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“Tomorrow you promise yourself will be different, yet tomorrow is too often a repetition of today.” – James T. McCay

The start of a fresh new year is a time of great expectations in what concerns our Career path. We pledge to ourselves to get a promotion, earn more money or even change careers. We reflect on the good and the bad, what has worked and what hasn’t brought us satisfaction. But most of all, we want change.

The ‘New Year, New me” cliché is trending and quite frankly, you desperately wish you could make all your resolutions come true. Sure, this happens every year and you don’t really believe in the promises you make to yourself anymore. Your resolutions list begins like so:

ü Start working out

ü Eat more healthy

ü Read more books

ü Start saving money

... and finishes in a terrible despair that you’ve accomplished so little of what you’ve planned. Maybe you didn’t try hard enough, maybe you weren’t motivated enough or maybe you’ve set the bar too high.

For 2016, I’ve made career resolutions of my own and I hope to scratch every promise off the list, one by one. If you’re looking for inspiration, take a look below. You will find out that my goals don’t differ much from yours (after all, we all hope to become better versions of ourselves, right?). Scroll down as I invite you to learn new tips on how to actually stick to each of them.

ü Learn new skills

ü Engage in smarter networking

ü Have more initiatives

ü Get better at time management

ü Improve my work-life balance

1. Learn new skills

Getting a skills update has always been on top of my to-do list priorities. These include learning a new foreign language, perfecting my Photoshop knowledge and deciphering the ins and outs of online marketing – just to name a few. Regardless of my enthusiasm, I never found the energy and determination to pursue all of my goals.

For 2016, I promised myself to add at least one new skill to my professional development. If you’re going through the same ‘commitment’ struggle, here’s a strategy to taking a step forward: search online for a free course that interests you and apply with no second-guessing.

Be realistic when it comes to attendance expectations – how many times a week are you actually going to take part in this course? Stay motivated by dedicating at least 2 hours per week to your online study activity. Get serious about it every time: switch off any form of distraction, take notes, revise and do your homework – just like in class!

2. Engage in smarter networking

Never miss the chance to build professional relationships – one of my 2016 career related priorities. Having a strong professional network is mandatory in today’s job market – and I’m not talking about virtual, LinkedIn generated contacts. Sure, permanently growing your LinkedIn connection database is essential for exposure, still let’s not forget about the importance of ‘old-school’ face-to-face interaction.

Now and then, get out of your Comfort Zone and make the time to attend networking events in your area of interest. Check in at seminars, trainings, open door events, career fairs – every new experience can help you cultivate your passion for a specific field, learn from experts, share knowledge and create professional based relationships.

3. Have more job initiatives

“The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will.’ Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities.” - Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

In smaller words: if you never try, you’ll never know. This is what I keep on saying to myself every time I fear stepping out of my warm and attentively nurtured comfort zone. Speaking in career terms, a comfort zone is similar to a general complacency, the pattern of work routine that we like to indulge ourselves in.

If you’ve been working in the same field and same position for a while now, most probably you are dealing with routine too. It’s time to change!

Talk it over with your manager and let them know you’re ready to take on new challenging projects, extend your current role, offer contribution outside your attributions. Be the one with initiative!

4. Get better at time management

This is my Achilles’ heel. Learning to efficiently manage office time is essential for career success. It also has a big impact on reestablishing that work-life balance we all crave for.

The secret is to determine a customized system that actually works and helps you track moments of low versus high-pique productivity. Once you discover the reasons behind those slow activity moments, you can adapt your work style.

Start each work day with a plan: organize and schedule. Prioritize tasks based on their emergency and importance status. Block all distractions like Facebook or other social media platforms – unless your business depends on that. Reserve time for interruptions and small breaks. Always take a 1 hour lunch break to refresh your mind. Sounds pretty easy, right?

5. Improve my work-life balance

Not being what you call a morning person, I tend to focus better on my work after hours, in perfect silence, when the office is almost empty. Consequently, this work style affects my personal life since I often stay 1-2 extra time in the office to finish my tasks.

One solution would be, in this case, to rethink my morning routine, which also implies doing some lifestyle adjustments. I will leave that to my personal life resolutions list.

Another solution would be to learn to better prioritize my daily work. This is a lesson that applies to all: understand that you cannot finish everything in one day and that it’s impossible to please everyone.

“After all, tomorrow is another day” to quote the famous Scarlett O’Hara character in Gone with the Wind.

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It’s time to make those career goals come alive.

Happy New Year! 

This article was originally published on LinkedIn. 

About the Author:

Passionate about turning simple ideas into creative stories. Truly in love with storytelling, Ramona Costea has been active in the media writing and publishing business for over 8 years. She is now a Copywriter for Oracle’s Global Recruiting department, where she continues to experiment with social media and improve content strategy. Her specialties include content writing, online marketing, employer branding and social media. 

Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

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