New Year’s is around the corner, so you might be ready to change your entire life with some bold resolutions. Resolutions can be pretty thrilling to throw out before you have to actually face and do anything about them, but if you set resolutions that are impossible to achieve, you’ll always be left with unresolved resolutions and disappointment. At Washington Technical Institute, we help students achieve their dreams of new careers every day and know that you can achieve your New Year’s Resolution if you apply some important tips to the process.
Set A Realistic Goal
First of all, your New Year’s Resolution needs to be meaningful to you. If it’s not something you really want to do, then it’s going to be hard to motivate yourself to do it. You might want to post reminders to yourself of how you’re going to benefit from accomplishing your goal. Will you be able to find a new job afterwards or apply for a promotion? Will you feel healthier? Will you be more relaxed because you accomplished the goal? Will you have a chance at more meaningful relationships?
After you make sure you’ve chosen a goal that is most meaningful to you, you also want to be sure your goal is achievable and realistic. Can you actually accomplish the goal you’ve set up? If you can break it down into smaller, more manageable steps, then you can definitely achieve your resolution, so go for it!
Plan Ahead For Your Goal
Making one giant change can be pretty daunting, and if we’re speaking realistically, it might actually be impossible, too. In the spirit of making sure your New Year’s resolution is something that you can actually achieve, try to make incremental changes instead of jumping in feet first. Take a couple of classes in an area you’re interested in before signing up for a four year degree if you don’t have a plan about how you will finish or aren’t sure you’re really into the career field. Get a week pass to the new gym to see how you feel before signing up for a year’s contract. You don’t have to jump in blindfolded to big goals. Instead, take the step-by-step process you’ve broken it into and make a plan to accomplish it.
Create a timeline to guide you as you accomplish each part of your big resolution. If you want to attend school or earn a new certificate to boost your resumé, save some money and set a timeline for when you’ll enroll. Planning to go on a big adventure? Research to make sure you have the funds and the planning set to ensure it goes off without a hitch. If your resolution is going to impact your support system in some way, talk to them to make sure they understand how they’ll be impacted and ask for their support. Doing some work ahead of time will make sure you can follow through with any New Year’s resolution you make.
Allow For Challenges Along The Way
No matter how much you plan, you’re not a perfect person, and you’re not living in a perfect world; making sure that you allow for challenges along the way is a healthy and realistic approach to accomplishing your goals. Things might go wrong, and it’s okay to allow yourself to make room for your mistakes. After all, you’re in this change for the long haul! When events come up that block your progress or you make a mistake in judgement that discourages you, focus on what you’ve done right and what you’re doing well and keep going. Mistakes and challenges are the things in life we all learn from, so figure out what the lesson is, pick yourself up, and keep hustling toward your end goal!
Washington Technical Institute
Washington Technical Institute’s courses are perfect for busy adults working toward a goal. In fact, our certificate programs can be completed in a matter of months, with daily or bi-weekly start dates, making them ideal for someone who is looking for a way to achieve their career resolution with flexibility and at their own pace. Flexible start dates make these programs unique and much more accessible, and most of our certificates can be earned as a self-paced program, meaning that you can work at your own pace to complete your work, even finishing early if you have the time and motivation to do so. An additional benefit of WTI’s programs is that we offer affordable pricing and monthly payments to help our students leave school without debt.
Although our goal is to help our students graduate their programs with little to no debt, we also recognize that some students might need to utilize a loan for their educational investment. We are excited to announce our partnerships with Climb Credit or Ascent, student lending companies focused on financing career-building programs.
If you’re ready to enroll and start working on a plan for the personal and professional benefit of professional development, you can register for your program online through our website. Still have questions about our programs? Feel free to call us at 800-371-5581 or text us at 952-465-3702. Our admissions specialists will be happy to answer whatever questions you have.
