Why you must set goals if you want to climb the IT career ladder and become a CIO

Recently I’ve come to the realization that if I want to make the move from a technical role to an IT management role and eventually to become a CIO, I needed to make that my goal and work towards it.  In the last 6 years or so I’ve changed jobs quite a few times, generally for either increased job security, better working conditions or just for more money.  But if you take a look at my career progression, there hasn’t actually been any consistent theme or trajectory.  And that’s probably the main danger of not setting a career goal, drifting aimlessly from one role to the next rather than actually progressing.  Or finding that you’re now stuck in a role for too long because you've let too many opportunities pass you by.

While some people may simply find themselves in the right place at the right time and sort of fall into a management role, 99.99% of the time the role will go to someone who has set their sights on getting that position and has put in the work to get that position.  It is absolutely no use, just sitting around and expecting that one day someone will just notice your talent and offer you a promotion, or that if you are simply there long enough they will have to offer you the manager’s job.  It just doesn’t happen that way.  Unless you set yourself a goal and work towards it, you simply won’t achieve success in your personal or professional life.

I first tried setting some goals last year, however it was a total failure and I don’t believe I achieved a single one.  I simply decided in January I was going to set some goals, so I opened the back of a notepad and wrote some personal goals down.  The goals weren’t looked at again until the end of the year when I realized what a failure they were.

Unlike some IT systems, goals are not ‘set and forget’.

In order to take control and start tracking my goals I signed up to receive Todd Nielsen’s Ultimate Annual Personal Success Plan, a series of spreadsheets that let you set and track short, medium and long-term goals and develop the habits necessary to ensure that you are successful in all areas of your personal and professional life.  The system is quite straightforward and easy to use, however Todd has created a number of videos that explain each section to make sure that you get the most out of it.  Todd has made his Ultimate Annual Personal Success Plan available for free if you simply subscribe to his website ToddNielsen.com.

Despite all that, I’ve found that I still have some work to do in developing my habits to be successful, as well as the habit of regularly setting and reviewing my weekly goals.  I’ve already found myself making the same old excuses of being too tired due to the baby going through a growth spurt and picking up another feed at night, not having time due to studying for my exam or simply being lazy and ‘not feeling like doing it’.  I think that part of the issue is that I haven’t fully developed my vision and as a result I’m not as motivated as I could be since there is no clear end-state in mind, however this is something that I am working on.

How do you keep track of your own goals?  Is finding the time to set and monitor your goals on a weekly basis simply the result of developing the habit or does it require motivation?  Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.