当你浏览LinkedIn时，很可能有一半的帖子都是你圈子里宣布新职位或升职的人发布的。无论你是刚刚获得晋升，还是在你现在的雇主中担任了一个新的角色，还是你要跳槽到一家新公司，现在都是设定目标的好时机！

设定目标是你每年都应该做的事情，我指的不是你的雇主可能期望的目标——尽管你的个人和职业目标可能与你为雇主设定的目标一致。首先，你需要反思你今天所处的位置。诚实地面对你目前的技能，否则你就无法朝着新的目标前进。

我是那种喜欢逆向工作的人，所以我建议你从总体的、更大的目标开始，然后把你的短期目标作为迈向长期目标的垫脚石。

第一步：从你十年后的目标开始。你可能心中有一个头衔，比如CEO、终身教授，甚至退休。想象一下自己在那个角色中。

第二步：基于你现在的位置，有哪些合乎逻辑的职业步骤可以达到这个目标。如果你是一名助理，那么你要经过多个步骤才能成为首席执行官。你想退休，但你的计算告诉你，你需要至少存10万美元才能达到你想要的月收入。

第三步：列出实现更大目标所需的技能、经验或资源。这份清单可能包括所有这三个要素，比如更好的谈判技巧，更多的JDB电子领导经验，以及重返学校的资金。对于这三列中的每一项，按容易实现程度进行分类。例如，参加一个关于谈判的在线课程或购买一本关于影响他人的书可能很容易，然而，获得JDB电子领导经验将需要更多的精力和时间。你可以考虑将这些目标按1-3分进行排序，1分代表容易实现，3分代表较难实现。

Step Four: After you have ranked the skills, experience, and resources, you can list all the ones you ranked “1” into your short-term goals (keep in mind, it is not realistic if you have 10 items ranked 1). Look at these ones and perhaps a couple of the twos and determine how you can achieve them over the next 3-to-6 months.

Step Five: The rest of the twos become your intermediate goals – ones you should be able to complete in the next 6-to-18 months.

Step 6: Develop you own means of assessing your progress and keep in mind that as you deepen your skill set, experience, and even your resources, you will likely see additional areas for growth needed to achieve your ultimate goal. Also, be open to the unexpected doors that may open along the way, sometimes they lead to amazing opportunities. Goal setting is a tool we should all use. We should review those goals on an annual basis and be open to revision and shifting as needed. Not only will it help you achieve your goals, but you are also more likely to achieve them earlier.

Best of luck!

Anne Converse Willkomm
Associate Dean, Graduate College
Associate Teaching Professor, Dept. of Communications, College of Arts & Sciences
Drexel University