Transitioning Part II: Setting and breaking down goals

To set a realistic timeline you will need to know what your goals are and then work backward from there. First, think about where you want to be and what you want to be doing when your service is over. For example, you want to be a full-stack web developer. You then need to do some research and find out what skills are required for that and what you need to do to acquire those skills. Next, you need to break this goal down into two lists, an "actions" list and a "waiting for" list. Some things you will be able to do right away, but there will be a lot of things that will require you to wait. Knowing exactly what actions need to be taken is the most crucial step in the process. An example of these lists would look something like this:

Actions:

-Contact coding bootcamp about enrollment requirements(to be done before July/23)

-Pick up a book on HTML and CSS

-Start an HTML course on freeCodeCamp

Waiting:

-Coding bootcamp's response about curriculum(sent email 12/22)

-Apply for skillbridge(August/23)

-Apply for Vet tech eligibility(February/24)

As you can see there are things that you can do now and things that are out of your control until a certain time or action is taken. The "action" list should have things with deadlines at the top. Your "waiting" list should be broken down into two sections: "waiting on date" and "waiting on others".

Waiting on Date:

-Apply for skillbridge(august of 23)

-Apply for Vet tech eligibility(February of 24)

Waiting on others:

-Coding bootcamp email about curriculum(sent email 12/22)

This way you can set reminders in your calendar for the things that have a date and you can follow up (if needed) on the things that are waiting on other people. It will help you to have these separate lists to organize what you can work on when you have time. Sometimes the "action" step is to figure out what your next action should be. You can just write that down on the list too. Then when you think of something that needs to be done or if the status of something changes you can add it to the appropriate list to review.

Do this for all of the goals that you have set out to accomplish before your end of service. Break them down until they fit into one of these lists. It helps to have one "actions" list. Having one list helps because you can review it when you have a minute and decide what you have time to complete. All of your "action" items, once complete, help to move the ball forward on whatever goal you have.

In the next article, I will be talking about creating a timeline that includes where to place your new goals and how to manage the accomplishment of these goals along with all the requirements that come along with transitioning from service.