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by Lauren McGoodwin

I love setting goals. It can be a really therapeutic process, and having a checklist to measure your progress against can be equally motivating.

But too often, I see women go too far in one direction. Maybe they think only of the end results without considering the smaller benchmark goals they have to get reach first. Or maybe they don't think big enough. Cue my favorite goal-setting method called the SMART goal system.

Pardon our interruption—this is Career Contessa. Join us for this episode of The Femails where we speak with Annabel Chang, Vice President, Bay Area for Alaska Airlines, about asking the right questions to lead to career success.

Listen to the full episode over on Apple Podcasts,Spotify, or Google Podcasts. A full transcription of the episode can be found here. Now, back to the article.

You probably know how you're doing in your career right now (and if you don't, we have a free career assessment to help). So now, it's time to think about next steps.

Once you know where you stand, it's time to write down where you want to end up. On paper. Don't worry, our SMART Goals worksheet has room for that, too. (Scroll down to download.)

When setting personal goals, we recommend following the SMART guidelines to make sure you avoid getting discouraged and actually reach them. Because we all know how easy it is to botch those resolutions, right? Here's how SMART goals work:

General goals tend to get lost in the busyness of our daily lives. When you get specific with your goals, you’re much more likely to accomplish them.

This is a general goal: I want to go to the gym more in 2015. This is a specific goal: I will join a walking club and walk for an hour before work on Monday/Wednesday/Friday.

Who: Who is involved?
What: What do I want to accomplish?
Where: Location?
Why: What's the specific reason, purpose or benefits for accomplishing the goal?
When: What's the time frame?

Measurable

Establish criteria for measuring progress on each goal you set. Ask yourself: “How will I know when my goal is accomplished?” When you measure your goals, you stay on track and are that much more likely to see your progress and reach your target timelines—you also tangibly experience the momentum that keeps you going!

When you focus on only the goals that are most important and most attainable to you, you’ll be that much more likely to accomplish them. In addition, you’ll develop the exact abilities, attitudes, and skills to reach them. Think of it this way: you can reach almost any goal when you plan wisely, within a realistic timeframe—and the goal that might have seemed far away and out of reach eventually moves closer and closer to completion. Set a goal that you’re willing and able to work toward. Attaining your goals happens not because your goals shrunk but because you grow and expand to match them.

Your goal shouldn't be something that is standing on its own. Think about how this goal relates to your company's goals or to your personal or professional goals. How is it pushing you, or your company, forward? How does it tie in with your short and long-term goals? If your goal isn't relevant to other goals you have, it might be difficult to dedicate the time and energy needed to see it through. Your goal can (and should) be aspirational, but just make sure that you can really make substantial progress. If you're setting goals but not reaching them, you may need to scale back.

Timely

Every goal should have a time frame. Without one, you have no sense of urgency to accomplish your goal. If you want to lose 10 pounds, when do you want to lose them by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor your goal within a timeframe—“I want to lose 10 pounds by May 1st”—then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal before the deadline you’ve assigned.

Now that you know what SMART goals are, I encourage you to take the time to come up with 3-5 (or more!) of them. I like to write mine down in my day planner and check-in with them once a month to see where I stand on my progress.

Also, I never worry about having to change my goals—life happens and it’s fine to adapt, so long as you use your best judgment. For instance, editing a goal because you don’t know where to start is not a good reason. If you don’t know how to accomplish a goal, find friends and family to talk to about it. Get their advice on where to start, but start somewhere!

Let’s go over some examples of career goals to help you set yours. Why is this important?

Setting goals, specifically SMART and SMART(ER) goals, is an effective method to improve your likelihood of reaching critical milestones. Many of us have goals related to financial savings, personal improvement, and most likely our careers. Below, we explore examples of career goals for individuals at different points in their journey.

We hope these examples encouraging you to set your own goalsfor your career – no matter where you are today in the process.

Types of Career Goals

Depending on your age, education, and where you are in yourjourney, career goals will come in many shapes and sizes. Below, let’s considerfive individuals at different stages in their lives.

