It’s that time of the year again where many of us are looking forward to a much needed break, spending time with friends and family and a well-deserved rest. It’s been a big year, actually the last few years have been big and as I start to clear my inboxes and clean my desk, I start to think about planning for the New Year.
I normally set my goals (both Professional and Personal) in the lead up to the New Year, but I think like most people this year, a really good break is in order before I can get the clarity to put pen to paper for what I want to achieve for 2023.
This is a task on my to do list for these holidays! Goal setting always helps me to be clear about what I want to achieve and provides a benchmark so I can see how I am tracking.
Goal setting is really the process of you sticking to the hard work you can achieve what you put your mind to. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to look back on the year and know you have achieved what you had set out to do for the year.
Here are some tips that I always find helpful when I go to set my goals:
1. Set goals that are realistic and things that are important to you. If it’s important to you, the likelihood that you will work hard to strive to achieve it is high.
2. Put your goals in writing
3. Setting SMART goals i.e.;
- Specific – clear goals
- Measurable – e.g. Exact dates of when you want to achieve by
- Attainable – realistic goals that you will be motivated to achieve
- Relevant – this is really important for what you are wanting to achieve on a personal and professional basis
- Time – put deadlines on it to create that ‘sense of urgency’
Measure and track your goals. This is so important! There’s no point writing down the goals if you aren’t going to measure how you are tracking against them.
We actually have a system here at Optimum Consulting called MEL; My Employee Life which we use weekly to track our actuals compared to budgets, KPI’s and many different things we would like to achieve. I also use this system for my personal goals and track them. It’s so quick and easy and that’s really what you need to keep yourself accountable.
I hope these tips will help you with what you are going to achieve in 2023!
MARIANNE SAVAS
Divisional Manager
As an ex-Accountant by trade, Marianne started her career in recruitment, initially working for Hays in their accounting support division. Over time, she worked her way up to Accounting Manager, looking after a growing team of consultants, specialising in the placement of temporary and permanent staff in commerce and industry within the accounting and office support areas.
