18 minute read
Go for the Goal
HOW TO ACHIEVE YOUR CAREER GOALS IN 2022
By Jeweliana Curtis
New year, new you! As you begin mapping out your goals for the new year, you may be adding a few career goals to your list. Whether you are working towards a promotion or are looking to venture out on your own in 2022, we are here to help! Joy Lutz, CPA and Certi ed Tax Coach at Aligned CPA, weighs in on her favorite methods for setting goals, all while providing helpful tips for sticking to your goals and avoiding the dreaded burnout. Read on to hear Joy’s take on why setting goals is important and how you can e ectively accomplish your goals from this moment forward.
“I’m a big believer in goal-setting simply because I believe that if you do not have something you are working towards, you are aimlessly going with the ow,” Joy explains. “That may sound good, but that really just means that you are likely not going to reach those long-term goals.”
One of Joy’s biggest tips for planning goals is to break down your yearly goals into 90 day increments. This process, also known as the 90-Day Year, enables you to focus on needlemoving tasks for a short period of time. This leaves little room for procrastination, as you have goals to accomplish in a short period of time that you must work on weekly or even daily. Though it is important to have big dreams and audacious goals, it is even more important to break those goals down into actionable steps that you can track and accomplish. This method creates a sense of urgency to keep you focused, all while chipping away at your big, lofty goals for the year.
For instance, if your goal is to build a six- gure business, rather than being overwhelmed at the thought of starting from zero, begin to reverse-engineer that goal. Break your year down to quarters and set goals for each quarter that will help you accomplish your long-term goal. This will look di erent to each person, but some great questions to ask yourself may be: How many new clients do I need to sign on to accomplish this income goal? What do my rates need to look like? How will I get those new clients? These questions will help you plan out your next 90 days, which in turn will impact your yearly goal.
“Having that 90-Day Year mentality really keeps your goals fresh so that you know what you can do now, versus trying to catch up on tasks at the end of the year,” Joy explains. “Once you see the traction with this method, before you know it, you may surpass that original goal you had. It’s all about constantly taking those actionable steps and tracking that goal consistently.”
Another one of Joy’s greatest tips when setting goals is to stay committed and be disciplined. Time-blocking is a great tool for this. Begin by committing a certain amount of time each week to working on your goals.
This may be two hours per week, and you may choose to set aside time on a Friday afternoon to work on them. Once you have made your decision, block o that time on your calendar and protect it at all costs. If there is a blank spot on your calendar, it can be easy to ll it with work or even slip out of the o ce early rather than work on your goals. Joy suggests combatting this by blocking o time now and committing to it no matter what.
“Commitment is huge with goals, and so is discipline. You have to stay committed and disciplined in taking that action,” Joy says. “As entrepreneurs, it can be easy to get caught up working in your business rather than working on your business. If you have these yearly goals, you’re going to be tempted to wait until the end of the year to work on them, or wait until you have more time… But honestly, there’s never going to be a perfect time. I combat this by placing goals on my calendar and guarding that time like it is sacred!”
Creating routines around your goals can also be helpful, so Joy recommends keeping this time on your calendar consistent as much as possible. If you know that you always work on your goals on a certain day, it can be easier to stay on track and stay focused during that time.
Additionally, having strong accountability in your life is important. Joy recommends having a mentor or accountability partner to meet with on a regular basis. This is another great action to add to your calendar now to ensure you make time to meet consistently.
Joy Lutz, CPA
Certi ed Tax Coach Aligned CPA
During these meetings, you may want to talk about any pitfalls you are having or share how you are feeling about your goals. While you cannot always rely on someone else to motivate you, it is necessary to have someone to encourage you on the tough days and cheer you on throughout the process. Plus, it is imperative that you have someone to celebrate the wins with!
