Setting Your Career Goals

Destiny is not a matter of chance, but a matter of choice.
It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.
- William Jennings Bryant

I've been reading "Having it All: Achieving Your Life's Goals and Dreams" by John Assaraf. He talks about the need to set your goals in order to successful. He refers to a study of Harvard alumni ten years after graduation. Apparently, the group with the written goals when they graduated earned three times the income of those who had no written goals at graduation.

This is interesting in its applications to your career. If you clearly set your 1 year and five year goals you will be able to stick to a plan to get where you want to go. However, if you just step into a position and see where it takes you, as many people do, you might end up somewhere you wouldn't necessarily have put on your five year plan. This a good excercise when considering training and education as well. If you want to get somewhere (say a certification or more senior role) and that requires several years of education knowing that and setting a timeline has obvious advantages.

Overall this book is a good motivator. It gives the reader some good tips and exercises towards achieving goals. It's a fairly light read and not a bad way to get your mindset where it should be when planning for your future.