Goals are necessary for all productive and progressive activities. However, there are two types of goals, which are adhered to by the people who wish to move ahead in life.
The two types of career goals are: long term career goals and short term career goals. The career goals are quite different when compared.

Also, only when a person succeeds in the short term career goals are they able to get on to their long term career goals.

Short Term Career Goals Examples

Here are some short term career goals that one has to set up:
Enhancement of Education/Expertise
Enhancement is one of the important aspects of a person’s professional life. Without enhancement, it is quite possible that the skills that a person presents become obsolete and there is even a danger of being out of a job simply because one did not enhance their skills.
One should try to dedicate at least one hour daily on increasing or enhancing the expertise or the education that is relevant to their job profile.

Run through the Hierarchy System
The hierarchy is an integral part of the corporate world. It goes without saying that a person should be comfortable working in any part of the hierarchy. Also, an individual should be capable enough to know the workings of all the parts of the hierarchy so that they can have cordial work relations with the entire hierarchy of a company.
The ideal way to progress in one’s professional life is to stick with a certain company for 2-4 years and try to maximize the career potential before stepping up to another company position.

Increase in Responsibilities
An increase in responsibilities generally means that the job profile and the position of a person are increasing in the company. Therefore, an individual should not only welcome an increase in responsibility, but should positively work towards getting their tasks and responsibilities increased.  Once the duties are increased, a person will also have an increase in the resources that were and are available to him or her.

Enhancement of Finance
Finance plays a very important in the personal as well as the professional life of a person. In many cases having a secure financial future is the only reason that people take up a job. Though working only for the money is not productive, one cannot ignore the importance of money in our day to day life. Therefore, one short term goal of an individual should be to make enough from the job that one can lead a comfortable life and a good lifestyle.
“Before you can really start setting financial goals, you need to determine where you stand financially..”
David Bach

The above are the short term goals that should be adhered to by every professional.

Long Term Career Goals Examples

However, there are also some long term goals that should be kept in mind by the professional as they journey through their professional lives:

Manager of Managers/CEO
Without any doubt, the top most long term goal of a professional should be to one day achieve the highest position in the company, so as to complete the full circle of the professional life.  

Second career/ career change
One can think about establish his own business based on his professional experience as a long term career goal. One also may plan for a second career based on his abilities, like – being a consultant/expert. Many workers had changed their career to a second equivalent one, for example – from a film actor to a theater actor, from an investment banker to a real estate investor.

Retire Early
A few years ago, the suggested age for retiring was about sixty five, however, with the ever increasing technologies and other progress, man can achieve in ten years that he took twenty years to achieve earlier. Therefore, today one can even retire at the age of fifty.  Keeping this in mind, one can work towards achieving their ambitions in a quicker timeframe and therefore retire as a successful professional early.

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