“A big part of goal-setting is celebrating the wins. I think we can get into this habit of achieving a goal, then quickly moving on to the next one, when we need to stop and celebrate the small wins,” Joy says. “When we don’t celebrate those small wins, we can get burned out, or we can nd ourselves at the end of the year feeling unaccomplished and like we did not achieve much. I encourage you to keep a list of accomplishments and, at the end of the year, remind yourself or your team of all that you have accomplished. It provides that encouragement and momentum to keep going.”
Most importantly, it is crucial that you always keep your “why” at the forefront when you are setting goals. Having big dreams and impressive goals can be great for your growth, but if there is no purpose behind them, then you are less likely to actually follow through with them. If you are new to the concept, Joy suggests checking out Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why for insight on how to articulate your why. When determining your goals for the year, consider your why and build your goals around that.
“You can get burnt out if you are constantly grinding, so having a bigger reason and really knowing the why behind your goals makes it easier to pick back up and keep going after a failure,” Joy explains. “Your why can help you feel more successful and like you have really been a part of something bigger than yourself. Really keeping that why at the forefront is so important.”
If you are an employee aspiring to a promotion or if you have goals to make a career change this year, Joy encourages you to be a lifelong learner and take advantage of all of the knowledge right at your ngertips. From free online courses to enrichment classes and endless “how to” videos on YouTube, there are so many amazing resources available. You just have to take advantage of them!
“If you are looking for a promotion or even a new job, set yourself apart from the pack. There are so many things you can do online for free to build up your skills. Be proactive and do that,” Joy suggests. “If you can show that on a resumé, it’s going to be golden because your peers may not be doing that. If you take a class on leadership, or if you have a new skill you are developing, not only are you strengthening your skills, but you are showing potential employers that you are willing to learn and that you love to learn. That’s what good employers want to see.”
Lastly, to achieve your career and nancial goals, Joy encourages you to stop fearing failure. As an entrepreneur or business professional, it can be easy to fall into complacency and never really put yourself out there. This could be due to fear of rejection or fear of failure, both of which can be debilitating if you allow it to be. The truth is, however, failure is not permanent and failure is not fatal. Learn from your shortcomings, evolve and continue to push towards your goals.
“Don’t be afraid to fail, because you are either winning or you are learning. Failure is learning. We all fail; there’s always something that goes wrong… It is just a part of putting yourself out there,” Joy shares. “What is important, though, is to really evaluate what went wrong in those scenarios and do something di erent next time. Failure is great if you learn from it. If you can work through that fear of failure and push past it, that’s where your con dence is built. From there, the sky’s the limit.”
Resources for Career Growth
There is no shortage of knowledge and resources online for growth and continued education! Whether you are looking to learn a new skill or brush up on a skill that has become rusty, check out these great resources for learning online at your own pace.
Learn with Masterclass
This subscription-based platform allows users to learn skills from some of the most successful people in their elds over the course of a few video modules. Learn how to cook gourmet recipes with Gordon Ramsey or glean wisdom on creativity and leadership with Anna Wintour. The possibilities are endless, and this platform provides an a ordable way to learn from the greatest minds on a variety of topics from business to bartending!
Get Inspired with Podcasts
Do you want to learn from successful professionals in your niche? There is likely a podcast for that! Do some research and nd creatives talking about your industry to learn great tips of the trade and reignite that re for what you are passionate about. Some of Joy’s favorite podcasts include How I Built This by Guy Raz, Hello Seven by Rachel Rodgers and The Impact Theory by Tom Bilyeu.
Find a Great Read
With so many great books in existence, it can be daunting to narrow down your choices for continued learning. Joy suggests checking out Simon Sinek’s Start With Why for a great foundation for setting goals, or Never Split the Di erence by Christopher Voss and Tahl Raz, a book on the power of negotiating. This book even has a Masterclass course you could enjoy to really hone in on your negotiating skills. Whether you pick up a great hard copy of a text or opt to listen to an audiobook, pick a book that speaks to a topic you are interested in and dive in!
About Aligned CPA
Located in Lake City, Aligned CPA provides service businesses and law rms with monthly accounting services, tax preparation and planning. As a Certi ed Public Accountant and Certi ed Tax Coach, Joy Lutz and her team strive to provide resources and support to their clients beyond tax preparation. Joy’s passion is to help entrepreneurs just like her to receive the resources to achieve their dreams.
