Here we are again, at the start of a new calendar year. Whether you’re pleased with your career trajectory or are hoping to make some changes in the coming year, it’s important to carve out some focused time and energy to make strong resolutions that will guide your career development, along with smaller goals to help you arrive there.
Why Resolutions Matter
Think of a career resolution just as you would in any area of life where you hope to improve or achieve something. Do you want to run a marathon? With that as a resolution for the coming year, you can then set specific milestones along the way to assist you in reaching the goal.
The same applies when it comes to your career. If by the end of 2025 you’d like to gain a promotion, focus on that as a resolution and then decide what concrete steps can help you get there. Maybe it’s engaging in education to learn how to be a people manager, or offering to help on cross-collaborative projects that expose you to other parts of your organization.
Setting an honest resolution for your career can help you gain clarity on your professional goals, identify where you can improve or need help, provide motivation to take concrete action, and perhaps most of all increase your work satisfaction by making sure your job aligns with your dreams and values.
Where to Start Charting Your Career Path
- Set aside time to focus on defining it. Dedicating even a few hours to reflect on your career forces you to get intentional about your path. Too often, we let day-to-day work and deadlines get the better of us and don’t take the time needed to be thoughtful about where we’re headed. This self-reflection can help you consider the big picture and aspects like professional development, skill set improvement and other steps that will put you on your desired path.
- Ask others. Start by reflecting on your past few years. Are you where you’d like to be, and have you been given opportunities to shine? Ask colleagues, your manager and other leaders their thoughts on your work and where you could potentially grow.
- Start with the end in mind. First, define the overarching resolution and then develop smaller goals at specific intervals that can put you on the path to meeting that resolution. Do you have a five or 10-year plan to land a role as a manager? What are a few concrete steps you could take for the next 12 months that would put you closer to that dream? Do you need to improve your skill set, complete professional development, or improve your network? Make the resolution and then identify three to five supporting goals that can move you toward that.
- Write it down. After you spend some dedicated time getting clear on your priorities, write them down, print them out, put reminders on your phone–anything to help maintain your focus on the end game. Post them in places you’ll see throughout your day to keep them top of mind.
- Be true to you. Don’t lose yourself in the effort to achieve something that really doesn’t resonate with you. For some, perhaps achieving more work-life balance is the most important career resolution in 2025. That’s just as noble as laddering up. Be intentional and thoughtful as you decide what’s most important to you, your work life and your overall life.
Staying On Track and What to Do If You’re Not
Even the best of intentions can get way-laid. A recent survey from Jobseeker found that while 4 out of 5 workers in the United States intend to make a career resolution in 2025, in 2024, only 1 in 10 had completed their resolutions by the year’s end. That’s why it’s critical to set time weekly or monthly to re-evaluate and reset your intentions.
Put dedicated, blocked time on your calendar to reassess where you are in the smaller goals you set to guide you to your 2025 resolutions. Get real with yourself at periodic intervals, and make sure that the intentions set early in the year still ring true. There’s no shame in changing them up if they don’t. And if they are still your heart’s desire and you’re not on track, reassess what changes you need to make to get you there.
Let’s face it, keeping the wheels in motion in your current work, while also looking ahead and planning for your future work…it’s not a simple task. Busy days can exhaust us and keep us in loops of productivity where we never lift our heads. But give yourself the power and the permission to take time to be intentional about where your career is headed. Only you can answer that question, and a strong resolution is a powerful tool to get you where you want to be.