Do you have dreams and goals that you haven’t yet achieved? Achieving your goals can be tough, but the success at the end of a challenging journey is worthwhile. Whether your goal is to reach your ideal salary or to secure your dream job, these things don’t happen overnight. Here are some things to consider when you’re setting yourself a goal and ways to help you achieve it…

Prioritise – You may have a long list of goals you want to achieve in your career, but which one is the most important? If there is one goal you want to accomplish more than the others, it should be prioritised.

Be specific – In order to achieve your goals it is vital to be specific about what you want to provide you with a clear direction and something exact to aim for. Whether you want to own a franchise or reach a certain salary in your current job, if the goal is specific it will be easier to measure your progress.

Research – If you set a goal in your career, it is essential to know how you’re going to get there. Research will provide you with a broader understanding of how others attained this goal and what steps you need to take to reach it.

Break down your goals – Your career dream may seem like it is a million miles away and it could make you doubt yourself if it looks unachievable. Breaking it down into simpler steps will make your goal appear more achievable to help maintain your motivation and give you an overview of your progress.

There’s no time like the present – There is no better time to chase your dreams than the present, take action and make it reality. If there is something stopping you, review the problems and see how they can be overcome, don’t put them off.

Have self-belief – You need to be in a positive mind set and believe that you can reach your goal, if you don’t, no one will. You may start on a high but setbacks and obstacles can quickly bring this down, so it is important to keep focussed on what you want.

It may be easy to set a career goal but maintaining the motivation and momentum is another thing altogether. When you lack motivation to achieve your goals your commitment is tested. For any success you want to accomplish, motivation is the energy that keeps you going and the force that keeps you trying when you want to give up. If you follow these steps to achieving your goal, your dreams may become a reality sooner than you planned. “By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.” Christopher Columbus