It’s Almost Half-Year. Have You Achieved Most Of Your Career Goals?

By Perminus Wainaina

With only 3 days left to the end of May, my question to you is, looking back at the career goals you set for yourself in January, which of those goals have you managed to achieve?

And with half of the year almost gone, why were you unable to achieve some of your key goals?

In the last 8 years I have worked as a career coach and mentor, I have often observed that many professionals set very ambitious goals.

Some goals may be realistic and measurable but they cannot be achieved in an instance.

I have also learnt many of us (and perhaps yourself) tend to give up at the first sign of challenges.

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Today I want you and I to critically examine 4 of the possible causes you have not been able to attain some of you key goals:

  1. You knowingly or sub consciously shifted your focus

You know how everyone begins the year with a lot of excitement, enthusiasm and resolutions?

I’m almost certain this was you as well. As the year began, you had laid out a strategic plan of how you would achieve your career goals all spread out in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis.

But as time has gone by, your commitment to seeing your goals attain fulfilment has wavered.

Perhaps you have stumbled on a few roadblocks and setbacks and now you are convinced that too much time has already gone by causing you to shift focus from your goals.

  1. You now realize your goal was not SMART

SMART simply stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Time bound.

As the year has progressed and you have tried to achieve your goal, you may have observed that perhaps some of the goals you set failed to be SMART in one area or another.

Maybe your goal was Specific but not time bound, or it was Measurable but not attainable within the first quarter of the year.

You now realize that the excitement of starting a brand new year may have caused you to become over ambitious when setting your goal.

  1. You started procrastinating

A major enemy of progress is procrastination.

You probably kept putting off taking the right steps to attain your goals because you kept putting it off.

“I still have time” is a common phrase human beings like to use when they don’t want to do somethings. But in essence time is VERY short and I think you have come to know that by now.

You thought you had enough time but now you can see all too well how fast 2018 is moving and it waits for no one!

  1. You failed and chose not to get back up

I always insist, failure is a part of life. It is inevitable. To reach your goal, you will fail a number of times.

But you must keep getting back up and pressing harder.

So, did you almost attain your goal(s) only for you to fail?

Were you in the process of becoming a successful entrepreneur only for your business to fail and that was it for you?

Does that mean you will not achieve your goals in the remainder of the month?

Certainly not!

You still have seven more months to go. This is enough to see you achieve most of your goals.

My suggestion is this:

  1. Re-strategize your goals

Basically, conduct an objective assessment of where you could have gone wrong when setting your goals.

Set few and SMART goals. Then, establish a clear and concise plan of how you are going to achieve those goals in the next seven months.

DO NOT be over ambitious. What you cannot achieve in these remaining seven months, spill over to the next quarter of 2019.

  1. Refocus and avoid distractions

Get your mind back in the goal. Shift your focus back to the reason why you set your career goals in the first instance.

Secondly, avoid distractions. When you know you need to be working towards attaining your goal, avoid anything or anyone that will cause you to lose focus.

By so doing, I am sure you will be singing a different tune at the end of this year.

Remember, you alone are responsible for your career.

The year has more promising things ahead so make good use of it.

I’d love to hear from you about the career goals you still haven’t achieved and what caused it.

Engage with me in the comments section below.

6 Comments

  1. Last year I was praying for a job, God provided it to me.ma goal was to got back to school and pay for my school fee,its yet to happen but am rescheduling it to next year Jan, maybe other goal was to start a small biz by April but it couldn’t happen olthough am still struggling to make it happen with all God’s grace am always prayerful

  2. Hi perminus,
    Thanks for the spirited encouragement. My priority is to get a job. i am focused and will keep up the momentum, looking for an opportunity , then other goals will follow.

    Thank you

  3. Hi Perminus,

    I must admit l resonate with point number 4.However,two of your articles;” When Your Boss Is Out To Get You” and ” Why Fear Taking Leadership Role” ( l stand to be corrected on the latter’s correct heading) pushed the right buttons, thanks to you.

    The good news is,am back on the drawing board again, which brings me to ask, ” is there any article you could recommend that gives tips and advise for professionals making a come-back in employment after a career break?”

    This will go a long way in helping me sing a new triumphant tune come end of this year.

    I look forward to your able assistance on this,and once again,thank you for pushing the right buttons.

    Best Regards.

  4. I planned to go back to school and pursue degree this year, due to financial reasons i have missed the opportunity

  5. it’s three years down the line after my graduation from Jkuat with a second class upper division… I still haven’t secured a better job… what might be wrong with or is it bad lack….I still can’t understand or my goals aren’t realistic what could I be doing that is deterring me back

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