Thinking About Your 2012 Career Plan: Part 2

This is the second part of a series on the sorts of questions you might ask yourself when putting together a career plan. The first part focused on looking back at 2011 and earlier and reflecting on where you've been. Now it's time to look forward.

Get your favorite beverage and sit down and relax. Get yourself in a calm quiet place. Or, if that's not your thing, a loud, noisy place! Point is, for part 1 you needed to be realistic and have a good memory. Now it's important to be relaxed and positive. Be as confident and optimistic as you possibly can be. Now's not the time to be shy or cynical.

-What new projects are you looking forward to in 2012?
-What are you dreading about 2012?
-What new things would you like to learn or train in?
-Who would you like to better communicate with in 2012?
-What aspects of your career do you have the most control over and how can you change/improve them?
-What new risks could you take that you've been afraid to take so far?
-What kinds of people would you like to meet or see more of in 2012?
-What kinds of growth would you like to see for yourself as a person?
-What major milestones would you like to accomplish?
-Think about where you really want to go as a person and in your career, what steps can you take in 2012 to get you there?

So hopefully these questions can help you get started thinking about your career and goal planning. Don't be afraid to set your sights too high because even a step towards a lofty goal is better than not taking any steps forward at all. Here's to a productive new year!

(Photo via Arnar Valdimarsson)

Thinking About Your 2012 Career Plan: Part 1

At the beginning of a new year is a great time to reassess where you're at and make new goals and plans going forward. One of the common themes I've been seeing alluded to this week is making your career plan for the coming year. I didn't want to talk so much about what exactly your career plan should be like, but just some good questions that might help you to start thinking about yours.

For part 1 of this I think it's important to look back at where you've come from. That's right, think back to 2011 and your career. Then think back even further and reflect on your last couple years, or last whole years if that seems to make sense. Here's some questions I think will help you to analyze your year:

-What accomplishments are you most proud of from 2011?
-What projects or tasks made you feel the most valuable and confident?
-What projects and tasks were the most frustrating?
-Where did you feel like you wasted a lot of time but maybe didn't accomplish as much as you'd like?
-How did you feel about the hours you worked and how much you did or did not do work tasks from home?
-What's your overall feeling on what your work/life balance was?
-What did you learn or train on that was new?
-How did you feel about the respect you received from your boss and colleagues? Your working styles and communication?
-Looking back, what were the major milestones in your career and career path?
-How did 2011 fit in with the last several years of your career, did you see yourself moving in the direction you want or away from what you want?

Some food for thought as you think on your career in 2011 and how it might affect what you want to set forward as your career plan for 2012. I'll finish this up with part 2 looking forward with some questions to spool your creativity.

(Photo via Gary Huston)