Have You Re-Assessed Your Career Plans?

We spend a lot of time talking about setting goals and making plans for our futures. We talk about short term goals and long term goals. And, while setting goals is a great thing to do, especially when we are talking about career plans, one thing that many people fail to do frequently is to assess the progress of those plans. In most cases, people just continue to say they are working on those plans, or they simply give up on those plans if those goals aren't achieved. What is missing is a reassessment of the progress and to make adjustments in the approaches we are taking to achieve those goals.

A friend of ours worked for the juvenile system. During one of her early training sessions, she discovered 4 questions to ask people who are not getting what they wanted. I have to say, I have used these a lot and I think they work great for that reassessment of your goals.

1. What do you want?
2. What are you doing to achieve it?
3. How is that helping?
4. What should you be doing?

I love these questions, and they are certainly questions to be asked of your goals and career planning. In other words, if what you are doing right now is not making any forward progress on those goals, then you have to try something else.

I do believe that too often, writers seem to think career planning is all about waiting for things to just happen. This is far from the case. You need to be proactive in what you are doing, and constantly assessing, readjusting and moving forward.

My wife always tells my son, "If you keep doing what you have always been doing, you will continue to get the same results." The same applies here.

So, your mid-week homework is pretty basic. Take at least an hour and re-assess your career plans. Are you making any forward movement? Is what you are doing not working? Are there changes that need to be made?

It might be time for a change! Make it happen today!