How Can Short Term Goals Best Lead Towards Accomplishing Long Term Career Goals?

When I was in school, the only goal I set for myself was to finish school.

This was a good goal to have, until I graduated and had no clue what to do next.

Setting goals throughout your life is important if you want to have direction and a plan to follow.  After you’re done reading this article, you’re going to be able to:

1.       Understand the Relationship Between Short Term and Long Term Goals

2.       Learn How Short Term Goals Contribute to Long Term Goals and Overall, Success

3.       Create Effective Short Term Goals

Ok, now let’s get into it.

Understanding the Relationship Between Short Term and Long Term Goals

Before we go any further, I think it’s important to first define exactly what a Short Term and Long Term Goal is:

Short Term Goal: a specific and achievable objective that you aim to accomplish within a relatively short timeframe. Typically, it focuses on immediate actions and outcomes, usually ranging from a few days to a year.

Long Term Goal: a significant objective that you strive to achieve over an extended period, often spanning several years.

Ok now that we got that out there, let’s look at how you can make sure your short term and long term goals align.

*A quick note, if your goals don’t align, you might want to re-think them because there’s no sense in setting these types of goals if they don’t steer you on the same path.

Now let’s look at how you can make sure your short term and long term goals align.

If your long term goal is to work at a Big 4 accounting firm as an accountant in 10 years, you may want to list several short term goals that will get you there.

1.       Major in Accounting and pass all your classes.

2.       Pass your CPA exam.

3.       Get an MBA (if you choose to)

4.       Get an internship at an accounting firm.

5.       Network and get a role at a smaller accounting firm.

6.       Use your experience and networking skills to get a role at one of the Big 4 firms.

In this scenario, it’s important to be clear that your long term goal is to be an accountant at a Big 4 accounting firm, so you aren’t wasting time with your short term goals.

Goals Can Change

Since you’re the one setting the goals, know that you should be ready to change and update your goals at any moment.

If you realize during your first year working as an accountant that you’re not a fan of being an accountant, it may be time to adjust your long term goal followed by your short term goals. 

It’s more important to be happy than to be on track with goals you set for yourself.

Make Your Goals Measurable and Specific

If you’re going to be making goals in your life, you want to make sure they are specific goals and goals that are measurable. 

What does that mean exactly?

Look, at this example of a goal and tell me if it’s measurable and specific:

-I want to be a teacher one day.

Is It Specific? No: Wanting to become a teacher is a great goal.  But what kind of teacher, a preschool teacher a fifth-grade teacher, a college professor?  Spend more time thinking about what type of teacher you want to be, so you have something to aim for when you’re making your short term and long term goals.

Is It Measurable? No: “Some Day” could mean anything.  Is it in a year, is it in five years, is it in ten years…you get the picture.  Do you want to become a teacher when you graduate college?  Or maybe you want to get your MBA and then become a teacher.  Set a specific deadline for when you want to become a teacher to make the goal more measurable.

Now that we’ve broken down what makes a goal measurable and specific, let’s take a second crack at coming up with a similar goal.

-I want to be a High School History Teacher after I get my MBA degree when I’m 26.

Now, that’s specific AND measurable.  While you’re on your journey to become that teacher, you can check in with yourself and see if you’re on pace to meet your goals.  This will give you a clear direction to aim for.

Strategies For Creating Effective Short Term Goals

1.       Be Realistic: It’s good to have goals that make you push yourself to be great, but they also must be realistic.  You aren’t going to be playing in the NBA when you’re 17 years old.  You aren’t going to own a million-dollar house by the time you’re 18.

I’m not trying to burst anyone’s bubble here; I just want you to be realistic when you’re making your goals, so you’ll have a better chance to achieve your dreams.

When I was only hitting 70 mph on the radar gun in High School and thought I still had a chance to make it as a pitcher in the Major Leagues, I was hurting myself because my goals weren’t achievable.  You must be able to be honest with yourself during this process.

2.       Get Input from People Who Care: The best way to make attainable and meaningful short term goals is to have people close to you give you feedback.

It’s hard sometimes to evaluate yourself.  You’ll wind up being too critical or even worse, thinking you’re better than you are.  If you have people around you that are going to tell you like it is, you’ll be able to use that advice to craft short term goals that are true to you.

3.       Set Easy Goals to Start: If you want to start exercising every morning but you’ve never exercised before, a bad short – term goal to set would be to start going to a local gym at 6am every morning.

This is a goal that is built to fail.  A good short term goal would be to start waking up at 6am for a week without even working out.  Just get your body used to waking up at 6am.  Maybe take a walk or do a few push-ups.  Start little by little to get the ball rolling before you start really pushing yourself.  It’s important to get the feeling of accomplishing a goal under your belt.

An Important Note to Leave You With

Remember, short term goals are meant to be the building blocks and give you confidence to achieve your long term goals. 

It’s good to set goals that are going to make you reach for the stars but have a few short term goals that you know you’ll be able to accomplish so you can feel good about yourself along the way.

What To Do Now

After reading this article, you may be thinking, “I want to make goals, but I need help evaluating myself before I start.  If you’re in that boat, don’t feel stressed or panicked.  You have a place to go that has trained coaches who’d be happy to help.  Reach out to your friends at Your Career Strategy and you can set up a FREE discovery c all to see what the best approach is for you to take.

Good luck and Happy Goal Setting!