Sharing Career Goals and Aspirations
There once was a dream I had. What were those hopes and dreams? What did I aspire to become? Considering the definition of aspiration: a great desire to undertake or accomplish something that calls for perseverance and hard work, I was determined to obtain what I wanted in life. Growing up in a low-income, rural neighborhood, limits your access to numerous resources, including a limited knowledge base and a lack of role models. My goal has always been to get more involved in church and develop a better relationship with God via music and missionary work. My goals were to finish my doctorate, become an interior designer, and raise a living, medium-sized family. As I matured, my dreams evolved considering the lessons I had learned in previous years. This resulted from events throughout life. “But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So, tell me the dream and interpret it for me” (New International Version, 1978/2011, Daniels 2:6). I have now reached a milestone in my career, which is allowing me to pursue my dream.
Short-term Career Goals
I have decided to further my education and complete my doctoral degree. I had a lot of time to consider my future after getting call up to active duty in the military this past year. I considered how I would leave my current job and launch a new one. These previous thirty-five years have been an amazing experience, but I must look forward. Thus far, I have selected a degree that will help me advance professionally and a school that suits my interests. How I will use my degree is unclear, but it’s planned. I am going to stick with it and see it through to the end. I will start with my immediate professional objectives. Ko (2023) stated, “Indeed, the experience of life satisfaction is tied to the movement towards important personal goals (Hofer & Chasiotis, 2003; Schimmack et al., 2002; Schultheiss et al., 2008). For example, possessing greater resources predicts higher life satisfaction, but only to the extent that these resources help people achieve their goals (Carver & Scheier, 1990; Diener & Fujita,1995). Moreover, when people succeed in domains unrelated to their active goals, they tend not to receive a boost in life satisfaction” (Bunstein et al., 1998; Diener et al.,1995). To achieve my short-term objective, I would finish my degree, start my own company, and become a certified consultant or instructor, sharing with others the strategic methods, and becoming a successful leader.
Long-term Career Goals
My long-term professional objective is to profitably train and inspire more than 2500 individuals while managing their businesses and bringing in more than $10 million a year. It would be an honor and a milestone for me as Doctor Elaine Jones to retire from my own company in ten years and live to see my prize. Hughes (2019) stated, “Goal setting originates from, and has been studied in, the field of organizational psychology. The theory suggests that goal setting supports motivations for action through self-regulation and achieving self-efficacy (Locke & Latham, Citation 2002). Setting goals is thought to be effective because it focuses attention and effort on a desired outcome (Locke & Latham, Citation 2002). It is proposed that if a goal is important to an individual, the goal will be pursued with higher internal motivation and increased likelihood of achievement” (Deci & Ryan, Citation 2000).
Conclusion
After completing the DSL program, my knowledge will expand, and I will have fresh insight into how things are done strategically. My ability to listen, communicate, and exert influence will make me a more capable leader. My ability to handle disputes, inspire others, and have faith in the decisions made will help my team members respect me as a leader. These are only a few skills and abilities; I will pick up more unanticipated skills over time.
Kameisha Muir Discussion Reply
Career Aspirations
My career aspirations are to continue with my military career while I am attending school to obtain my Doctorate degree in Strategic Leadership. I want to be able to obtain as much knowledge and experience as I can while maneuvering through this life that I am blessed with. When I think of my career outlook, my goal is to one day culminate all my education and work experience into either a Director of Operations, Executive or Vice President of Recruiting Operations or a Director of Strategic Planning position. With this goal in mind, each day, I am reminded that I must take heed the word of God and internalize his teachings. “Enlarge the place of your tent and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes” (English Standard Version, 2001, Isaiah 54:2). For me to achieve my goal, I must be willing to open myself up to learning from everyone and everything, good and bad. These experiences will only help to shape the type of leader that I aspire to be.
Career Aspiration Timing
I wholeheartedly believe that timing is everything in life. I do believe that nothing happens before the time it is intended to happen, even when we are impatient. I am certainly guilty of impatience and what I have learned throughout the years is that, when you force something, it throws something else off. I think that now is the best time for me to begin this program because I am getting ready to move to a new position soon and I will have more time to dedicate to my studies. Although my family will be expanded soon, I think the change happening in my professional life will slow down just enough to allow me to maintain that balance. In addition, as I evaluate my remaining time in service, it solidified my decision to start now so that I can synchronize both phases together to coincide with when I will complete my military service.
Short-term and Long-term Career Goals Progress
The progress that I have made thus far towards my short-term and long-term career goals has been progressive. My career goals have changed throughout the years but over the last 7 years, I have remained consistent on this pathway. The bible states that “the heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps” (English Standard Version, 2001, Proverbs 16:9). I think that after I reevaluated my life in 2015, I was more and more driven to establishing control measures to earn my master’s degree and when I started working in recruiting for the Army, I found a passion that I did not realize existed. I expanded my ways of thinking and enhanced my leadership skills through mentoring others and being a career counselor. I think for me, I developed many new leadership skills, ones that I intend to utilize in my future professional career. As for now, my short-term goals and long-term goals are to complete each class successfully to obtain my Doctorate and to ultimately transition from the Army into a leadership position where I can influence others positively.
Career Goals Thruough DSL and Expected Skills
Earning my DSL will enrich me with leadership capabilities that I can use to empower others. I think that the techniques that I will learn in this program will help me gain the theoretical and practical knowledge that I will need to lead others effectively and perform my job efficiently. The knowledge that I will obtain will help me understand the deeper dynamics of team collaboration, directing organizational changes and the principles of executive management through servant, transformational, and situational leadership. Knowing that strategic thinking is a complex matter, experience and knowledge gained from the DSL program will help me develop a more agile way of thinking and rationalization.
I think that as I progress in my professional journey towards my career goals, there are specific skills that I will need to develop and cultivate to be an effective leader. One of those skills is leader attentive communication. Leader attentive communication centers on the premise of communicating with others reciprocally interconnecting active listening and empathy (Decuypere & Pircher Verdorfer, 2022). Developing a more agile way of thinking and rationalization will not only enhance my emotional intelligence but it will help me learn how to balance tensions and tradeoffs (Leybourn, 2023), another highly sought leadership skill. Honing these skills will elevate the way I perceive situations but will also equip me with the necessary problem-solving techniques needed in the top tier leadership roles.