(Photo Courtesy of <a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/lokner/4164251472/>Michael Lokner via Flickr</a>.)

It’s a new year. For many of us, that means we’re thinking about new work goals for 2014.

Good idea, says our resident career expert, Brandon Smith.

“If we don’t set goals, we end up just reacting to things thrown at us. We don’t have a good filter for how we want to move forward, how we want to make decisions,” said Smith, a career coach and workplace consultant who also teaches about leadership and communication at Emory University.

Smith suggests picking goals in the areas of work, work-life balance or relationships to make 2014 a better year on the job. He explains why these three areas are so important (and why it’s key not to set more than one or two goals) on this week’s Working on GPB Radio.

Click here ask Brandon a question about your job or career. We might answer you on the air.