What I Wish I Knew at 25: 

Career Goals and Practical Resolutions for Women in Business (2026)

Early in my career, I was told success would come from doing good work, keeping my head down, and waiting to be noticed, and I believed it. Sound familiar?

That belief cost me time. Working more than 30 years in male-dominated environments taught me this very important lesson:

➡️ Careers don’t advance by accident. They advance through clarity, strategy, and intentional action.

As we begin 2026, here are the career goals and practical resolutions I wish I had understood — and followed — from the very beginning of my career:

These goals are not meant to be tackled all at once — and they are not independent of each other. They work as a career system. Each one builds on the next, helping you move from clarity, to competence, to confidence, to credibility — without burnout. When practiced together, they give you control over your career instead of leaving progress to chance.

#1 Set Clear Career Goals and Follow Through (Career Planning for Women)

➡️ Talent isn’t what holds most women back. Why vague career goals stall women’s advancement.

At 25, I thought building confidence comes first — and then I’d act. In reality, confidence comes from action.

Most women don’t lack ambition. They lack clarity about what action to take to move themselves forward.

Early-career goals tend to center on the same core outcomes:

• Growth and advancement
• Visibility and credibility
• Fair pay and opportunity
• Job options and long-term security

What gets in the way is self-doubt — and goals that live only in our heads. We must - learn how to set measurable career goals that lead to promotion.   

✅ Smart Resolution: How to clarify your career direction.

Ask one trusted person (preferably a superior who can act as a mentor - more on this later) for honest feedback — not praise. Ask someone who you admire at the company, someone who is highly respected, and who may have worked with you in the past. Let him or her know that you are interested in taking a hard look at how you are doing and what you can do to propel your trajectory at the company. Let them know you value their opinion and would sincerely appreciate their help. 

Based on your conversations, write down:

• What you do well
• Where you’re stuck
• Where you could grow
• Where you would like to see yourself next

Then, set specific, measurable goals:

• Skills to build - to help you propel
• Training to pursue - to build those skills
• People to meet - to support your progress and provide opportunities
• Visibility to gain - what actions to take to be seen and heard

And here is the key: 

Goals don’t work if they’re forgotten. Revisit your goals regularly and determine if you are on track. Schedule a follow up with your trusted person or mentor to determine progress or any adjustments needed. Taking the initiative to improve yourself for the benefit of the company, will likely be noticed and valued.

#2 Build Skills and Hold Yourself Accountable for Career Growth

Once you’re clear on where you want to go, the next question is simple: do you have the skills to get there?

➡️ Why experience alone is not enough for career advancement. Women need high-value skills to stay competitive.

I’ve seen careers stall because people stopped learning — and others take off because they committed to growth.

✅ Smart Resolution: Monthly accountability for career progress.

Choose one high-value skill at a time to develop deeply:

• Executive communication
• Negotiation
• Financial fluency
• Leadership presence

Then hold yourself accountable. Once a month, check in:

• What moved me forward?
• What didn’t?
• What needs to change?

➡️ Accountability turns intention into progress — and progress builds trust.

#3 Document Your Achievements to Support Promotions and Raises

Skills only matter if the value they create is recognized — and recognition doesn’t happen without proof.

➡️ Why relying on memory hurts women during performance reviews

Most women rely on memory when it’s important to share achievements. Whether during company status meetings, check-in visits with your superior or mentor, during performance reviews, or when you are meeting to ask for a raise — and that’s a mistake. Memory fades. Documentation doesn’t. I’ve watched incredibly capable women undersell themselves simply because they couldn’t recall — or prove — what they had accomplished.

✅ Smart Resolution: Using documentation as career leverage

Keep a running “wins list”:

• Positive results delivered
• Important problems solved
• Revenue or value created
• Successful presentations given
• Noteworthy skills added
• Praise received from colleagues and clients
• Expanded responsibilities beyond your job description
• Important leadership moments
• New work or clients/customers generated for the company

If you keep a running list and update it regularly, you will remember what to share when the opportunity arises. If a senior colleague or client/customer compliments your work, ask them to put it in writing. This is important evidence.

Documentation isn’t bragging. It’s proof — and proof changes conversations about raises, promotions, and leadership roles. 

That isn’t awkward — it’s strategic. And it positively affects your visibility. Men do it all the time, and so should you.

#4 Practice Speaking Up at Work to Increase Visibility and Influence

Once you have results, the next challenge is making sure your ideas and contributions are heard.

➡️ Why being quiet at work is often misinterpreted

If you’re quiet at work, you may be invisible — even if you’re brilliant. Being quiet is often interpreted as being agreeable — not capable. Speaking up is not a personality trait. It’s a career skill — and one that can be learned.

Your ideas don’t help if no one hears them.

Over my 30-year career in male-dominated environments, I’ve sat in rooms where speaking up wasn’t always welcomed — but it was necessary. Decisions were being made. Perspectives were shaping outcomes. Silence carried a cost.

✅ Smart Resolution: Practical ways to use your voice at work

➡️ Start with preparation. Confidence doesn’t come from bravado — it comes from knowing your material.

• Read ahead
• Understand the business context
• Identify one insight you can contribute
• Speaking up isn’t about being loud or dominating the room. It’s about being heard.

➡️ Start small:

• Ask one thoughtful question
• Add one insight to an existing discussion
• Volunteer to present results or summarize a project
• Practice with people you trust. Take on presentations. Stretch just beyond your comfort zone.
• And yes — it’s uncomfortable. Growth usually is.

