You have been collecting much information about yourself, your goals, and the working world. Now let’s create a vision for you. As you develop your vision consider these ideas:

• Creating a life for myself and family that has a high level of balance and quality
• Being financially successful and having a degree of power and control
• Working for the greater good of the community
• Achieving recognition for work
• Being financially independent at an early age
• Wanting to travel and explore the world

Clarifying your objectives:

Organize your ideas into 3 groups: long-term, medium-term and short-term. By having longer-term goals, you will be able to set your course to becoming successful in your career. Then by working backwards to the present, you will be able to take a step at a time toward your ultimate goal.

How much of you do you want to commit to the work you have listed in the "now" column? Will you be able to see this work as part of the big picture? Receiving pay from an employer means completing the tasks required by the position. Will the joy you experience doing this be greater than the burden?

This is why your personality and attitudes are the most important predictors of success in your career and in your life generally. You can’t accomplish more than you believe you can. Your thoughts, positive or negative, come into play. How you accept your own abilities will define whether or not you achieve your goals.

The secret of an athlete’s success can be yours. Create a mental model (e.g., a high jumper will visualize running and sailing over the bar in the competition). Use your imagination to create what you want in life. Close your eyes and visualize yourself doing the work you have written in the "now" section above. Are you indoors or outdoors? Is there anyone with you? What tools or equipment are you using? What are you saying, writing or thinking? What deadline are you working towards?

Use the chart below to assist in defining your goals:

Goal Setting:

Obviously, goal setting is important. But how do you know that the goals you have set are the correct ones and that you have explored the most appropriate ways to reach them?

• Specific means detailed, particular or focused. A goal is specific when you know exactly what is to be achieved and accomplished. A simple goal is easier to understand. Imagine your goal as specifically as you can. Ask: Who, where, what, when, how...specifically?
• Measurable goals are quantifiable. Think of the evidence that will let you know you have achieved it. For example, words like ‘better’ or ‘faster’ are not quantifiable. "Increase my course grades by 10%" provides a clear measure for a goal.
• Achievable goals are self-maintained; the achievement of the goal is up to you alone. There are many aspects of life that involve dependent relations with others. Your goal should clearly speak to things that you have control over.
• Realistic goals are practical and possible. Realistic goals are a balance between what is hard and what is easy to achieve. They require a ‘stretch’. It’s that little bit extra in performance that makes people progress and improve. Is your goal realistic and reasonable?
• Timely goals mean that they are scheduled. There is a finite duration to your effort, a deadline. People can put off doing things if no deadline is set because human nature usually finds something else to do on the way. For example, "by the end of June" is more specific than "toward the end of June". However, the most precise statement is: June 30, 20XX.

On to Step Four