Define Your Career Objectives

Career objectives are essential for a satisfying and rewarding professional life

Only when one is completely sure of one’s destination can one decide on the manner of journey to be undertaken. The logic precisely applies to all aspects of life, and choosing a career is not an exception. Having a set of well-defined set of objectives that you want to achieve while you earn your daily bread through your profession will enable you to pick a job that you can turn into your career.

The process that leads to the laying down of your career objectives involves the two ‘a’s, namely- attitude and aptitude. Aptitude is the knowledge required for you to perform a task and Attitude is the approach you have towards the job you ought to perform. For e.g. consider a situation when you have an aptitude or training to either become a computer engineer or a writer, which of the two profession would you choose then? It is here that your attitude comes into play. Although you gained the expertise to work as a computer expert you might feel that your heart lies in writing a novel and thus realise your objective of working in a creative field. In such a situation your choice would be made on what is it that you want out of your job- to be renowned author or an executive in a top shot IT firm.

Career objectives are a must for those who swear by job satisfaction. One draws satisfaction from their respective jobs only when they can realise their dreams and this realisation is possible if a set of objectives is chalked out well in advance.

Also the career objectives that you decide on in the beginning of your career will help you to do away with what is commonly called the ‘mid-career crises. Mid way in your career it is dangerous to have a feeling like ‘what have i been doing all this while’ or ‘ this is not what I was meant for’. If you begin to feel this, know for sure all the years of experience that you have earned will be of no use because all the while mind had cribbed to be somewhere else. The resulting frustration would ruin your professional life which could have flourished only if you had paid enough attention to defining your career objective.

So, introspect now. Decide on what you want to do and weigh the different ways of doing the job. Learn in advance about the difficulties you might endure in the beginning of your career. Equip yourself with the knowhow to overcome obstacles. Most importantly its best to be one’s own judge. Set a goal and a time span within which to achieve it. The performance in this time span will be your guideline to set the next set of objectives.

Get set going. Decide on your career objectives now and set your career rolling.