As you begin the new year, it’s a great time to set some career goals for 2015. Whether you want to find a new job or get a promotion within your organization, career goals can help you achieve those objectives. But, how do you go about setting goals and sticking to them? Just like with New Year’s resolutions, it can be difficult to stick to your career aspirations. Here are a few steps you can take to set your goals and stick to them:

Define Your Goals

As you begin thinking about what you want to accomplish professionally, in 2015, it helps to actually define those career goals. If you want to find a new job in 2015, then you need to set that as your career goal. If you simply want to get better at you current job or want a promotion in your current organization, then define that as your career goal for 2015. No matter what you hope to achieve, define that as your goal and share that goal with someone who can help you stay on track.

Create a Strategy

Now that you have defined your career goal for 2015, you need a strategy to accomplish the goal. For example, if your goal is to get a new job, then your strategy should revolve around making the best resume and applying to a certain number of jobs on a weekly or monthly basis. Remember, as you’re filling out application and submitting your resume, don’t just apply to any job. Only apply to jobs that you’re qualified for and actually can see yourself taking in the future.

Set Deadlines

The only way to really stick with your goal and strategy is to set deadlines for yourself. In the example above, applying to so many jobs a week or month is a great deadline to set for yourself. If you need to update your resume, then include deadlines to have certain parts of your resume edited until you are completely finished updating the whole document. When you have deadlines, you are able to keep yourself accountable and reach your goals.

What are your career goals for 2015? How do you plan to achieve them? Let us know in the comments section below!