Setting goals for career success

If you spent the last few weeks worrying about whether you should have goals and a plan, then you should know that you’re not alone.

New Year anxiety, prompted by the seemingly endless round of social media posts and messaging urging us to make resolutions, redefine and reinvent ourselves, and practice Veganuary and Dry January, is a very real thing.

Millions of Brits make resolutions every year, but stats from YouGov show that of those who make a New Year’s resolution, only a quarter keep them. No wonder these high-pressure resolutions can bring a large helping of stress and anxiety. 

Given that having goals is generally perceived as a good thing, what is the best way to focus on life and career aspirations without feeling overwhelmed?

Is the idea of one new year itself an illusion?

A first step is perhaps to open up a conversation around whether the concept of a new year is itself ambiguous and open to many interpretations.

In fact, there are many ‘new years’ celebrated around the world on different days throughout the year.

This means that almost any day can be New Year’s Day and you can mark a fresh start whenever you want.

So, if you missed January 1st, don’t panic! It’s not a deadline.

Goals are key to happiness

Above and beyond the purpose of achieving things, goals can be central to wellbeing and happiness.

Stirling University academic Christopher Boyce has spent years studying the source of happiness and identifies ‘having goals’ as a key aspect of happiness itself, above and beyond achieving results.

However, he says you must be prepared to be flexible and let your goals go as you start to work towards them and learn more about their impact on your life.

“Goals can be helpful. They give direction in our day-to-day lives. But it’s easy to get wrapped up in attaining an outcome, believing our happiness depends on it.

Rather than being in what psychologists call flow – an immersive, in-the-moment state of being – we might doggedly push on towards a goal. Even though achieving our goals won’t always bring us happiness.” (The Conversation)

"goals can be central to wellbeing and happiness"

The power of achievement

This then leads into the fact that there is a big difference between setting goals and achieving them, and that the difference is an achievable plan.

Speaking to friends and colleagues for their thoughts on how to set and achieve goals, it becomes quickly apparent that achievement is key and can lead to positive mental outcomes - while failure to achieve has the opposite effect, no matter how good the goals.

One contact said:

“It’s about the journey and how you travel it, not about the end points. If you set micro goals along the journey, you can tick them off at a faster pace and get positive reinforcement. If you miss a micro goal, it isn’t a major setback.”

It’s a journey and a destination

Another recurring theme in our exploration of how to set and achieve goals is the idea that the journey is as important as the destination.

This again links to the idea of happiness – that you spend a long time getting to your destination, so you need to enjoy it, right?

It also links to the idea that we have to be in an open and learning mindset and accept change.

Another person we spoke to shared how they focus on the end goal and work back from there:

“Start with the end in mind, then break down the 'map' of how to get there. Analyse a little what life might look like and how things might change, when you’re 'not quite there yet'. Don't have a Plan B. Just a different plan for bagging Plan A, better informed by the first lot of mistakes. Mistakes are how we learn what NOT to do, which takes us closer to the right things to do.

“It is about knowing your general direction of travel (not a specific end point/goal) and building a sustainable, psychological road map to travel.”

Plan the journey with friends

A surprising direction in our research was the idea that many people see the setting of goals and career planning as something that they do with others.

Why not let your friends, colleagues and family share their ideas of how you can define the next stage in your journey? As someone told us when talking through their career planning approach:

“I think it’s almost a case of speed dating/meeting of minds. Create new opportunities that resonate through brainstorming and coffee meet-ups with lots of contacts and see what feels right.”

"mistakes are how we learn what NOT to do"

Still worried?

If you’re still feeling anxious around the ‘new year, new me’ mantra and the pressure of sticking to very ambitious resolutions, then take a look at these hints and tips from Happiful magazine.

The article recommends moving away from the idea of large, transformative goals and rather, setting a few smaller ‘mindful’ changes as potentially a better option:

“Instead of feeling guilty or pushed into making big lifestyle changes for the new year, a healthy alternative can be to ask yourself what you really need, want, or would benefit from. Making small, sustainable changes can be more motivating and can act as a catalyst for bigger changes we want to see in ourselves (and our environment).” (Happiful)

"small, sustainable changes can be more motivating and can act as a catalyst for bigger changes"