We’ve all been there. We set the same resolution on New Year’s Day that we’ve set for the past three years—and have never been able to keep. Stereotypically, it’s a renewed gym membership to reach your fitness goals (that gets abandoned after three months), but maybe it’s something different for you. Regardless, the time frame within which you’re attempting to meet these milestones remains the same.
Long-term goals and short-term goals work differently and serve different purposes. What we usually tackle as one big long-term goal would be much more measurable and attainable as a series of short-term goals.
The same principle applies in business. Whether you’re attempting to update your LinkedIn, complete an online course to further your professional short-term goals, or meet a short-term financial goal to save for a larger purchase, there are proven methods to help you succeed with less time wasted and new skills gained.
A short-term goal is something achievable in the near future, usually within 12 months or less. You can have short-term goals for professional or personal development and apply them in a myriad of ways to help you along the stepping stones. Still, the desired outcome is always that you reach your ultimate goal.
Below we’ll be directing the best methods for your professional success in pursuing short-term goals, examples of some goals you could be setting, and how to achieve them.
How to set short-term goals: The SMART method
You might remember this method from back in primary school when you were first learning what setting and achieving goals looked like. The SMART method is a common acronym we can use as a template for our short-term goals. Each element works together as you make progress toward your goal. Over time, the step-by-step process of reaching your goal becomes less convoluted and discouraging than trying to complete one huge task all at once.
SMART stands for:
- S — Specific
- M — Measurable
- A — Attainable
- R — Relevant
- T — Time-Bound
Specific
A goal is specific when it tells you exactly what you want to achieve. Your specific goal makes that big-picture goal easier to achieve because it gives you a solidified direction. It’s the who, what, where, and when of the problem at hand.
Measurable
A goal is measurable when it has an assessable value or weight that can be quantified. You can estimate, evaluate, and gauge it throughout the entire process of pursuing your goal. This is the how-much, how many, and how-to part of the equation.
Attainable
A goal is attainable when the outcome can be realistically achieved. It doesn’t always mean that it will be easy or straightforward. In fact, it often has the exact opposite meaning. Chasing a goal is meant to engage and challenge those of us who are running and searching.
In the context of professional goals, setting attainable and challenging goals is an excellent way to boost the hands-on activity of employees or management. Plus, it’s always a bonus to find ways to incentivize employees that don’t constantly involve pay increases (although those are excellent methods of incentivization, too).
Relevant
A goal is relevant when it pertains specifically to the work, environment, or situation at hand. Relevant goals work alongside the long-term goals of the organization and the mission statement at play instead of against these things. Relevant goals coexist with the present circumstances. They don’t disrupt or cause conflict between two parts of a whole.
Time-bound
Finally, a time-bound goal has a visible beginning and end that can be book-ended within 12 months or less. Placing time constraints on a short-term goal provides the proper motivation and planning to achieve it. If you never plan an end to the goal at hand, you’ll never feel the burn to accomplish it, and then you’d be right back to square one.
Setting short-term goals at work: The FAST method
As mentioned briefly above, setting achievable short-term goals within the workplace can be a vital piece of any motivation puzzle. People are naturally drawn to a challenge, and they enjoy being pushed farther than their everyday limits.
Have you ever been stuck in a weekly routine for weeks on end that isn’t challenging, stretching, or engaging in the least? Do you remember how drained and blasé you felt? That’s what it feels like to never chase your goals.
People aren’t meant to sit stagnantly. By introducing these quantifiable, achievable, and rewarding goals into your organization’s routine, you may find that your employees respond with a bit more fervor and intrigue to the work in front of them.
While SMART goal-setting has been a staple of good goal achievement for years, this method is slowly switching out in favor of the FAST method. Combined with the goal-setting format of objectives and key results (OKR), FAST goals allow a workforce to fully align smaller, short-term goals to serve the big picture.
FAST stands for:
- F — Frequent
- A — Ambitious
- S — Specific
- T — Transparent
This emerging method of goal-setting differs from SMART by making space for a larger roadmap, bigger goals, and wider metrics that serve employees. SMART goals leave a margin for underachieving because most people using this method undersell their abilities, resulting in a less-than-desirable cycle of setting goals.
