What are your career goals this year and for 2025? Do you want to work fully remotely? Looking to make more money and build your side hustle or freelance business? Hoping to climb the ladder in your current role and secure a raise or promotion?
If you’re serious about your career development and success, and you’re passionate about what you do, you need a solid framework a structure so that you can achieve these ambitions. This is where SMART goals come in.
SMART goals lay a clear roadmap for your career and financial success, and enable you to be laser-focused so you can stay motivated and take action all throughout the year, not just when it’s New Year’s Day 2025.
Why wait until the new year to set smart goals when you can begin shaping your future right now? Instead of procrastinating, turn your aspirations into something tangible by following the guidelines in this article for setting smart goals and making some of these goals your own in the new year.
But first, you’re likely wondering, what exactly are SMART goals anyway?
What Are SMART Goals?
You might be familiar with SMART goals from the objectives your manager sets you in your weekly or monthly 1-2-1s and performance reviews. SMART is an acronym that stands for specific measurable achievable relevant and time-based or time bound What this means is that every goal you set for your career should abide by these principles; they should be specific, and not the generic “I wish” or “I hope” goals that you’re so accustomed to creating year after year. (Clearly, those goals have not been working out for you, which is exactly why you’re here reading this because you’re tired of being so far away from your dream lifestyle and career.)
Let’s break down each component of the SMART acronym:
Specific: Every goal that you set should precisely state exactly what you aim to achieve. Elusive or ambiguous language doesn’t count. For example, setting a goal of launching a side hustle is weak, whereas setting a goal to be a freelance SEO specialist is much more tangible.
Measurable: When a goal is measurable it is easier to break it down into small bite-size components that make it less overwhelming for you to achieve, and act as sign points along the way to the ultimate goal.
For instance, if it is your goal to learn new AI skills, you might make that measurable by using metrics such as hours spent per week in taking an online course or practicing your AI skills; aiming to complete the first module of a Python course within a month, or building and deploying three AI projects within a year.
Achievable: Making your goal achievable means that it is realistic enough for you while at the same time making it challenging enough to stretch yourself. For example, it wouldn’t be achievable or realistic to set a goal of studying an AI course 10 hours a week if your current work schedule only allows for three. It wouldn’t be achievable to aim to complete intermediate or advanced level projects when you are still a beginner. An achievable goal will start at the basics, working with where you are while still pushing you out of your comfort zone.
Relevant: And of course, every goal that you set for yourself should be relevant to your overall ambitions. Taking the example above, studying to perfect and build your AI skills is handy for career advancement and progression, and enables you to make considerable headwind in making more money as well.
In this case, your goal is relevant. Another example would be launching a side hustle, which might be relevant to your overall long-term goal of being financially independent and having multiple streams of income.
Time-bound: Last but not least, every SMART goal should be time-based. Without setting yourself a date by which it will be achieved, you will lose motivation and will have nothing to reach for because the goal-post will constantly be moving. Of course, you should always allow for some flexibility, as the inevitable can sometimes happen. And when that does happen, you would flex the end date of your goal to accommodate these emergencies. But as a rule, you should always set a date by which you aim to accomplish your SMART goal.
5 SMART Goals Examples
Now let’s explore some examples of smart goals that you could seriously consider setting in 2024 and for 2025, particularly in light of the current state of the work force, the economy, and the job market:
Goal: Learn data analytics by completing two courses from Coursera and Code Academy within six months; complete five hands-on projects to accelerate my learning, and dedicate eight hours a week (the evenings and weekends) to learn data analysis.
Goal: Start a side hustle as a freelance social media manager; build a portfolio website by the end of November and secure three target clients by February 2025. Dedicate 10 hours per week to build my personal brand, marketing services, and working on client projects.
Goal: Land a remote job as a technical project manager by March 2025. Create a list of 10 target employers and attend two workshops to increase my proficiency in remote collaboration tools such as Google Workspace, Asana and Slack. Dedicate two hours per week to my remote job search and skills building.
Goal: Expand my professional network by 25% by March 2025. Send 10-15 strategic connexion requests on LinkedIn per day, and aim to attend two industry conferences and networking events per quarter. Spend 30 minutes each day engaging with Content on LinkedIn.
Goal: Generate passive income through creating digital templates. Sell 300 units by April 2025, and allocate three hours a week to developing new digital products and adjusting the marketing strategy.
You can have fun with these SMART goal templates and if you’re struggling, you can create more with the assistance of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT. Simply enter a prompt stating what you’d like to achieve and ask it to lay out the goal for you in the SMART goals format. You can tweet and adjust until it makes sense for you and your career. Ultimately, your future is in your hands. The results you will achieve in 2025 hinge on the decisions you make now.