06 Jan Have a Professionally Successful New Year!

It’s time for New Year’s resolutions. Forget diets and kicking bad habits and focus on something positive instead. Like: “I will take steps to grow my career success this year.”

However you define success, these techniques can help you get where you want to be.

Set goals. 

A long journey is accomplished one step at a time. If you don’t plan your steps, you’ll never even get started.

• Be specific: instead of a vague long-term statement like “I want to own my own business,” define what you’ll need first: “Learn business accounting” or “Get management experience in my field.”
• Decide how you will know when the goal is achieved: “Get an educational certificate in accounting” or “Work 3 years in business management.”
• Set deadlines: If you don’t have a timeline for accomplishing goals, all you’ll have is a dream, not a plan.

Be a self-starter.

A self-starter doesn’t sit there waiting to be told what to do. They take the initiative in asking for additional projects or opportunities to learn new skills, come up with new ideas and solutions, and offer to help when their team or colleague is struggling. They also ask for additional information or clarification when they need it, knowing that this is a sign of a strength, not weakness, and will help them grow professionally.

Strengthen your communication skills.

How well you interact with peers, managers and customers can make the difference in whether you get chosen for a new job, promotion or pay raise. If you’re not sure how to improve, here are some tricks:

• Listen, understand and respect what the other person wants or needs from the conversation.
• Be clear in your own mind what you want to get out of the conversation.
• Be aware of your appearance, body language and tone of voice — they all send signals as loud as your words.
• Learn the difference between disagreeing and arguing; also how to give constructive (not destructive) criticism.
• Count to 5 before you respond to someone, during which time ask yourself if what you were going to say is really relevant or helpful.

Grow your network.

Many of the most desirable jobs never even get posted on the job boards. They’re given to people who were referred by someone they knew. That’s why it’s important to stay in touch with contacts from previous jobs, people you met at networking events, LinkedIn connections and even friends of friends who are working in your field.

And remember, it’s a two-way street. You’ll be expected to do favors as well as receive them.

Now that you’ve got a plan, make 2021 the year you put it into action … and make your dream career come true! It’s time for New Year’s resolutions. Forget diets and kicking bad habits and focus on something positive instead. Like: “I will take steps to grow my career success this year.”