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Career Planning; Reflecting on the Past

Career Planning: Reflecting Back and Moving Forward

A great way to reflect back on your life and career planning is to put together a best of/worst of list for the year. When you look at the good AND the bad… you will see trends. Set aside at least an hour and lock yourself away somewhere without your mobile, tv, or any other interruptions. If you need extra time for this exercise, it’s worth getting up an hour earlier or staying up an hour later. Download your PDF here and let’s get started! To begin, you must first get clear about where you really are now…

Career Planning Questions

1. What did you appreciate?

2. What was most memorable or extraordinary?

3. What did you accomplish in last year?

4. What do you want to be sure to recreate this year?

5. What was disempowering last year?

6. What were your challenges or learning opportunities?

7. What do you not want to repeat again? What will you do differently this year so it doesn’t happen again?

8. What did you learn? Why was that so valuable?

9. What decisions did you make that were positive?

10. What were some of the most important decisions you made?

11. What decisions could you make now based on these positive decisions?

For career planning, once you know where you are, you need to create certainty about your ability to make anything you dream about…become real…

12. Write down anything in your life that was once a goal, dream or vision. What are some of the things that at one time seemed extremely difficult or impossible to achieve?

13. Circle two or three items on your list above that seemed the most difficult or impossible to achieve.

14. For the two or three items you circled, write the down the steps you went through to turn each one of them into reality. You may not have done it consciously, yet look back on your success strategy. Did you focus on your goal continuously? Then what — did you actually create a plan or hire an expert? What were the steps you took?

Again, look for the trends.

Things that keep repeating themselves… things that have both positive and negative results for you.

You will gain clarity about where you’ve been, where you are now, and where you want to go.

This process will also help you create a simple plan to set up your new year so that it truly compels, excites, and drives you.

Now that you’re clear on where you are based on results, let’s create your new plans!

1. Write down every goal you’d like to accomplish in the next five years. Focus on the unlimited possibilities available to YOU!

2. Circle the top four one year goals [from your list of 5 year goals] that you are absolutely committed to, and the reasons why you MUST achieve them in 2011!

3. What are some of the actions you may must take that you don’t want to do in order to achieve these goals?

4. Decide now: What is one small thing that you will do immediately toward achieving one of your top goals (e.g., making a phone call, booking a meeting, getting on the internet to research, getting a coach, etc.)?

5. What is one BIG action you commit to doing immediately to achieve your goal (e.g., making a decision, setting up an accountability partner, giving something away, etc.)?

Build momentum by taking action right now towards one of those top goals. Take that first step now towards building success!

NOTE: Many people make New Year’s goals, yet have no plan or direction and take no action. Set a new standard for yourself. Now that you have your plan and direction, measure your progress weekly, monthly and quarterly.

Post your goals up where you’ll see them every day. I know many of you are visual, so look at your goals every day — on your bathroom mirror, the dashboard of your car, a white board in your office, etc.

Be very clear on all the reasons why these four goals are more important than anything else, and then start to write up your action steps for each goal. If you can only think of one action, then write that down. As you focus on what you want and why you want it, and take even one small step towards successfully achieving a goal, you will build momentum to live this year on purpose more than ever before!!

Call Joy’s office today at 877.569.2511 and say *Yes* to Joy’s coaching – receive ongoing personal support with any goals and career planning that are a MUST in YOUR life!


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