I am sure most of you saw it. The dog’s goal is to be able to fit through the doggie door. He takes extraordinary measures to get fit and ends up reaching his goal of fitting through the door so he can run after the VW.

Whether you agree with a dog chasing a car or not, you have to admire his persistence.

My question is how many of us are that focused on our goals? Do we develop a plan and stay consistent in the execution until we reach our ultimate goal?

If you are someone who is hoping to change something in your life, perhaps find a new position, do you spend the time designing a comprehensive plan, track your progress, and faithfully execute the specific steps to reach your goals?

I find that I do everything better with help. Many things we can do alone but having an accountability partner to make sure that we understand the steps and then follow through makes the possibility that we will reach our goals that much more attainable.

Are you seeking to make some change in your life?

You might find the following posts helpful in keeping you focused on your goals:

• You say you can’t but you mean you won’t
• Why consistency is critical in everything, including your job search
• Are you a starter or a finisher?
• Is your future direction dictated by your past?
• Your future is what you make it

If you keep your eye on the goal like the dog in the commercial, you will get to your final result. The loss of focus and consistency is what makes us struggle and lose ground.

Stuck in your job search or just ready to move on or up from your existing position? Julie Walraven, a Wausau, Wisconsin-based professional resume writer who works with a global base of clients can help you find a new career! To find out how, Click here!

image by giggleseye

Starting a new project almost always feels good. You become invigorated by even the thought of starting something new.

Resolutions, goal setting, and big dreams.

The problem is that for many, the bubble bursts easily. They set a goal and then they drop it either because they are too busy to follow through or they have hit a challenge with the goal and quit.

I often open the day on Twitter with a greeting. This morning I said this, “Good morning! First work day (for me anyway) of the new year! How are you going to make this year fantastic?”

Michelle who tweets as @NLCajax responded with: “Good morning, Julie! I’m still enjoying holidays for 2 more days – reading goal setting inspiration right now. ”

I answered her: “Glad to hear it. I plant to make reading in general something I do more of in 2012. Hope your day is wonderful!”

And as she replied with: Thanks Julie! Hope your first day back to work in 2012 is fabulous! Happy reading – what will be your first book?” I realized that I don’t know which book I will read. I have started so many books in the past year and finished very few of them. My goal is to finish them, one at a time. Allocate time for reading full books, not just blog posts and other information on my computer.

Visualize completing your goal

Many of us set goals like reading, losing weight, or getting organized, but never follow through. Perhaps we need to visualize ourselves completing the goal however which makes it easier to keep moving toward it.

Serious athletes set goals and strive to achieve them. Look at the photo above. Imagine the feeling this climber had reaching the top. Last year I wrote a series of posts that began with this one: You have to Start to Finish. I had forgotten the title until I looked for it just now. How coincidental that my mind is thinking the same way as it did last January.

I reached some of my goals in 2011 but not some of the ones I thought I would. I want to make 2012 the year I don’t just set goals. I want it to be the year I finish them. How about you?

image by crdotx

Ever notice how a little project grows into bigger projects? The latest project at our house is replacing the bathroom ceiling. The roof was leaking and the bathroom was the main target of the drips. We hired Evan from Poland Construction who uses my son, Dan, as a carpenter, to replace the roof which wasn’t new when we moved in almost 20 years ago. In the process, we found a new project, the bathroom ceiling.

Evan and Dan removed bags of moldy and wet insulation from the attic during the construction period so not only did we have a ruined ceiling, we had almost no insulation over the parts of the bedroom part of the house.

The Weekend Project

My husband’s solution would have been to paint over the ceiling which had cracks, peeling paint, and mold with a mold retardant paint and be done with it. Since I have suffered from sinus issues my whole life which are only getting worse, I turned to Dan, who would replace the ceiling with waterproof drywall after removing all the old stuff and reinsulate.

Dan’s schedule was busy and we finally settled on this weekend as the start of the project. Dan thinks through things and he put poly up in the whole bathroom before he started pulling things down and he isolated himself with the trash cans so the debris and dust wouldn’t spread through the house. It took all of Saturday to get the ceiling down and new insulation up. Yesterday, Dan put up the new drywall with the help of several tall friends.

