are thought of as strategies.
Strategies are specific actions that are needed to achieve goals. For example, Beth has a goal of owning her own studio by the time she is 35. Assuming that Beth is a 23‐year‐old student who is about to graduate, what strategies might she need to plan out to achieve that goal?
TABLE 5‐1. Personal goals exercise
| The purpose of this exercise is to analyze your skills, interests, and abilities in relation to the kind of job opportunities you will be seeking in interior design. Completing this exercise will make you more aware of what you have to offer your present or future employers. It will also help you discover goals that you need to work on in the next year or so. | |
| 1. | What is your primary interest in interior design? |
| 2. | What or who influenced your interest in this profession (family, teacher, mentor, the media, work experience, etc.)? |
| 3. | What kind of skills in interior design do you have right now? |
| 4. | What special skill(s) do you have to offer your present employer or another employer? An example is foreign language fluency. |
| 5. | If you were going to a job interview tomorrow, what specific career goal would you share with the interviewer? |
| 6. | What could you do right now to improve your chances of getting the job you most want? |
| 7. | List three of your biggest successes. |
| 8. | List five goals you wish to accomplish during the next calendar year. |
| 9. | List three goals you hope to accomplish by the time you are 30 years old. |
| 10. | List three goals you hope to accomplish by the time you are 50 years old. |
| 11. | Assuming it were possible for you to achieve any goal in interior design, what would it be? |
| 12. | List 10 mini‐goals needed to support the goal stated in number 11. |
TABLE 5‐2. Professional goals questionnaire
| In these questions, you are asked to look at a variety of issues concerning your professional and personal life. Combined with the questions in Table 5‐1, these questions give you an opportunity to look at some additional issues that can help clarify your professional and personal goals. | |
| 1. | List at least three things that drew you into a career in interior design. Write several comments about each of these items. |
| 2. | List any three people you most admire. Write down a few words or sentences that explain why you admire them. |
| 3. | List three or four companies (or types of firms) that provide the kinds of design work you wish to do. |
| 4. | Which of the following is most important to you in your career: money, recognition, self‐satisfaction, or creative expression? |
| 5. | If you had the means to do so, what would you most like to do—personally and professionally? Remember, no restrictions. |
| 6. | What do you think you need to change to make yourself happier in your professional and personal life? |
| 7. | What frustrates you most about your professional and personal life? |
| 8. | What do you like most about work in interior design? What do you like least? |
| 9. | When are you at your best and most secure (professionally and personally)? |
| 10. | Do you prefer to work independently or with a group? |
| 11. | Write a paragraph that sums up what you most want to be remembered for in your professional (and/or personal) life. |
| 12. | On a sheet of paper, make two columns. On the top of one column, write the word Problem; on the other, the word Solution. Then, in the “Problem” column, write those things that you feel are holding you back or are problems in your professional and/or personal life. In the “Solution” column, write down potential solutions to each problem. In some cases, you may find that you are really writing down thoughts rather than true solutions, but those thoughts will help you find solutions to the problems. |
Here are a few sample strategies:
Work with a residential firm for five years to gain experience in residential practice. Perhaps also work for a commercial firm to gain experience in that area of design.
If necessary, take additional business classes at a community college or enter an MBA program to gain the business knowledge to own and operate a studio.
What are some additional strategies that might be feasible and useful for Beth?
The process is the same for any goal, and in some ways is never ending. New opportunities arise all the time—the trick is to recognize and act upon them. Unexpected problems and challenges might derail you momentarily or even forever. Although staying on track to accomplish goals in the shorter term is always a good idea, keeping oneself open to opportunities that might have long‐term implications is important. But isn't that part of the fun?
Personal Branding
Who are you? How do you want potential employers and clients to perceive you?
Personal branding is the image you create of yourself. In a sense, your brand helps tell others what you can offer to them. Knowledge, efficiency, loyalty, responsibility, enthusiasm, and being a good communicator are only a very few of the attributes that can make up a personal brand. And incidentally they are the kinds of characteristics that a business is looking for in an employee and clients are looking for in the service providers that hire.
You will see in Chapter 24 the importance of branding for a business. This brief section talks about your personal brand; how you wish to be perceived as well as how others perceive you.
Defining who you are and who you want to be lays the groundwork for developing your personal brand. Ongoing performance clarifies that brand to others. When you meet your obligations to clients and your employer—such as always meeting deadlines—this action reinforces your brand. Always being late
