What Is a Mid-Year Resolution? Should You Have One?
Everyone’s familiar with New Year’s resolutions. We start stressing to make new resolutions every December so that we can start fresh on January 1st. Oftentimes however, those resolutions are a bust before the first month of the year is even up. So, when the first half of the year doesn’t go exactly as you had planned, there’s always the option to make another one without having to wait a whole year! That’s where mid-year resolutions come from. It’s a chance to get yourself back on track—or maybe even change course entirely.
If your resolution this year is to grow in your career or make a career shift – what should you do? Do you even need an official mid-year resolution to start making changes?
The truth is that the present is always the best time to do something new! Mid-year resolutions, much like New Year’s resolutions, can be changed as you encounter surprise challenges or even a surprising lack of obstacles, and those surprises shouldn’t stop you from reevaluating yourself along the way. As cheesy as it is to say, it’s about the journey, not the destination.
You might consider making a mid-year career resolution if:
- You’re not satisfied with your daily work.
- You feel like you have untapped potential.
- Your New Year’s resolution hasn’t seen progress.
- Your current industry or line of work doesn’t capture your interest like it used to.
- You’re simply ready for a change.
People change, and that’s perfectly normal. Similarly, career paths aren’t a straight line. They wind and curve like a never-ending stream. While unexpected curveballs do happen (if the past two years have taught the world anything), many times you have to be the one to initiate that change of course. A mid-year career resolution is a chance to definitely start charting the path you want for your career journey!
Connecting Your Personal and Career Goals
Whether it’s a New Year’s resolution, a mid-year resolution, or an any-time-of-the-year resolution, you have to make sure it’s something you can actually accomplish. Your resolutions should challenge you yet still make you excited to reach your goals.
Speaking of goals, how should you go about setting them—especially when it comes to your career? If you want a fulfilling career, then your career goals need to be in line with your personal goals. Do you get the most satisfaction from helping others? Knowing you’re making a difference in the world? Getting projects thoroughly to completion? Being part of a close-knit team? These are only a few of many, many motivators.
Instead of thinking about the exact job title you want or exactly how much you want to earn, you first have to think about what you actually want to do. Ponder over the type of daily life you want to create or the kind of person you want to become. For example, if you often naturally take charge of projects, consider the type of leader you want to be rather than just earning the title of manager. From there, you can think backwards to identify the steps you need to reach that goal.
So, in this running example, if you want to be a leader who inspires others to do their best, are there any feasible ways you can already start mentoring and leading the people around you? Is there a role in your current workplace you can aim towards to gain more leadership experience, or do you see any opportunities to create your own role? Should you look elsewhere for a work environment that will help you grow? These questions can similarly apply no matter your career goals.
The number one thing to remember when deciding your career goals is to make sure they will bring you personal satisfaction and happiness both in and outside of work. People forget this far too often!
Seems easy enough now, right? Well, if you want to actually make progress towards your career goals with a mid-year resolution, then you need to make sure you actually keep that resolution.
Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert shared with Business Insider three main reasons why resolutions tend to fail:
- They aren’t specific enough. — Like we mentioned just before, having a career resolution to “become a manager” isn’t enough. You’ll need to get more detailed in the step(s) you want to take to reach that goal. Consider a timeline to your resolution and make the steps along the way actually attainable. As Alpert says, “it’s harder to walk away” when your resolutions are clear and specific.
- They’re lacking positivity. — This is more for personal resolutions, but it can also be true for career resolutions. Instead of “quit my job” being your resolution, why not re-frame it to be “find a new work environment where I’m valued and where I can flourish”? Focusing on the negative will naturally lead you to having negative feelings about your goals and progress, ultimately abandoning your resolution along the way. A positively focused career resolution will help you keep your motivation!
- They aren’t centered on you. — Don’t let pressure from others about what you “should” be doing affect what you actually want to do with your life! While it is always good to consider the advice of well-meaning friends and family, your life and your career are ultimately yours alone. The same goes for self-imposed pressure to “catch-up” to your peers and their career trajectories. But again, their paths are not your paths, and you’ll find it easier to keep your eyes on the goal by aiming for what you truly want.
By keeping your mid-year resolutions specific, positive, and you-centered, you’ll make leaps and bounds of progress before the end of the year!
Taking Your Career to the Next Level
If you’ve done the necessary reflection and have set yourself a mid-year career resolution that includes a change of workplace that will foster both your personal and professional growth, then we invite you to join the Loyal Source team! We offer many exciting career opportunities across our nationwide government healthcare, travel nursing, humanitarian, behavioral health, and technical services divisions — as well as for our corporate operations.
Our mission of loyalty and serving others to make a positive impact in the world remains true no matter which part of the team you join! Aside from our career opportunities, we offer a welcoming and collaborative environment where anyone can grow in their skills and experience alongside caring colleagues.
Make the rest of your year count with Loyal Source!
