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Computer Programmer Career Goals Expressed in a Strict Format for the Short and Medium and Long Term
This exercise tries to answer the question:
"What am I focusing on in the short, medium, and long terms?"
It does so by answering the following specific question, considered separately for various different short, medium, and long term time periods.
"What goals am I seeking, and what value am I looking to add?"
I like this exercise because anyone can do it, and because if I do it, then it forces me to think into my future and to envision my future, which usually starts to give me a renewed sense of calm and a renewed sense of purpose.
Here are the questions, prior to having been filled out:
In the next 1 day my goal is to _____________ and I want to add the value of ____________________ .
In the next 1 week my goal is to _____________ and I want to add the value of ____________________ .
In the next 1 month my goal is to _____________ and I want to add the value of ____________________ .
In the next 1 quarter my goal is to _____________ and I want to add the value of ____________________ .
In the next 1 year my goal is to _____________ and I want to add the value of ____________________ .
In the next 1 decade my goal is to _____________ and I want to add the value of ____________________ .
In the next 1 lifetime my goal is to _____________ and I want to add the value of ____________________ .
This time around, I'm answering the questions about my career. (as opposed to answering them about my personal life etc.) So in this case the question is:
"As a professional Computer Programmer, what am I focusing on in the short, medium, and long terms?"
In other words, here are the same questions, after having been filled out:
- In the next 1 day my goal is to ______determine my short, medium, and long term goals_______ and I want to add the value of _________having written-down / recorded / saved these goals___________ .
- In the next 1 week my goal is to _____help my co-worker on their project by first learning about their project and then talking with them about it and asking them what they're doing and how it's going, and then appropriately offering the level of help that they are receptive to and that I can genuinely add________ and I want to add the value of _______having helped them with their project, whether it having been by talking it through with them, or it having been by showing them that I cared by asking about it, or it having been by sharing my own actual experience and actual outcome in a similar situation_____________ .
- In the next 1 month my goal is to _______complete the current 1 most important computer programming project______ and I want to add the value of _________having improved this 1 most important computer program which the business will leverage to earn a high profit___________ .
- In the next 1 quarter my goal is to _______deepen my self-discipline at work to a point where I have a solid professional character, from which I can start to build a series of win/win outcomes whereby both myself and Acme Corporation* profit from my actions______ and I want to add the value of __________having developed the self-discipline habit to a point where maintaining it is manageable so that I can use my remaining abundant time to identify, perform towards, and close on, win-win opportunities__________ .
- In the next 1 year my goal is to ______complete three win-win projects at work -- projects where the completed project is a tool that Acme Corporation* leverages to create profit for the company, and where the completed project is also one that I can put on my professional resume (and is one where my colleague can testify that I owned the success of the project)_______ and I want to add the value of ________having through character and focused effort, maintained a high, visible, professional profile while having completed 3 value-creating levers (software tools) for my company____________ .
- In the next 1 decade my goal is to _______maintain ongoing relationships with 10 professional colleagues, all of whom I've had the experience of working together with on as many (10) such (high-impact), value-adding projects for Acme Corporation*______ and I want to add the value of __________having helped 10 professional colleagues complete their high-impact, value-adding projects__________ .
- In the next 1 lifetime my goal is to _______have invested in, and played an important role in, maintaining and growing Acme Corporation*; both through completing dozens of work projects and through having been a financial invstor in the company (buying and owning stock); and also to have had my work and investment reward me with a portion of the shared dividends as an official shareholder of the company______ and I want to add the value of _________having through focused effort completed dozens of value-adding projects at Acme Corporation*, and having through financial investing bought and held a portion of shared ownership of the company___________ .
In conclusion, the exercise in this blog post has answered the question: "As a professional Computer Programmer, what am I focusing on in the short, medium, and long terms?"
* My company; denoting that the real company name has been obfuscated.
Tags: #investing, #working, #mingling
Note: This post was pre-published on November 16, 2016.
[2019 edit: Moved to: https://i̶n̶v̶e̶s̶t̶o̶r̶w̶o̶r̶k̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶/2016/... .html.]