Along with the oldest members of Generation Z, the youngest members of the Millennial Generation are set to be the most hopeful with regard to making New Year’s resolutions for 2022; this much can be gleaned by online surveys conducted by Pureprofile and Finder.com. Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation who participated in the surveys were less likely to make resolutions.

With regard to the kind of New Year’s resolutions younger Americans are making these days, most of them are related to health goals, but self-improvement and career goals are not far behind. These are the categories under which we can file personal development goals such as the ones often discussed on sites like Success.com.

Setting Up Career and Work Goals

Compared to popular New Year’s resolutions such as giving up smoking or losing weight, you stand a better chance of achieving personal development goals. As can be imagined, losing weight is the resolution that is more prone to failure; the problem is that it is often made without a strategy. We are more likely to formulate plans for personal development because we happen to be more rational about it.

Getting started with personal and career development goals involves making a determination as to whether you are truly happy with your current career situation. When doing this, you must look at every possible angle. This is an assessment that needs to be realistic; you may not be happy working as a bartender now, but if the career goal you have in mind will result in lower compensation, would you be able to assimilate such change?

Before setting up career goals in earnest, ask yourself the following:

* Do I feel appreciated at my job?

* Am I deriving adequate benefits?

* Are my efforts being rewarded accordingly?

* Do I feel engaged at work?

The answers to the questions above should guide you towards the next step, which is to figure out what kind of career move would make you happy. If you decide to advance within the same industry, you will want to conduct some research on the skills that can help you in this regard. Data scientists, for example, are facing new expectations related to the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning; these are emerging skills, and they could make a difference in terms of career advancement as well as higher compensation.

Most people tend to be realistic about personal development goals; this is what sets them apart from many New Year’s resolutions. The best practice is to be hyper-realistic. Nursing assistants who wish to become a registered nurse knows that they will need either a bachelor’s degree or sufficient continuing education in order to challenge the state board; this would entail striking a balance between work and family obligations so that there is enough time for taking the necessary courses.

Finally, personal development goals should be highly actionable. If the goal is to obtain a Master of Business Administration degree, instead of thinking two years ahead, it is better to plan things one semester at a time, and the planning should account for important aspects such as tuition.