February 28, 2017 | 5 min read
Dropped Your Career Resolutions? Here’s How To Get Back On Track

Catherine

Though the year is still young, you may have found that staying on track with your outlined career resolutions is harder than you anticipated. And that’s totally understandable! These are habits and goals you’ve set-up for the long term, so it’s perfectly normal to experience that there may be some road bumps along the way.

However, don’t get down on yourself just because you may have fallen a little off the path! Reaching these milestones should be a marathon, not a sprint—there’s still plenty of time to get back on track. Regardless of what those career resolutions are, it’s time to recharge and get back to focusing on your goals for 2017!

If you decide it’s time to reevaluate your methods of reaching your career resolutions, here are several ways to reset:

Reassess your goals

If you’re struggling to keep up with the goals you had originally set, don’t beat yourself up about needing to go back and reassess your resolutions.  As you reevaluate your resolutions, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is this attainable? Is this something I have control of?
  • Is this resolution specific or too abstract?
  • Am I able to accomplish this by the end of the year?

Once you finish asking and truthfully answering these questions, you’ll be able to fully assess which resolutions are worth pursuing and which ones you may not be as inspired by anymore. Remember, not going through with every single resolution you set for yourself isn’t a bad thing—it’s equally as important to recognize your top priorities to ensure you’re not putting unnecessary pressure on yourself.

Discuss them with others

Announcing your career goals is a great way to stay on track and hold yourself accountable. After all, it can be easy to shake them off when you are the only person who knows about them. If you’re looking to stay motivated with your career resolutions, keep friends, family and, co-workers in the loop about your eventual goal and the progress you make. Having someone to talk to through the ups and downs of your journey will help keep you on track and provide you with motivation when you may need it most!

Evaluate current habits

If you’re having trouble maintaining your current career resolutions, you may want to examine what may be keeping you from making the progress you’re striving toward. You may not recognize it at first, but you could have some heavily ingrained habits that are preventing you from reaching your new goals. For example, if your goal is to consistently arrive to the office on time but you haven’t made proper adjustments to your sleep schedule, you’ll have a tough time following through with your resolution. Take stock of current habits and see what other changes you should make in order to achieve your goals.

Treat yourself!

Reaching your career resolution is a major accomplishment, and you deserve to reward yourself once you eventually get there! Have a system for rewarding yourself—it could be something small like going out for a drink with friends or something more extravagant. Just pick something that feels rewarding to you, and use it as not only a motivational tool but as a way to congratulate yourself for another step taken in the direction of your resolution.

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