Aligned CPA, LLC 224 East Duval Street, Lake City, Florida, 32055 alignedcpa.com
Goal-Setting Worksheet
My Goal:
SPECIFIC • MEASURABLE • ATTAINABLE • REALISTIC • TIMELY
Goal Starting Point:
WHAT ARE YOU STARTING YOUR GOAL WITH? WEIGHT, TIMES PER DAY YOU WORK OUT, ETC.
Where will I be in... • 1 Year:
WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE RESULT YOU ARE WORKING TOWARDS?
• 5 Years:
HOW/WHY WILL THIS RESULT MAKE MY LIFE BETTER? • 10 Years
WHAT SPECIFIC ACTION WILL I TAKE TO ACHIEVE MY DESIRED RESULT? LIST IN ORDER.
HOW WILL I TRACK MY PROGRESS ON THIS RESULT? Email us for your FREE printable worksheet. Start achieving your goals today! Scan this code to sign up for our email newsletter, for more worksheets like this PLUS recipes, additional information on the interesting families in our community, special event information and more!
HOW WILL I REWARD MY ACHIEVEMENT?
GOALS, GROWTH AND HEALTHY HABITS
By Jeweliana Curtis
As 2021 quickly comes to a close, you may be busy re ecting on all that you accomplished in the past year and dreaming up new goals for the new year. Setting out to accomplish a new goal can be exciting and thrilling… For the rst weeks of January at least! According to a study conducted by OnePoll in 2020 of 2,000 Americans, it takes just 32 days for the average person to break their new year’s resolutions, but 68 percent of those polled broke their resolutions before the 32-day mark.
So, if many people give up on their resolutions, how can you ensure that you keep yours? What determines if a new year’s resolution succeeds or fails? With the help of Jesenia Minnie eld, MSW, LCSW, and owner and founder of Evolve Counseling & Consulting LLC, we can take a look at the psychology behind setting goals and learn how to create resolutions that stick.
Before we dive into how to achieve your goals, we must rst take a look at why we set goals in the rst place. Jesenia weighs in on this, sharing, “When you set goals, it shifts your perspective and teaches you how to problem-solve. You become more ambitious and really just continue to grow and evolve.”
Now that we know why we should set goals, let’s take a deep dive into Jesenia’s preferred method for setting goals that stick, which is ensuring that you set S.M.A.R.T. goals. This renowned method of setting goals is an acronym that can help you map out your goal and ensure that it’s something that is speci c, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound.
“Sometimes a goal may start o as a dream or a wish, and that’s wonderful! But if you don’t actually attach a deadline or a target date to your goal, it’s not going to come to fruition,” Jesenia explains.
Once you have set your S.M.A.R.T. goals, it’s time to commit to them and see them through. Often when we set goals, starting them is easy, but committing to them and seeing them through is the tough part. You’ve likely experienced the rollercoaster of feeling like a failure after skipping your new healthy habit for a few days due to a stressful week, or the crushing feeling of guilt after you cave and indulge in your favorite comfort meal instead of sticking to your healthy meal plan. The feeling of failure can be paralyzing in these instances, but it doesn’t have to be.
stick, which is ensuring that you set S.M.A.R.T. goals. This renowned method goal may start o as a dream or a wish, and
goals, starting them is easy, but committing to them and “When you seeing them through is the tough part. You’ve set goals, it shifts likely experienced your perspective the rollercoaster of
to grow and evolve.” guilt after you cave —Jesenia Minnie eld and indulge in your favorite comfort meal instead of sticking to your healthy meal plan. The feeling
“The biggest hurdle that I’ve seen with setting goals is that we talk ourselves out of it. We say all of these negative things to ourselves, so what we do at Evolve is learn how to reframe those thoughts,” Jesenia shares. “You may have had a bad moment, but it wasn’t a completely bad day, and you are not a horrible person. You may have made a mistake, but you can learn from it and move forward. It’s really just learning how to be nicer to ourselves and give ourselves more grace. It really comes down to that negative self-talk.”
