Make 2020 Count: Professional Goals for the New Year

New year, new decade. There’s no better time to pause and make sure you’re continuing to grow professionally. Whether you’ve been working for 2 years or 20, there are always things you can do to make sure you’re moving forward. Here are few goals to put on your list for the next 12 months. Because you’re going to make 2020 a great one!

Learn A New Skill

Take a course, sign up for online training, or teach it to yourself. Pick a skill you’ve always wanted to know or one that will definitely make your daily work easier. Learn it. Aim high, aim low, stay within your field or wander beyond it — the important thing is to learn it. Whether it’s Illustrator, public speaking, advanced Excel, or coding — you’re going to own it this year. Pivot tables anyone?

Write an Article
We sometimes don’t realize just how much we know about our work. Put it down. Write an article, put together a slide deck, do a podcast, or make a video — whatever works for you. You’ve got expertise and insider’s knowledge that could probably be useful to others. Don’t know where to start? Start with “This is what I wish I knew when I started my job…” And it will probably flow from there. Post it and share it, if you like. But even if you don’t, it’s still a valuable exercise to articulate what you and how you do it. You never know what inspiration it could lead to…

Expand Your Network
If networking events are your thing — great. If not, there are definitely other effective ways to expand your professional network. Even if you’re not searching for a new job, it’s a good thing to do periodically. Invite a colleague or client or supplier or even a competitor out to coffee and tell them you’re interested in hearing about what they do. Let them lead the way — your job is to be curious and learn about someone else’s work. Plus, you never know where that person could lead you to, either this year or next. Show interest in another person’s job, and will definitely learn something new.

Update Your LinkedIn
Do it. Take one hour and just get it down. Because people are always checking it, even if you’re not looking for a job.

Examine A Failure
We never really take the time to debrief about why something doesn’t work out. This year, keep an eye out for something that doesn’t work out at work, whether small or large, and take it as an opportunity to do a debrief exercise for yourself. Ask the hard “why” questions about why something failed, and try to examine as many layers as possible. Your final “why” might just lead you to some interesting insights. It’s one of the best ways for us to learn.

The year is going to pass by us before we even know it, and we don’t want to be in the same place professionally at the end of it. Take these steps or any others that will help you grow professionally this year, and you’ll be able to look back at the end of the year and see your professional evolution. Because if we’re not learning, then we’re just staying the same…