remains to be answered. It’s a pretty heavy question mark that hovers over my head.
So how can you self-reflect on 2012?
In my opinion, self-reflection comes down to one question: “What have I done?” Make a list of all of your accomplishments, big or small, and reflect on what you’ve learned from them. Did you grow as a person, or learn any new skills?
From there, you should think about what you want to do in the future and what steps you need to take to get there. That could include goals relating to career, education, personal life, or social life.
If you’re looking to bolster your résumé, learn new skills and make yourself more marketable in the workforce, here are some goals for 2013 that you could consider:
- Volunteer at an organization a couple of hours every two weeks. Employers look very favourably upon individuals who prioritize giving back to the community through volunteer work. You also learn amazing on-the-job skills.
- Attend at least 4 to 6 networking events. This could be anything from attending a work party, a community fundraiser, an organized networking event on a particular topic or even a seminar. Any kind of networking is good networking.
- Under the networking umbrella, consider investing in your own business cards! I got myself business cards to hand out whenever opportunity knocks. It’s a lot more professional than writing your name and number down on a piece of paper!
- If you’re working, make a commitment to learn a new skill. You may consider asking to be cross-trained in another department, or ask your boss to add a new responsibility to your list. It may be more work, but increasing workload and responsibility is something you want to showcase on your résumé.
- Do at least 3 information interviews. Decide upon a couple of organizations that you would enjoy working for and contact them to see if they’d be interested in telling you their story. How did they end up there? What’s a day in the life like? What skills are used on a daily basis? It may require some cold calling, but it’s a great networking opportunity and chance to learn about possible career paths.
I hope you have a great holiday season and an awesome new year! I’ll see you in 2013!