It’s the time of year when people make personal resolutions for the coming year – eat less, exercise more, lose weight, spend more time with family, spend less time watching television, don’t sweat the small stuff, etc. Personal resolutions are a good way to remind yourself of important goals to set for the upcoming year. It’s also a good time of year to turn off the electronic devices temporarily, engage in some essential self-reflection, set certain professional goals, and most importantly lay out detailed, specific steps to achieve those essential professional goals in 2018.
Professional goals, just like personal resolutions, are individual and the results of introspection about your most important core values and priorities. Adopting somebody’s else’s resolutions would defeat the essential purpose of the exercise. Setting aside some time in January to reflect on your 2018 professional aspirations will be well worth the investment, in my experience.
The following are just some examples for you to consider and to spark some thought in developing your own core professional values and goals for 2018:
- Listen more, talk less; as saying goes, you have two ears and one mouth, and they should be used in relative proportion.
- Live balanced; set boundaries for your clients/patients and your employer/supervisor and stick to them.
- Work smart; find your most productive period of day and set aside that time to do work that requires concentration and protect it from interferences, except true emergencies.
- Take vacations and time away from work every week to recharge and disconnect completely.
- Write brief personal notes or letters to others on a regular basis; set a realistic goal and calendar a reminder.