Discerning Your Career – Kamila (18 years old)

Kamila just graduated from highschool and is preparing to enter college in the fall. While she doesn’t knowexactly what she wants to study quite yet, she will focus on completing hercore classes and a few electives. Duringthis time, Kamila wants to explore various topic areas to find out what herinterests are.

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A career-related goal for Kamila at this point in her life might be focused on discerning what vocation she would like to pursue and learning how to best prepare for that career during her college years. An example of a SMART goal Kamila might set for herself is:

I will identify 3 possible career paths I am interested in (Specific, Measurable, Attainable) by the end of my first semester (Time-bound) to help me narrow down career options for the future (Relevant).

*Pursuing your Passions**-Harper (26 years old)*

Harper has been working at a largecompany as a financial analyst for the last two years. However, in interactingwith their HR department on a number of projects, Harper has realized she isinterested in learning more about Human Resources and might want to switchcareer fields.

An example of career goals for someone wants to pivot to a different career or develop skills in a new field might be to connect and learn from an expert. A shift like this requires considerable time and preparation; therefore, Harper might set a series of smaller, manageable goals first. She might start with:

Shadow an HR representative at our company for a half-day (Specific, Measurable) by the end the year (Attainable, Time-bound), to further gauge my interest in this field (Relevant).

Starting a Business – Derrick (32 years old)

After graduating high school, Derrick became an electrician’s apprentice. Derrick has been working as an electrician and has gained considerable experience over the last 14 years. It is his life-long dream to start his own small business and manage a team of electricians. Derrick now feels like he is ready to launch into this new adventure and is confident he has skills he needs. An example of a career goal might involve tackling the necessary legal steps to get started:

By the end of this week (Time-based), register my desired business name with my local government and apply for an employee identification number through the IRS (Specific, Measurable, Attainable) as these are necessary first steps to start my own business (Relevant).

Professional Development William (42 years old)

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William has worked his way up overthe last 8 years within his company. He started as a customer servicerepresentative and later became a member of the sales team. After excelling in this role, he has recentlybeen promoted to Regional Sales Manager. However, William feels he doesn’t enough management experience and isapprehensive about some of his new responsibilities.

An example career goal for Williammight be to develop relevant skills to succeed in his new position. (He’ll needto set a SMART goal to be a bit more specific than that):

I will enroll in a 20-hour online management course (Specific) and complete at least 70% (Measurable) by the end of October (Time-bound, Attainable) to develop the skills I need to successfully manage my new team (Relevant).

Provide Mentorship – Fernando (60 years old)

At this stage in his career,Fernando is preparing to retire within the next few years position as Directorof Finance. Part of Fernando’s job involves working with younger team membersto ensure their continual development and plan for their growth within thecompany. He is just starting to realizethat he will really miss this part of his work. Given that Fernando attributesmuch of his success to his access to quality mentors throughout his life, hewants to give back to his community mentoring young adults and helping themplan for their futures. An example of a career goal Fernando might set forhimself is:

I will help young members of my community plan for their futures (Relevant) by holding two free meetings each month at the public library (Specific, Measurable, Attainable) for the rest of the year (Time-bound) where individuals can ask me career-related questions and seek professional advice.

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Set Your Own Career Goals

I’m sure you’ve heard that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Thesame holds true for your career as well. Maybe you are preparing to graduatewith a bachelor’s degree within the next year and hope to one day be the CEO ofyour own company. Success doesn’t happenovernight, and this larger goal will require incremental progress. For instance:

Obtain a job in my desired field
Get a promotion at my current job and take onmore responsibility
Network with other entrepreneurs
Research and fully understand the competition inthe marketplace I want to enter
Identify business partners
Secure my first client
And a whole lot more…

We can provide examples of career goals for each of thesteps listed above – Can you? How about examples of career goals for yourself?

Remember, focusing on setting smaller (attainable) goalsthat are specific and measurable to help you stay focused and make persistentstrides (time-bound) towards your biggest dreams (relevant).