Goals are what mark the pace of our lives. We live to achieve goals, and whenever we reach one, we work toward another. Whether it is starting a company, building a family, running a half marathon or learning a new language; goals will always make us grow into better versions of ourselves. For this reason, it is important to achieve goals in a timely manner because the more goals we achieve, the more we grow.
One thing is to establish a goal and another thing is working toward achieving it. In other words, it is easy to say, “I want to find a job after graduation,” but it is challenging to achieve that goal. Please note that the word “challenging” doesn’t mean impossible. Challenging means difficult, but still possible.
The only two things you need to accomplish your goals is motivation and determination. Once you find the motivation to achieve a goal, you should develop a plan to achieve it. You might ask “how do you do that?” Well, today might be your lucky day because we have gathered five steps that will get you to your goal:
- Be S.M.A.R.T about your goals. In other words, set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound goals. A good example of a S.M.A.R.T goal could be: I want to find a job in Atlanta as a public relations specialist after graduating in May.
- Once you have your S.M.A.R.T. goal, ask yourself, how will I achieve it? The best way to do so is by breaking that goal into small activities. For instance, if you want to find a job in Atlanta after graduating, you should build a résumé and cover letter that you can easily modify each time to match the job description. You should get experience by either joining a public relations club on campus or interning at a public relations firm, and you should schedule at least an hour a day to apply for jobs.
- Once you have your strategy, you should also schedule times to measure your progress toward that goal. Following the same example, if you started searching for jobs in January, you should’ve evaluated your progress at least monthly. At the end of each month, you could’ve registered from the applications you submitted, which ones were declined, which ones were scheduled for an interview and hopefully which ones got you a job offer. If you haven’t received any interview or job offer, a good tactic could be to seek advice from a professor, advisor or professional in the field. It is very important that you realize that this is not the time to give up if you haven’t reached your goal. Instead, this is the time where, through the insights of your review, you make the appropriate arrangements to continue working toward that goal with more strength.
- Find yourself a partner. Research has shown that we feel more determined to achieve a goal if we have someone, who’s also working toward the same goal, to render accountability to. Having that said, we suggest you gather with your friends who are also graduating to support and help each other to get that job.
- Finally, trust yourself. Have in mind that reaching goals is not an easy task. For this reason, you need to have confidence in yourself. You need to remind yourself that you have everything it takes to not only reach that goal, but also many others!
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Michelle Bizet is a senior in public relations at the University of Florida. She loves working in the communications field and she is very passionate about the labor nonprofit organizations do. When she is not managing social media or studying for school, she can be found running The Swamp or cooking delicious and nutritious meals.