It is that time of year for annual self evaluations at my work. That is not my favorite thing to fill out, but it got me thinking about personal goals. I am a strong believer in always having goals for yourself. No matter the area of your life, having a goal and working towards something is important. I like to have personal goals for my job, for my finances at home, for my fitness and for my marriage. If you can't tell, I really like having a list of goals and then accomplishing them.

I wanted to focus on personal job goals. I have had some conversations with students (in college) and colleagues at work about setting out goals for your job each year. What do you want to accomplish through your work and how do you plan on pushing yourself.

This year I started off the year with some goals and now I am noticing that those goals are shifting/changing. For example, I have been working towards becoming a IBCLC (lactation consultant) and I wanted to try to get my exam scheduled by the end of 2017. Well we are now just about at the end of 2017 and I am still needing to log 45 education hours before I can sit for that test. Life happened throughout this year and that kept pushing back my ability to do self-study materials to log those 45 hours. There have been several new projects/opportunities that have come up and I needed to focus on.

Goals for 2017

Nominating Chair for the Indiana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (IAND).
Work on self study materials for IBCLC Exam.
Schedule IBCLC Exam.
Re-launch NICU Nutrition Committee.

When you write down goals for yourself, then you can go back and see how those goals need to change. Being flexible is so important. Life never goes as you think it will, but the beauty for setting goals is having the power to change and adjust them. That is what I have had to do here in the last month. I have had several new opportunities come my way and I have had to change my goals for myself to allow me to work towards those new goals.

Updated Goals for 2017

Continue to serve as the Nominating Chair for IAND.
Scheduled Neonatal Nutrition Committee and put together agenda in our NICU.
Started to work on a nutrition communication book through Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) as a co-author.
Chosen to work on a committee with AND for creating a pediatric critical care board exam.
Re-designing our formula room to use breastmilk scanners in our NICU.
Look at continuing education for IBCLC Exam.

I really believe that creating a list of goals for the year is so important. I always work towards doing my "daily work" and then working on side projects. I enjoy being a NICU RD, but all of the charting get a little old so adding in additional projects makes my daily routine more fun and engaging. Again, I wanted to share my personal work goals with you, but I believe that as a professional you should have your own goals. What do those look like for you? What do you want to accomplish in the next year, professionally? Are there things you have always wanted to do? Author a book? Create questions for a national board exam? Teach a class? Whatever goals you have for yourself, write them down and then work towards accomplishing them!