It still needs mudding and finishing which should get done this week. We are using the downstairs bathroom to shower in now. I suddenly realized yesterday that this is Thanksgiving week and the dinner is here but no one needs the shower working  for that and so I breathed a sigh of relief.

We bought this house to remodel – in 1992 and there is still the kitchen to do but other projects have always taken precedence before the room I would like best in the house — the Kitchen.

Focus on the steps

It is easy to get disillusioned when your goals start falling apart. You want everything and you want it NOW! I talked before about learning to roll with the punches. I’m an expert. You, my reader, only know the parts of my life I share here but believe me, I am no stranger to challenges.

How do you move forward when every step you take seems like another challenge? You do it one step at a time. You can’t solve everything at once. If your job search is stuck, start with what you can control. Start by examining what you are sending out. The basis of every job search is still the resume. Many people will tell you that you can skip that step because there are so many other tools but I will tell you what the resume does for you.

Completing the resume first forces you to focus on determining your talents, accomplishments, and the value you bring to the employer.

• The resume gives you the basis for your social media profiles on LinkedIn and other platforms.
• The resume gives you something to share when you are networking or conducting informational interviews.
• The resume gives your the information in a well-written and keyword-laden format for any online applications you are completing.
• The resume gives you talking points for the phone interview and every interview after that.

I have wanted a new kitchen since the day we walked in the door to this house with the first box. Everything else seemed to come first. It was tempting to skip the roof and the bathroom ceiling and go straight to the kitchen as the next project and the money spent on those would have been a good start to a nice kitchen but it would have been backwards. I could have ended up with leaks in the new kitchen or worse.

If you proceed step-by-step with your job search, you will have peace of mind and if you start with the resume as your foundation, you will reach your goals of finding the new position.

Photo by Alosh Bennett

I’ve always been a goal-setter but not always a goal finisher. This year I’ve been working hard to change. I’ve been determining what I want and going after it in a much more organized and targeted fashion.

Goals & Results:

• Problem: OVERLOAD — I was overwhelmed with too much to do as both non-profit manager and career marketing professional Excuse: It’s always been this way. Solution: Resigned from Wausau Whitewater in December Result: More time to focus on Design Resumes.
• Problem: STUCK — 17 years+ (note that number, you’ll see it a lot) we had this awful, red-plaid shag carpeting (think 1960′s) in the living room and in the dining room for awhile. Excuse: you can’t put flooring down until you finish the other remodels — and we are always remodeling. Solution: I convinced husband to buy a reasonable cost variegated Berber in a light grey blend and had it installed in December. Result: Compliments from friends and family and a happier Julie.
• Problem: UNINVITING — 17 years+ the family room, now my office, needed a face-lift, finished fireplace, new ceiling & lighting Excuse: costs money and no one here liked to do finish carpentry. Solution: I hired contractor to complete the project  in March. Result: More professional-looking work space.
• Problem: ISOLATED — I never interacted with the career community in real life. Excuse: Too  much to do, can’t afford it. Solution: Budgeted, planned, and decided to invest in multiple career conferences in 2010. Result: Built critical career industry knowledge from meeting experts personally and building new contacts and alliances.

Setbacks:

• Setback: INCOME LOSS — March’s income tanked making me fearful. Action: Focused on maximizing income and minimizing expenses while networking to create alternative options and remain positive. Results: May is almost 4 times March’s income and I am continuing to market and network to keep the flow coming and growing.
• Setback: ILLNESS — Sinus infections moved to my ear and eye making it hard to keep up with the work flow. Action: After using homeopathic options, ended up going to both ENT’s Dr. Voss and Stine Eye Center’s Dr. Stine. Results: Treatment by professionals caused a marked change within less than 24 hours.

No matter how many goals you set and how hard you work at them, you will always have setbacks. Whether you are a business owner or job seeker, you need to continue to analyze, set new goals, and take note of the results. You are likely to have achieved more than you think possible.