Your future is just that – yours. If you’re not embracing and planning out each step on your professional journey in the construction industry, you’re making a massive mistake. Structured goals help you think big picture while accomplishing all necessary tasks along the way. Setting goals also makes your life easier. Heading into your shift everyday becomes easier when you know exactly what you want to accomplish. Here’s the dirt on the importance of construction career goals.
Short-Term Goals
Short-term goals are the small steps that get you to your bigger accomplishments down the road. Usually these short-term goals will take a few weeks to a few months to complete. For example, if your long-term goal is to gain an apprenticeship in plumbing, your short-term goals would include applying to three programs and researching certification mandates in your area.
Long-Term Goals
If you haven’t carved out long-term career goals for yourself, what are you working for? A long-term goal is something you want to achieve down the road, maybe in five or ten or twenty years. If you want to eventually start your own construction business, that’s a long-term goal. Know that it takes many smaller goals to work up to your end goal.
With the goal of owning your own firm in mind, you’ll need to achieve quite a bit first. For example, you’d need to build a positive professional reputation in your area, research how you’ll keep your operation running, and identify reliable team members to help you succeed in this endeavor. Any successful construction professional knows that careers aren’t made overnight. Focus on the smaller tasks each day, but keep your long-term goal in the back of your mind to stay motivated.
Create SMART Goals
If you are taking goal-setting seriously, you can’t set weak achievements for yourself. “Make lots of money” is not a wise goal. Why? Because your heart needs to be in it, and you can’t measure your success. Here’s what a SMART goal entails:
S – Specific
Setting vague goals is not going to help you stay focused. Never settle for a basic idea of what you might accomplish. If you’re starting out as a laborer but you’d love to be a seasoned laborer, identify the track you are interested in and specifically identify your construction career goal.
M – Measurable
When you achieve something, you want to be able to identify how far you’ve come. That’s why it’s important for your goal to be measurable. Instead of telling yourself you’d like to have a comfortable salary working in construction, make it measurable. Don’t be afraid to set the bar and set it high. Giving yourself a specific figure to work to will help you keep pushing yourself.
A – Action-Oriented
Make sure your goal includes the steps you can take to make it happen. You can’t complete a goal without action items. Identify what action you’ll need to take to accomplish your goal. Cultivating specific steps for a larger goal also helps you carve your big dream into smaller, more manageable chunks.
R – Relevant
Your career goals need to be directly related to your construction work and abilities in the field. Stay on track by creating relevant goals that link back to your long-term goal so you’re not getting distracted by insignificant disruptions.
T – Time-based
“Become an electrician”
By when?
If you want to achieve something, you need to set a deadline. Your goals need to be time-based, or you’ll never feel the pressure it takes to achieve your goal. Any goal should end in a timeframe, whether it’s in two weeks or in twenty years.
To learn more about construction possibilities in your area, team up with the professionals. CCS Construction Staffing can find you the right opportunity for any skill set, so contact us today if you’ve got your future in mind.