Communications of the ACM
Start Planning Your Future at the Finish
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To have a successful career, it sometimes helps to focus on your long-range goals and work backward. Write down who you'd like to be at the end of your career, and then figure out how to get there. By starting at the finish, you'll enrich yourself with the focus and tenacity necessary to understand fully what it will take to achieve your dreams. Even if goals are aggressive—such as owning one's own company and retiring early—this methodology is effective if it helps you realize what types of experiences and skills you will need to move to the next level. The article provides practical advice on the steps necessary to achieve a fully realized future.
Carefully determine what you want to accomplish. Be completely honest and realistic about the skills you possess to get there. Write your specific objectives down. Without a clear, specific target to move toward, it's easy to become distracted and get off course. Progress will be evident within months of setting your goals. Envision what your entire life—not just your career—will look like at the finish. Remember, though, that nothing goes exactly according to plan. Recall the challenges you've already encountered and then envision those you've yet to confront. Think about what keeps you awake at night now and project how these same obstacles might grow over time or evolve into new hazards to your success. Everything you've learned and accomplished until now has made you a savvier, more streetwise person than you were the day you graduated.
From Bloomberg Businessweek
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