7 Tips for Setting Badass Work Goals

We all work differently, and objective setting is something which comes around yearly in nearly every company! Personally, I love setting goals, from the smallest stuff to long term vision. I’m not one for new years resolutions but I have thought about my goals for my next year based on my reflections from my past months, and year.

If you’re not a fan of writing out your work objectives, don’t worry you don’t have to have everything set in stone for the year, it’s good to have flexibility within your objectives because circumstances and situations may change and it’s best to be prepared so you can avoid feeling like you want to scrap this year and start again next year! I’ve written up some of my favourite tips and things to remember when creating goals which I shared with my team when planning their objectives for the year to create some badass objectives.

1. Be specific with your goals and define what success means to you

One way to set goals is using the SMART goal acronym. SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound. Being vague is like being scared to commit, for example you say: “I want to learn more about AWS architecture” Ok so how do you know you’ve reached your goal that you’ve learnt more and by when? What do you define as your success of ‘learning more’?

Same example as above but using SMART goals:

S: I’m going to land a new role by knowing all about AWS architecture.
M: I define my success by passing the AWS Solutions Architecture exam.
A: This is achievable because I can afford my time for the exam, and my company will reimburse me if I pass.
R: This is relevant because I am currently in tech wanting to move over to the solutions architect role my company will be hiring for in 6 months.
T: I want to have sat the exam this by X date.

2. Focus on what you can control

We may find ourselves in situations where we’re not in control and that has a direct influence on our objectives. Take hold of your path and think specifically about what you can influence. Remember don’t beat yourself up over what you can’t change. This is where flexibility when setting your objectives helps!

3. Recognise who can help you achieve your goal

Yes, they’re specific to you, but remember you’re not on your own, when setting goals have a think about who can help you achieve these goals! For example, your team members, managers, learning and development to name a few!

4. Understanding the Vision

This might seem like an obvious one, but important to mention. Ensure you truly understand your role within your team, and the goal to what you’re team are working towards.

5. How can you align your personal goals with your team goals?

For example you’re looking for an objective around learning a new language. Say you have a mixed language team and you know .Net like the back of your hand. If one of your goals is to cross skill to a new language, get specific and see where the opportunities are. Learning a language that’s in the team but new for you, wouldn’t just be beneficial to your team and company but huge value to your own skillset!

Another example: Say one of your goals is to celebrate your team more. Make this a SMART goal and make it work for you and your team by committing to giving your team quarterly feedback!

6. It’s a good time to reflect on your personal goals

If you are thinking about setting personal goals, it’s a good time to do so as they can work hand in hand with your work goals. I’m going to use an example of practising mindfulness as a personal goal and exercises to dramatically improve my time management as an example work goal. Can you intertwine them to your work specific goals? One example of this: As I am not commuting to work at the moment I will practice a virtual commute for 20 mins before I start work this will include a mindfulness session and refresh my mind for the day ahead.

✔️ Personal goal: Practice more mindfulness
✔️ Work related: Time management exercises: Using the commute to get a clear head for the work day (virtual or physical commute!)

7. Objectives aren’t just for Christmas

Or new year. These goals are your own, they’re not a box ticking exercise because you have to do them they’re there to genuinely help your journey at work. Don’t spend a week pushing something out because you have to and then never look at them again. Have your goals in mind when you’re setting your daily, weekly and monthly to-do list, are they aligned?

These are a few things to remember when it comes to creating badass objectives, it comes around every year in pretty much every company, make the objectives truly work for you. If you have found this useful, why not share it on social and drop a comment below to share your favourite goal setting tips with me!