This is the time of year when many people begin to think about their New Year’s resolutions. This also is a good time of year to think about your career and what you hope to achieve in the coming year.

Whether you set goals at work or not, I find it helpful to set personal career goals. Not only do I write them down, but I measure them.

Some of my goals involve an outlay of funds, and I budget accordingly. I’m always surprised when I hear someone say they want to attend a conference or join a group but because their boss won’t pay they don’t do it. If it’s important to you and/or your career, you are worth the personal investment. Of course, you can often find low-cost or no-cost opportunities (except your time).

One of my goals last year was to schedule time on my calendar to participate in a half dozen webinars on subjects I wanted to learn more about. A few of them, I had identified previously because they were available to me on-demand through one of my memberships. One of the webinar series I learned about through a tweet. It was offered by Shonali Burke and the topic was “Social PR Launchpad,” a free mini-training to help unleash my inner Social PR superhero.

The webinar was scheduled Friday through Sunday so I had to make a weekend commitment. The numbers definitely dropped from Friday, and those who didn’t join in on Saturday and Sunday missed out. I learned a lot and was inspired, too. She gave us homework (it was easy!) and helped me reframe some thinking I was doing. It was worth the investment of my time.

For 2016 I have identified the conferences I would like to attend – one for work and one to help with my mystery writing. I’ve allotted the requisite number of days off and have calculated the cost to attend. By the time the conference rolls around, I’ll have the funds saved.

As I move into 2016, I’m working to identify speaking opportunities, with the intent that such opportunities could lead to additional paid engagements and/or clients who would like to use my coaching services. This year I built out my website to include information about the training I offer. Before the year is out, I will have reached out to several organizations to offer my services. My goal is to secure three speaking opportunities so if you or someone you know has a need for a speaker with my skill set, please have them contact me.

In addition to participating in or attending webinars and conferences, here are some additional ideas to help you reach your career goals –

• Work with a career coach.
• Read industry and leadership books. One on my list is “Mavericks at Work by Taylor and LaBarre.
• Update your Linkedin profile.
• Schedule coffees with influencers.
• Join professional groups (I get a lot from VaPC.org and NFPW.org).
• Volunteer in a field that interests you.

 

 

 

 

 

Developing my goals for next year involves reviewing my goals for this year and whether I met my metrics or not. With respect to this blog, I posted each week as I had committed to do. I was curious, though, to see which posts had the most viewers. I pulled stats from WordPress.

In case you missed out on the top blogs, below are links to them and a few thoughts.

With Whom Do You Eat Lunch: This was the most popular blog, and following its publication I had lots of invitations to lunch, including from my mum!

5 Things to Do When Asking for Advice: I wrote this when I realized that some people don’t know how to go about asking for advice. I hope it provided guidance for some.

Modern Rolodex: Call me old-fashioned, but I miss my Rolodex. Then a reporter at a conference provided me with a tip that has revolutionized how I file names in my Outlook address book. Apparently, I was not alone in missing the Rolodex.

5 Things to Do If You Are Job Hunting: Throughout the year, I coached a few people on job searches. I finally realized it might make a good blog post. Apparently others thought so, too, since it was the fourth most popular blog this year.

Just Do Something: When you have a big project or are writing a book sometimes it’s simply about doing something — anything. If you are doing something, you are moving forward and not standing still.

6 Ways to Learn: The idea for this blog was sparked when a blog follower said her company didn’t pay for her to attend conferences but she wanted to keep growing. I provide six suggestions in the post.

Handling High Visibility Environments, aka a Crisis: Jim Vance has handled his share of crises, and he provided great advice on how to do so.

Summer Reading List: I finished two of the three books I said I was going to read. The third one, “All the Light We Cannot See,” I will read during winter break. I postponed my reading of it because my book club postponed its discussion of it until the new year.

Finding Your Slow: Our lives are busy, and this post provides five ways to slow your pace. Have you tried coloring?

How Not To Give a Good Presentation: I wrote this post after sitting through two really bad presentations. The first tip – don’t read your slides – should be made into a law, according to one reader. I couldn’t agree more!

Have You Done Your Post-Conference Homework: Just because you’re back in the office from a conference, doesn’t mean there isn’t follow-up work. This post explores ways to enhance your conference experience.

Being Mindful About Unplugging: I’m still working on this, and ironically an app called Calm is helping me.

Newspapers Are Not Dead: In this blog post a newspaper publisher notes why newspapers are relevant. He made several good points, including that newspapers can’t be boring.

What I Wish I Knew When I Was New: I was asked to give a presentation about my new role, and I took some highlights from the presentation to create this post.

Speaker Checklist for Presentations: Whether you are giving your first presentation or your hundredth, it’s good to have a checklist so you don’t miss anything.

Going into 2016 if you have suggestions for topics or would like to see more on a particular subject, please let me know. If you had a favorite blog, please let me know by posting in the comment section. And if any of these blogs were among your favorites, feel free to share with your friends and followers.