Jesenia goes on to share that though it is not always easy, we must embrace the process and learn to talk to ourselves in a positive manner. While we are unfortunately inherently negative to ourselves, it’s all about reframing those thoughts and giving ourselves encouragement along the way. Commit to working through the process and eventually you will train your automatic thoughts to be more positive, logical and rational, instead of immediately crumbling and giving up. This is where journaling and re ecting may come into play in your setting goals, as it serves as a great way to track your progress and identify any missteps along the way.
“I tell all of my clients to write it all down. Sometimes we can forget the journey, so take the time to write it down so you can go back and really re ect on that progress you have made,” Jesenia explains. “We see a sort of blackand-white thinking a lot in this eld. It’s that mindset of ‘Oh, I did bad today, so I may as well just give up.’ No! We can just start again. We can gure out what caused us to do something bad that day and nd a way to react di erently next time. It’s just digging deep and guring out what is going on and causing you to trip, then nding a way to combat that.”
Another helpful tip that Jesenia suggests is to nd a responsibility buddy that you can trust. Typically, we are more likely to follow through when we feel like we have someone in our corner counting on us. So, whether you ask a friend to accompany you to the gym or have your partner check in with you on habits you want to build, nding someone you trust to encourage you along the way can really impact the success of your goals.
Finally, when setting goals, it is important to start small. While there may be many aspects of your life that you wish to progress in, it can be overwhelming to feel like you need to make so many changes overnight. It is absolutely okay to start small, build healthy habits and reevaluate as you go. “It’s really just what is going to make you feel better or good. Start small. You do not need to have 50 goals for the new year, just start with one or two. Then, break those small goals into steps that you need to take to actually achieve those goals,” Jesenia states. “Usually that means we need to do four or more di erent things to reach our goal. Instead of having that tunnel vision and focusing on the end goal, don’t miss the journey or the opportunities along the journey that may help you expand your goal. It’s just about the baby steps and progress.”
So, if you are searching for a recipe for success with setting goals, consider embracing the imperfect steps that it takes to achieve that goal. You do not need to have grandiose, impressive goals that overwhelm you, or goals that are not speci c to your life. After all, the most important item to consider when setting a goal is simply how your goal is going to put you one step closer to the healthy, happy individual that you want to be. Growth should always be our number-one goal, not perfection.
“It is most important to make sure your goal has meaning to you. You don’t have to please anyone else with your goals. They are speci c and personal just to you, so keep that in mind,” Jesenia shares. “If you have a really big picture idea, break it down so you do not become overwhelmed and give up. We always strive to prevent overwhelm or burnout. Break it down, take it step by step, and don’t be afraid to ask for help along the way.”
the new year, just start with one or two. Then, break those small goals into steps that you need to take to actually achieve those goals,” Jesenia states. “Usually
About Evolve Counseling & Consulting LLC
Founded by Jesenia Minnie eld, MSW, LCSW, Evolve Counseling & Consulting focuses on helping it’s clients grow and evolve into the person they have always wanted to be. The practice o ers a personal approach to counseling, tailoring it’s services to meet the speci c needs of it’s clientele, from specialized mental health counseling to life coaching and all areas in between. All are welcome at Evolve Counseling & Consulting, but Jesenia specializes in counseling women, children and elderly adults through a variety of issues including self-esteem, body positivity, fertility struggles, depression, anxiety, life after divorce and coping with a loss of independence as aging progresses. No matter your needs, Jesenia Minnie eld and her team strive to work with you to overcome your identi ed obstacles, while assisting you in setting goals that align with your personal beliefs.
INFO:
Evolve Counseling & Consulting LLC 136 NW Veterans Street, Lake City, FL 32055 evolvecounselingconsulting.com Email: jminnie eld@evolvecounselingconsulting.com Telephone: 386-365-4698
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