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<\/p>\nWhether you\u2019re fresh out of college, deciding to start down a new career path, or making any sort of big life change, you absolutely MUST<\/b> set goals. Goals are an important part of making any change in your life, they give you something to strive for, they give you purpose. Without clearly defined goals it is easy to flounder when making decisions. Goals structure your path to succeeding by giving you something to achieve.<\/p>\n
You may have goals that are not clearly defined, such as \u201cI want to work in Public Relations\u201d or \u201cI want to lose weight.\u201d And that\u2019s all well and good. You go, girl.<\/i> Now, let\u2019s come up with something specific enough that won\u2019t allow you to rationalize less-than-ideal outcomes. By specifying your target, you know exactly what it is you\u2019re aiming for and what it takes to get there.<\/p>\n
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If you aren\u2019t exactly sure if your goals are specific enough, try using the \u201cSMART\u201d mnemonic. This can be extremely helpful when determining if your goals are sufficiently laid out, and worth charting out an action plan.<\/p>\n
SMART stands for:<\/p>\n
So, instead of \u201cI want to work in Public Relations,\u201d your goal should look more like, \u201cI want to work as a Manger of Emerging Media for a major PR firm by 2016.\u201d Now, you may need to form smaller goals which would lead you to this result, but if you don\u2019t have a clear objective, you\u2019ll never get where you truly want to be.<\/p>\n