For most Queensland teachers we head back to work in less than a week. Say goodbye to late sleep ins and carefree days…. sigh…

When we return to work we need to consider what our goals are as teachers for the next 12 months. Maybe just like new years resolutions we won’t stick to them but it’s still worth the reflection and at least a few weeks of trying to make them happen.

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they set goals is they are unrealistic or they don’t make a plan for how they expect to achieve them.

According to StatisticBrain.com less than half the people that make new years resolutions see them past 6 months. Of these people that are still on track only approx 8% of you that originally made resolutions actually achieved them.

I suppose the question is then why bother, why not keep on doing exactly what we’ve been doing before? I suppose that I could just continue to do what I did last year in exactly the same way, but I risk becoming stale, I risk burning out from making the same mistakes, I risk not being the best teacher for my students that I can be and the best manager for my staff.

Reflecting and setting goals sets a platform for us to improve, it allows us to begin to move forward and become our better selves. If we are honest with ourselves we all know that we won’t meet every goal we set out to achieve but isn’t even getting half way there better then being where we started at the beginning of the year. I think so…. and so should you. This article by mindtools gives some great reasons for goal setting.

Anyway my point is set goals, even if you make progress towards achieving them but don’t quite get there you have still achieved something. Try to only set 2 goals per year these may have other smaller components to achieve them but this is probably all that you can realistically accomplish given the additional goals you will be given by regional office, school admin, HOD and even other teachers.

Here are 5 steps to setting your career goals for 2017:

1. Think about where you want to be or what you want to be doing in 5 years time. Write down 3 dot points that summarise what this looks like.
2. Think about and write down what the 5 main things are that you would need to do to achieve this goal.
3. Write down what the main thing is that you wanted to achieve this year. How does this relate to your 5 steps to your 5 year goal?
4. Select two goals that you can set that address what you wanted to achieve this year and achieving your 5 year goal.
5. Use a SMART Goal planning template to outline how you will achieve your goal.

Find exclusive Educating the Digital Learner templates below:

Goals Template

SMART Goal planning template

The 3 links below discuss how to ensure that you stay on target to achieve your goals. Don’t forget to be flexible and forgive yourself if you get off track and then get started again. Don’t be afraid to reassess your goals throughout the year and change them when you need to.

Feel free to comment below  or on our facebook page on your goal setting strategies and success in achieving them.

Golden Rules of Goal Setting

7 Ways to set short and long term work goals

7 Secrets of people that keep their new years resolutions