How a Quality Engineer Make Goals for 2018

Welcome my friends! It is again almost the end of the year 2017. Many of us are thinking about the future and writing New Year resolutions, while some are preparing their goals.

By the way, according to studies, it shows that 25% do stop following their goal(s) after few weeks of writing them. No, we have to do the 75% more on taking actions on our goals.

Brian Tracy once said.

‘People with clear, written goals accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could even imagine.”

Most engineers are more likely to achieve their goals because they are already equipped with tools like Planning Program, PERT-CPM; these are used to complete a certain “building project.”

Image courtesy of pakorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So, because of such habit of reading the plans, programs, critical path method at the same time, you are already exercising and achieving the goals which is to accomplish a project and handover a fully furnished one to the Client.

As a quality engineer, you can apply the same idea to your work and to your life and it’s very simple.
Now, before the year ends, let us discuss our goals for 2018. And let us stick to it until we achieve it.

Here is my advice on how to set Goals for 2018

Make work goals using SMART Goal Concept

Work goals should be the first thing you are to plan because this is where you are going to get your resources to build your investment goals or business goals. You have to plan first, someone said, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” So mind doing your plan. You can use S.M.A.R.T goal concepts which I’ve written in my book “How to Become an Excellent and Successful Quality Engineer.”

Here is an overview of what a SMART goal concept means.

• Specific – Always note that a goal must lead or guide you along the path of success. A well-defined goal makes it easier for you to reach your intended destination.

• Measurable – Involving a definite timeframe or exerting the right amount of effort towards accomplishing a goal is important. It is for you to know and measure up levels of success.

• Attainable – Be sure that the goal you set up is possible to accomplish. You will only lose your confidence and encouragement if you set up a goal without any concrete plans of working it out through the end.

• Relevant – It must have relevance to your life’s purpose or career path.

• Time-bound – There must be a terminal date for the realization of your goal. Similar to being a measurable goal, this entails knowing when and where along the way you are able to celebrate the accomplishment.

Applying SMART goal concept for your 2018 goals is tremendously inevitable. You are just ensuring that it is attainable and realistic.

Here are some examples.

I enroll in ISO 900:2015 Lead Auditor Training by January 30, 2018.
I acquire a position of a Senior Quality Engineer by December 07, 2018
I finish Quality Engineering Course by March 07, 2018

You should put the time when you want to achieve these goals. Putting a time-frame will make you push to getting your goals, that’s what I have mentioned in How a Quality Engineer Set Goals but those are BIG goals that till now I’m still trying to accomplish.

Remember that your goals must be written, to keep track of it every day or every week or every month depending on what you prefer. You cannot just think of it and imagine, you have no power to engrave it in your mind.

Quality Engineer tip: I can recommend having an Erin Condren 2018 Hardbound LifePlanner . This can help you monitor your goals. Always keep track by looking at what you have written. Having a “dream board” is also a helpful way to take action daily towards the attainment of shorts and big goals because you always see it daily.

Make Investment Goals while Working

In this quality engineers guide blog, I want to show you what I’ve learned about investing, not just to teach you about quality engineers work but to show you how to invest your income while you are working. I’ve met many people already but they were not able to invest their hard-earned money even after 30 years of working abroad.

We are not getting any younger anymore once we’ve reached our retirement age (60). So it is important for us to plan. And you know, no one will hire you after retirement age. For me, I don’t want to depend on another person or on my family once I get over 60, I still want to have control of my life.

Our main goal here is to replace our income from the corporate job.

Here are some examples of investment goal.

– I make 3 units apartment by Oct 17, 2018
– I invest a total of 10,000 dollars in Stock Market by June 7, 2018
– I save 6 times of my salary for my emergency fund by July 7, 2018

Imagine how life will be if you can do the above example and the goals are achieved within the time limit. If you continually do these it will become a habit and norm as you go along.

For me, I prefer real-estate investment like apartment because once you make it grow to let say 10 units it will really replace your income then you are ready to retire. And if you want to build more it is up to you but the important thing is you’ve started something to replace your corporate income.

Quality engineer tip: I recommend checking this out ‘Goal Setting Software’, it will certainly help you create your goals and sub-goals. You’ll be able to keep track daily or weekly to ensure that you are sticking on it.

Plan for your Big Goals

Making a Big Goal is something that will excite you. You’ll start to imagine how your life’s going to be if you achieve it. This goal is your long-term goal, it has a duration of 10 years to 15 years after which you will achieve.

You can apply the 10X Rule by Grant Cardone. I recommend reading.The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure He said, “You should set targets for yourself that are 10X greater than what you believe you can achieve and you should take actions that are 10X greater than what you believe are necessary to achieve your goals.”

I became excited to creating my goals after reading The 10X Rules.

Building big goals is not easy but it is simple. It requires a lot of discipline. You might want to ask, “what are those disciplines?”

Here are some disciplines that you need to adopt while building your goals.

– A discipline of saving money
– A discipline of investing
– A discipline of attitude
– A discipline of spending
– A discipline of thinking BIG
– A discipline of saving and maximizing time
– And many more

My favorite and I could advice is “a discipline of saving and maximizing time” because time is life. If you lose time you lose your life too. I do believe in the saying “Time is Gold.”

Plan your big goal first then chop it into many steps or short goals. Start at the foundation. Somewhat like you are building a high-rise concrete building. And take actions to each step that you make.

A famous entrepreneur once said, “Big Goal can be achieved by broken down into many steps.”

My big goals are written at How a Quality Engineer Set Goals.

Here are my short goals (steps) for 2018

For Work goals

– I attend training for OSHA by June 2018
– I complete 60 percent of Method Statements for our newly opened project by June 27, 2018
– I complete 60 percent of Inspection and Test Plan for our newly opened project by June 27, 2018
– I attend training for OSHA by June 17, 2018
– I close Nonconformance Report NCR by June 7, 2018
– I close rejected Inspection Request March 7, 2018

For Investment goal & blogging goal

– I write a total of 200 articles or blog posts for qualityengineersguidedotcom by Dec 7, 2018
– I complete Quality Engineers Guide Mastery Course by February 7, 2018
– I build 3 units apartment by July 7, 2018

My purpose to write 200 articles is to continually share my knowledge in quality assurance and quality control job so that this could be beneficial to the new graduate engineers.

Let us see before the end of next year what will happen to these short-term goals.
What are your short-term goals or steps that will slowly build your big goals? Please share your goals and thoughts in the comment box below.