7 New Year's Resolutions for Career Success in 2016
Each year resolutions come around, and when thinking about career resolutions specifically, some of the same items make the list over and over again. Whether you still have some of the same goals as you did last year or are looking for new resolutions to add to your list, being able to put these ideas to paper and get organized before the New Year hits is crucial to success.
Below are 7 New Year’s resolutions that focus on career success and are realistic for most professionals. Sometimes the reason resolutions don't stick is because they are unclear or too difficult to manage all at once (and consistently), so check out a few ideas below that may help you succeed this New Year:
Make sleep and healthy eating a priority over your workload.
One of the worst things you can do in your career is work so hard that you forget to take care of yourself. In fact, eating healthy and exercise has actually been linked to better productivity in the workplace. This means you should make healthy eating and sleep a priority this year. If you feel like you're behind on work but you've run out of time if you want to get 7 hours of sleep, then allow yourself to run out of time. The same can be said for spending time cooking healthy meals. Let those take priority and watch your work get done faster and more efficiently than before.
Actively network outside of the office.
Even if you're not looking for a new job, networking is still something you should be actively pursuing. Going to networking events every few months can help keep you active in your industry, help you make valuable connections and learn new things, and help you improve your skills as a professional. Simply networking with those in your office is great, but getting out to networking events is even better. It definitely takes some effort, but after a while you'll likely start to feel more comfortable and it will become a part of your routine.
Do your own career evaluation.
This means sitting down and thinking about your goals for the year in terms of your own personal career. Write down any responsibilities you want to take on for the year, evaluate what is making you happy and what is making you unhappy in your career so you can make changes, and do some research about salary for your position. Make sure you're getting treated fairly and you're happy, and if not, come up with a plan to make changes.
Get certified in one new skill.
Whatever the skill, make sure it is something that interests you and really make time for it this year as part of your personal development. This will help keep you motivated and hopefully learn something that will make you more valuable in the years to come.
Organize personal social acｃounts for business.
Even if you're not the social media expert in your office, that doesn't mean you can't use social media to your advantage. Make it a goal to utilize social media to help promote your business and even more importantly, help improve your personal brand.
Clean out your inbox and keep it clean.
This is probably the easiest resolution to master on the list. Take one weekend day before January and clean out your entire inbox so you can start fresh at 0 emails. This not only means deleting the emails you don't want, but actually unsubscribing from them as you go so that they don't keep bothering you. It's also important to keep it up throughout the year, which involves creating email folders for organization, turning off notifications, and more.
Read industry news every morning.
Before work every day, read the news that's happening in your industry. Find the blog that really focuses on industry specifics so that you do not have to sift through other distracting news, and give it a quick read every single morning. If you keep up with it, you should only have three or four new headlines to read each day, and for most, only about one or two stories per week even deserves a click and a read. Regardless, it's important to have a feel for what is going on so that you don't miss a beat.
Article Source: http://www.inc.com/adam-heitzman/7-new-year-s-resolutions-for-career-success-in-2016.html
Image Source: http://tweakyourbiz.com/growth/files/shutterstock_62795851.jpg
VOCABULARY WORDS:
1. Workload (n.) ~ the amount of work to be done by someone or something
2. Pursue (v.) ~ to strive to gain or accomplish
3. Subscribe (v.) ~ arrange to receive something regularly, typically a publication, by paying in advance
4. Sift through (idiom) ~ to go through (something) very carefully in order to find something useful or valuable
5. Not miss a beat (idiom) ~ to not pause
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. What is your New Year’s resolution for your personal growth? How about for your career improvement?
2. How do you plan to keep these New Year’s resolutions?
3. Why do you think it’s important to network outside of your workplace?
4. If you could learn one new skill for next year, what would it be and why?
