3 Actions to Achieve Your Professional Goals

Do you have that BIG career goal? That dream that keeps you up at night, gets your heart beating just a little bit faster, and the one that feels just a little bit scary but exciting at the same time? 

You know what you want, but then the reality of how to get there sets in and you feel stuck. If you knew what to do, you would do it. You know it’s going to take time, hard work, and you might even make a mistake or two but the mountain feels just a little too overwhelming to climb. Where do you begin? 

We have some recommendations to help give you the confidence and encouragement you need to align your professional goals with actions. 

Following the recommendations, we provide an example showing you how to implement these tips so you can be on your way to thriving in your career and crushing your goals.  

Get Clear on the Problem

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” - Albert Einstein

Once we get clear on what’s blocking us (i.e., the problem) the solution will be easy to uncover.

If you are unclear on the problem, here are some questions to ask yourself.

• In what area of my life do I feel stress or anxiety?
  

• Is there a situation, person, or place that fills me with constant dread?
  

• What drains my energy?

Journal Prompt: What’s stopping you from moving forward? 

Play the “What If?” Game

Have you ever had a friend ask you for advice and it’s immediately clear to you what they need to do? 

It’s so easy to see things in other people, however, not so easy to see those same things in ourselves. One of our favorite quotes from the book The Alter Ego Effect is, “You can’t read the label when you’re in the bottle.” We are all in our own bottle so we have to play a fun “what if?” game to get out of our own heads. Keep reading below for an example.

Journal Prompt: Match the problems you listed above with a “what if” question and answer your “what if” questions. 

Take a Quick, Low Risk Action to Build Confidence

We believe strongly that action breeds confidence. When we feel overwhelmed or nervous, it’s likely because we’re trying to take a BIG scary action. 

What’s a smaller action you can take that feels less risky that will help build confidence? Start there. Then after that, do some auditing on how it worked and felt. After auditing you can take the next step, and the next step, and the next step.

Journal Prompt:Based on my “what if” questions I listed above, what actions do I need to take to get closer to my goal? List all of your actions.

After you have your list of actions, rearrange them in order of what feels most realistic to what feels the scariest. Give yourself a timeline to complete said actions and/or to at least get more information.

To help make these action items more tangible, we’re going to give you an example below with the scenario that you want to become a charge nurse. 

You are craving leadership, a challenge, and want more responsibility, however, what actions should you take to get there? 

Please note the same steps we list here can be used to align whatever actions you need to take with the correct goal. Take time to journal through the following steps, ask some different questions, and take small actions. Your aligned actions will be revealed.

1. Get Clear on The Problem

• No one knows I want to be charge nurse, I haven’t asked or voiced the request

• We have enough charge nurses and I am probably not needed

• I don’t know if I have enough experience 

• I’m too nervous or scared to inquire

• I don’t know who to ask, my manager always seems to be busy

• Did I mention I’m scared!?

• If I become charge, the floor will be short staffed, and I will feel bad 

• What if it’s too much for me to handle and I make an error, cause harm, or just am not good at it?
  

2. Play the “What If?” Game

Problem: No one knows I want to be charge nurse, I haven’t asked or voiced the request.

• Questions: What if I knew I couldn’t fail? What if I voiced this request?

• Answer: I could get rejected, I could be promoted, or at the very least I could get more information! 

3. Take a Quick, Low Risk Action to Build Confidence

Action: Talk to my current charge nurse.

Questions to Ask:

• What are the requirements for becoming a charge nurse? 

• What could I start doing today to help me gain experience? 

• What is the application process? 

Date to be completed: Wednesday, when I work with a charge nurse I know and trust.

Audit after completion:

• Did this action get me closer to my goal? 

• What, if anything, would I do differently in the future? 

• How did taking this action make me feel? 

• Based on the answers to these questions, what are the next steps I can take?

The important thing to remember when taking action on your goals is there isn’t a one size fits all approach. 

We’re all different humans pursuing different goals, so it’s important to figure out what alignment and success means for you. 

We hope this process will help you do just that. Now GO! You got this.