Achieving your career goals requires introspection, planning and dedication. Unless you are completely happy with where you are in life, you know how it feels to want more. While ambition is a good thing, it’s important to channel it smartly. We’ve put together a few tips to help get you thinking, planning and realising your full potential:

1. Know what your goals are

This seems so obvious, but many employees just go through the motions and live through each week just to get to the weekend, without giving their larger goals much thought. It’s easy to lose touch with what your goals are or have been when you’re demotivated. Devote some time and energy to fleshing out your career goals. Writing them down and planning them out can be a great start to achieving them.

2. Upskill

By doing a distance learning course while you work, you can advance your career and further your education at the same time. Choose a course that is aligned with your career goals. For example, if you want to become an engineer, think about whether you’d like to be a mechanical engineer or an electrical engineer and then enrol in the relevant course. Studying broadens your knowledge and skillset, which makes you more employable and increases your career prospects and earning power.

3. Network

Make connections with the people you work with, particularly those you admire and respect as professionals. Building and maintaining a good network can lead you to future collaborations or partnerships. It can present you with many opportunities. While it is preferable to make a personal connection, it is equally important to build and maintain a professional digital network as well. Online, this can take the form of a well-presented LinkedIn profile or a professional website that advertises your skills and outlines your work experience. This helps your connections to find you and to stay up-to-date with your progress and career path.

4. Stay committed

Persevere. There will always be setbacks, as achieving any worthwhile goal is not easy. Be prepared for things to get difficult, and for life to become busier. Be prepared to work harder, make sacrifices and try more. Achieving your career goals might mean getting a promotion, it might mean leaving your current job and switching careers, it might mean starting over, it might mean working harder where you are. Whatever the case may be, you have to stay committed. Put in the hours. You get what you give.

Did you find any of these tips helpful? If you need some more tips or motivation to help you get back on track and achieve your career goals, consider reading this blog post called: Be the Architect of Your Own Career. Dream big, wake up and work to make it happen. Remember, you have to back yourself before anyone else will.