With FAST, the framework allows for communication skills to be constantly developed by frequently discussing the project or goal with other team members. The measurable goals are ambitious, big goals that are still time-based. The goals are specific, giving a grounded direction and focus. Finally, they foster an atmosphere of transparency between everyone involved.
These elements make the goals being set and achieved more rewarding.
9 Examples of short-term goals to be more successful at work
Ultimately, the best short-term goal is whichever one serves your independent journey (and your company’s journey) best. If you want to boost your satisfaction with the goals you’re setting at work—either for your individual professional life or the short-term career goals for your entire staff—here are viable short-term goals to consider:
1. Improving communication between teams
Strong communication skills can mean the difference between a well-oiled machine and a rusted-over hunk of metal. Practice clear communication in everything you do, and watch it pay you back in spades.
2. Take courses for professional development
There are hundreds of professional courses and certifications at your disposal to help you grow. No matter your niche, there’s always more to learn.
3. Creating a weekly schedule and organizing tasks
Organization is a vital aspect of running a smooth workplace. If all the pieces are in place at the start of the week, you’ll have a lot more capacity to take care of unexpected challenges throughout each day.
4. Learning from a mentor or coworker
You’re never done learning, and you’d be surprised what the individuals sitting at the desks around you have to offer. Spend a day gleaning what skills and knowledge others possess on the work you do.
5. Reading relevant work-related content to increase knowledge
Reading is the ultimate way to learn, and you can do it from almost anywhere at any time. What could be better?
6. Networking to make more professional connections
Any line of work will tell you that networking is the number one way to rise in ranks and opportunities. Always work to grow your relationships fruitfully and see where they take you.
7. Developing a better work-life balance
No professional life is made whole without an equally attended personal life. Taking time for yourself can pay back 10-fold in the workplace.
8. Learning to implement new apps or social media elements to benefit the organization
It might come as a shock how many apps on the market were created to help optimize the office. It’s not just games and mindless drudgery out there, and an app or social media profile could make a world of difference.
9. Crafting a personal portfolio for your professional work
It’s always a good idea to have a collection of your work on hand. If you haven’t updated your portfolio in a while, or if you’ve never made one, take some time to collect the best of what you offer. You never know when it might come in handy.
Benefits of short-term goals for professional development
As you start to search for new short-term goals to set for yourself and your teams, you might be asking: “How does short-term goal setting improve your professional life?
Here are just a few reasons why setting goals in the workplace can help improve the overall flow and connectivity of your daily routines, improve workers’ productivity, and beyond. You can:
- Set time frames, deadlines, and milestones: Say goodbye to procrastination and finally organize the start of delayed tasks.
- Talk to each other: Increase the amount of communication and feedback amongst your team.
- Get started and take action: Give deadlines and milestones a more solid time frame.
- Prioritize tasks: prioritize the important business goals and get them done.
With this mindset, tasks you had set to complete sometime next month will start getting done next week, and with the improvement to your professional life, your personal life will feel a lot more balanced too. The amount of time it takes for any given short-term career goal will lessen, subsequently reducing the strain on any long-term career goals you set within the organization.
Using short-term goals at work is relevant, achievable, ambitious, transparent, and rewarding for you and the teams involved. After all, a happy team is a happy organization.
How to set short-term goals for attainable results
Short-term personal goals, professional goals, or life goals—it doesn’t matter. The benefit of setting and achieving them is the same across the board. You could be trying to get out of credit card debt or reworking your morning routine. You could want to open a savings account, work as an entrepreneur to open your first business, or learn best practices for leading an ambitious team.
Whatever the situation, setting short-term goals allows you to maintain a razor-sharp focus on the specifics of the goal, strategically target your tasks like archers at the Olympics, and battle procrastination like it’s the apocalypse and you’re the last-known survivor. Businesses that can set and attain short-term financial goals or goals for professional life can not only optimize their resources but drive the growth of their organizations, too.
