How can I achieve my goal in a way the will benefit my career?

Hi Demont,

When we think about which way we aim to walk, either in the personal, professional or academic life, it is necessary to establish goals and means for achieving them. These goals should be for the purpose of guiding us (over time) in order to achieve what we have designed for us. Some tips can help you in this area:

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  Visualize What You Want;

  
  


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  Imagine where you want to be. How does it look? What, specifically is different?

  
  


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  Research the benefits of your proposed change. This can help you to stay motivated, and be fully aware of how your life would change after achieving your goals.

  
  


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  Ask yourself, 'How will I know when I've met my goal?

  
  


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  Create a vision board to remind yourself of your main goals and keep them in the forefront of your mind in a pleasant way.

  
  


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  Classify goals by: priority, importance and desirability, then consider what strategies or means will be needed to achieve the objectives set, as well as the timing.

  
  

http://stress.about.com/od/resolutionsandchanges/a/achieving_goals.htm

Good work!

Hi Demont,

The best advice I can give on the topic of starting your career on a positive direction starts with figuring out what you want to do (or perhaps multiple things you might like to do). This is an important place to start because it will provide you with focus. It's hard to be good at everything in the world, but you can start to master certain areas just through practice and determination.

But how do you do figure out the impossible task of determining what you want to do? There are plenty of ways to attack this:

• Think about what you like to do (math problems, reading, building, drawing, etc.).


• Try a bunch of things. The more experiences you have in life, the more areas you can draw from when picking a career path.


• Pay attention to areas that you find reward from the challenge of the work as these might prove very beneficial to you sorting through career options.

The ideal career for you is the intersection of 1) your passion, 2) your talent, 3) what society needs. If you can find something that hits on all three of those, you will be greatly poised for success. When people say "follow your passion", it doesn't necessarily mean you should ignore #3 - it still has to be something that adds value to society.

Once you have a starting point of a career, do anything you can to start building experience in these areas. I'd recommend:

1) Read books/magazines/blogs on the subject. The more you understand the language of your chosen field, the problems they face, and the things that work, it will make you that much smarter when you have to actually do the work yourself.
2) Take classes in the field. Go take community college courses on the side. Engage in conversation with like-minded individuals on the subject.
3) Volunteer to do projects for people/companies for free. You can worry about making money on it later. For now, just start getting experiences on your resume that will build your confidence and better position you for getting the job of your dreams later.

Enjoy the process! When you are enthusiastic about what you do, everything else becomes a lot easier too. Make sure to have fun with it.

Best of luck,
Malachi