With the new year fast approaching it's time to set some goals for your future. Here's how you can make 2024 your year, one step at a time.
With the new year rapidly approaching, now's the ideal time for setting goals, starting fresh, and making crucial changes. A new year is a new opportunity to grow both as an individual and as a professional.
Here at Lucy Walker Recruitment, we believe in the power of positive change. By reflecting on the months gone by and determining what you want to achieve in the years ahead, you can improve your chances of reaching your true potential.
The only problem? It's too easy to set resolutions in the new year, then forget all about them. If you want to make sure that 2024 is your year, the following strategies will help.
1. Decide What You Want
How do you know if you're making progress towards your goals if you don't have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish?
The famous author, Maxwell Maltz, says that human beings are naturally driven to seek out success. However, we need to know what we want if we're going to achieve our goals. Before you can start making the most of 2024, you need to decide what success looks like for you.
Think about what you want to accomplish in the year ahead, and why those targets are essential for you. If you don't have a reason for pursuing your goals, then there's nothing to keep you motivated when the going gets tough. For instance, you might want to take on a commercial management position because you love having extra responsibility at work. Alternatively, you might want to move into a different role because you want more remote working opportunities.
2. Remember That Growth Comes in Different Forms
Some of your goals might be based on finances, relate to the amount of money you earn, or the role that you take on at work. However, there are plenty of personal goals that you can set in the new year too. For instance, you might want to improve your confidence so that you have an easier time in social situations.
Taking a personal development course will allow you to work on the characteristics that you want to enhance in yourself. You might find that a personal goal, like confidence-building for instance, also supports other parts of your life. For example, a confident person is more likely to thrive in a leadership position at work, and also feel more comfortable going to the gym to get fit.
Look at every part of your life equally and decide which issues you need to work on first. You can always set multiple goals if you need to.
3. Break Long-term Goals into 90 day Sections
One of the biggest issues that people face when setting goals for the new year is that they choose a target that's too far in the future. While visualising where you want to be in 12 months is a great way to guide your development strategy, larger goals also seem too complicated and overwhelming at times.
Narrowing your ambitions down into 90-day snippets is a great way to transform elephant-sized goals into chunks that you can manage. You'll be able to track your progress three months at a time and see that you're gradually getting to where you need to be. This is a fantastic way to keep yourself motivated on the road to success.
90-day goals also allow you to be more flexible. A lot can happen throughout a year, and your goals might change. For instance, you might start off wanting to be a commercial manager, then decide that you'd prefer a role as an HR director after taking on some HR tasks at work. 90-day goals will allow you to adjust and redirect as needed, without having to start from scratch.
4. Get the Support That You Need
Just because you're setting goals to make 2024 your year, doesn't mean you have to accomplish everything alone. It's up to you to apply for that account manager position, take new development courses, and sign up for the gym if you want to get fit, but you can also add people to your team who will keep you on the track to success.
A mentor will keep you motivated and dedicated on the road to almost any goal. You can have mentors for personal fitness, health, wellness, and even professional development. These people can give you a useful outside perspective when you hit a hurdle in your long-term strategy.
There are other forms of support out there too. For instance, your friends and family can keep you motivated when you're having a difficult time emotionally. A personal trainer can support your fitness strategies, and a recruitment team like Lucy Walker Recruitment can assist with things like finding and successfully applying for the ideal job.
5. Let Go of Anything That Doesn't Support Your Goals
Finally, once you know what you want to accomplish, and how you're going to achieve your goals, ignore anything that isn't going to help you reach your targets. By learning how to identify which things will move your progress in the right direction, you'll be able to say "no" to the distractions.
Focus on doing more of the things you love and less of the things that you dread. This might lead to some anxiety at first, as we always feel uncomfortable saying "no" to people, but with your goals in mind, you'll know that you're doing the right thing.
Now go and make 2024 your year!
Can We Help?
Here at Lucy Walker Recruitment we have been helping firms with their talent acquisition, and job seekers find their ideal roles for over 30 years. We have placed thousands of candidates and filled thousands of roles for our clients; if you want to find out how we can help you call us on 0113 367 2880 or email us here.
