The New Year 2011 is here, the year has winded down to a close and New Year’s resolutions are on everyone’s minds.  People have been making resolutions for years; from the never ending losing weight resolution (so you can fit in your corporate uniforms) to the I-will really quit smoking (for the nth time) resolution to learning a new skill or to going to a new place or to getting something done from their bucket list. While some are conscientious about their resolutions for some it just becomes a list of must do things. Making your new year’s resolutions need not be limited to personal things only.

There are some people who take their time to really look back on the past 365 days of your life. Looking back and assessing the whole year round is okay, finding the things you could have done, should have done is also okay. Whining about the what-could-have-been is not okay. But, taking a look at the whole year, the good and the bad decisions and choices you made, gives you an opportunity to think about what is best for you and what you could do the next time around, or even how you can turn things around that you come out better. Identifying your strengths and weaknesses, your abilities and limitations, and where you want to focus on is important.

Looking back, assessing, and making resolutions should also include some professional resolutions. Whether you just landed your job and your focus is your career, or you have been in the same job for the longest time, here are some resolutions you can reflect on and maybe commit to accomplish in the coming year.

Improve your work performance.
Each company has their own standard guidelines and policies for evaluating the performance of their employee. This can be a quarterly or annual evaluation or appraisal or a year-end performance review. Whatever your company may be doing, the feedback on the areas where you need to make corrections or improvements will be shared. This is what you can use as a guide in order that you can identify the key areas you need to focus on to see professional growth in year 2011. There are different ways that you can improve your performance in these areas, it can be a solo effort or you can ask help from the human resources. Making the necessary effort to improve yourself in the identified weak areas would ensure that you can tackle your job to the best of your ability. This would also give you the necessary preparation in case your supervisor notices your improvement and recommend you for a promotion.

Learn a new job-related skill.
By now you might have realized that having a college diploma is not enough to win a job or a coveted position. You should have other skills that will keep you way above the normal and regular jobseeker. Once you have the job, make sure you try to learn a new skill, job-related or otherwise, by taking short courses online or at local community education program. This can be to enhance what you already know or to improve any weakness you might have. It is important to work on improving your expertise in other areas such as writing, interviewing, and negotiating, whichever you feel is more important for you.

Join a professional organization.
During college days, you were probably a member of an academic organization or the organization purely for those in your field of study. Whatever your line of work is currently you can find a professional organization that is geared for it. The professional organization will work the same way that the college organization did for you. It will give you opportunities to get to know people who work in the same field as you, ask those unanswered questions, and learn about other opportunities that will enhance your knowledge and skills, as well as other networking opportunities if you join an organization different from your field. It will also give you access to newsletter with news about your field, it may be news that can help you improve yourself or employment opportunities, just in case.

Volunteer to charitable institution.
Volunteering is good for everybody; it is not an activity just for those who have or for the famous. Volunteering is the practice of working on a particular cause or institution without any payment for the time and service you have rendered. Although it is essentially a philanthropic activity done in order to help the other less fortunate people, others used it to develop their skills, meet other people, make contacts for possible employments or networking opportunities, to have fun especially when doing it with family or friends, and other reasons some may have. It certainly helps a person when you are able to give back to other people what you may have gained over the year, there is a different kind of self-fulfillment when you know what you have done has helped another person, it’s like paying forward.

Get a life.
Your job is only from 9am to 5pm, the rest is for your family or yourself. Make sure that there is more in your life than your work or career. Revive an old past pastime or practice a new one, this will give you the work and life balance that is very much needed in your life. Having a life other than your work gives you an edge because it allows you to view your work in a better threshold. It also does not give you a burnout because you know that you still have other passions other than work, in fact you get to enjoy your work more because it is not the only thing you think about. Travel while you can, enjoy music, indulge you passion and live your life to the fullest.

Now, these resolutions are not simple goals, these are things that you would want to achieve throughout the year. Looking at it might make you balk, but breaking it down into smaller goals, with details on how and when you want to achieve it would certainly help. This would also make monitoring your resolutions easier. There are just suggestions and you definitely can add more if you want.

Here are some articles to help you make the best of your resolutions:
How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions
New Year’s Resolutions and the Tools to Help You Succeed
New Year’s Resolutions for IT Pros

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