Is the Goal in Sight?
The Women In Optometry year-end poll was on making personal and professional goals. Ninety-four percent of the respondents said that they made personal goals for themselves in 2017 and 88 percent said that they planned to make personal goals for 2018, too.
The most common personal goals that people set for themselves in 2017 were
• Health-related goals (73%)
• Personal financial goals (60%)
• Parenting or household goals (27%)
• Milestone goals—buying a house/big vacation (13%)
About ¾ of the respondents said that they were successful in hitting at least some or most of their personal goals.
Eighty percent of the respondents said that they set professional goals for themselves in 2017, and 69 percent said they’d do so in 2018. Of those who set professional goals for themselves, here are the most common.
• Practice growth target (46%)
• Education goals (39%)
• Practice milestones, such as renovation, opening, partnership (31%)
• Staff training (23%)
• Leadership (15%)
One-third of the respondents said they hit most of their goals, and one-third said they made progress toward some of their goals. Fourteen percent said it wasn’t a great year for making goals as they didn’t hit many of them.
Eighty-one percent of the respondents were female ODs, and 19 percent were male ODs; responses were evenly split between those who worked for themselves and those who worked for others.