➡️ Confidence grows through repetition, not perfection. The more you practice speaking up, the less risky it feels — and the more visible your value becomes.

#5 Advocate for Yourself at Work Without Fear of Backlash

Speaking up builds confidence — advocacy turns that confidence into opportunity. 

Why confidence alone doesn’t lead to promotion:

➡️ Visibility doesn’t happen by accident.

➡️ Confidence without advocacy often goes unnoticed.

➡️ Advocating for yourself doesn’t mean being loud or aggressive. It means being clear.

✅ Smart Resolution: Self-advocacy strategies that work

• Use your documented achievements to:
• Ask for bigger projects
• Share results
• Speak up about your value
• Speak up about your work above your job specifications
• Request raises or advancement

This isn’t self-promotion for ego. It’s professional communication — and it’s essential.

At this point, a pattern should be emerging. Each of these goals builds on the last — clarity leads to competence, competence to confidence, and confidence to credibility. This is not about doing more. It’s about doing the right things in the right order.

#6: Find Mentors, Sponsors, and Feedback That Accelerate Careers

The most effective mentorship happens after you’ve taken ownership of your goals and performance.

➡️ Careers don’t grow in isolation.

Success rarely happens alone.

A mentor is someone with senior career experience who can answer questions, offer advice, foster confidence, and help you navigate the obstacles of your work environment. A mentor gives relevant advice that promotes growth within your career, area of work, and company, making you better at your job and improving your performance. They understand the work culture and the people of influence and inspire you to use your talents to benefit the company and yourself. You can find mentors inside or outside of your workplace.

A mentor can help you avoid mistakes you don’t even see yet — but mentorship works best when it’s intentional.

✅ Smart Resolution: Building strategic guidance early

Don’t ask, “Will you be my mentor?”

Instead:

• Identify someone whose career you respect
• Engage with their work and perform to the best of your ability
• Ask for specific guidance, not general advice
• And don’t stop there.

Ask for feedback — not just from mentors, but from supervisors and colleagues you work with closely:

• What worked?
• What didn’t?
• What would you do differently next time?
• 
  

Feedback isn’t criticism — unless you avoid it. And when you ask for it, people notice. 

A Critical Distinction: How Mentorship differs from Sponsorship

Here’s something I wish someone had explained to me much earlier in my career: mentors and sponsors are not the same — and you need both.

➡️ How mentorship differs from sponsorship:

• Mentors advise you and you can have mentors inside and outside of work.
• They help you think through decisions, avoid mistakes, and build confidence.
• Sponsors do something different.
• They advocate for you when you’re not in the room.
• They recommend you for opportunities, assignments, promotions, and leadership roles.
• Many women actively seek mentors — but never realize that sponsorship is often what accelerates careers.

✅ Smart Resolution: Building strategic guidance early

As you build relationships with mentors, pay attention to who:

• Sees your work up close
• Respects your judgment
• Has influence in decision-making rooms

Those are the people most likely to become sponsors — often organically — when they trust your competence and consistency.

You don’t ask someone to be a sponsor.

➡️ You earn sponsorship by delivering results, documenting your impact, and making your goals known. Sponsors must be convinced of your abilities. If sponsors believe in you, they will be your best advocates.

✅ Understanding this distinction early can save years of frustration — and silence.

#7 Build a Professional Network Before You Think You Need One

📍Careers don’t advance in isolation — they advance through relationships built over time.

➡️ Why networking doesn’t have to feel awkward

Many women avoid networking because they associate it with forced conversations and business card exchanges. I did too — until I understood how powerful it could be.

Here’s the truth:

Networking doesn’t mean selling yourself. It means building relationships and relationships create career opportunities. One real connection a month can change your career trajectory over time. After decades in a male-dominated industry, I learned that opportunities often come from who knows your work, not just how hard you work.

✅ Smart Resolution: Simple networking habits that compound

➡️ Start with people you already know:

• Friends
• Colleagues
• Alumni
• Family
• Friends of friends
• 
  

Say yes to events when you can. Ask questions. Be curious. Listen more than you talk.

And here’s the part many people miss: FOLLOW UP. Send a note. Schedule coffee. Meet for lunch. Keep simple notes on who you meet and how they connect to your interests or goals. 

➡️ Networking works best when it’s consistent and genuine — not transactional.

You’re not collecting contacts. You’re building a professional community.

#8 Build Career Visibility Intentionally (Not Accidentally)

Visibility should amplify substance — not replace it.

➡️ Being good at your job is important. Being seen doing it is essential.

Why good work alone doesn’t guarantee recognition:

Many women assume visibility will come naturally once they prove themselves. Unfortunately, that’s not how workplaces operate. Visibility is built — intentionally.

➡️ How to increase visibility without self-promotion:

It’s created through:

• Speaking up
• Sharing results
• Asking for opportunities
• Being clear about your goals

This doesn’t mean self-promotion for ego.

It means professional clarity.

✅ Smart Resolution: Making impact visible at work

Make your contributions visible in ways that feel authentic:

• Share outcomes, not just effort
• Loop stakeholders in when milestones are reached
• Speak to impact of your actions — not just activity

➡️ Visibility is what turns competence into credibility — and credibility into opportunity. 

When combined with:

• documented achievements
• mentorship and sponsorship
• skill-building and accountability

… visibility becomes the bridge between effort and advancement.

#9: Protect Work–Life Balance as a Long-Term Career Strategy

➡️ Work–life balance isn’t a luxury. It’s a performance strategy.

Why burnout undermines leadership potential:

Burnout is not a badge of honor.

The most successful professionals I’ve worked with understood one thing early:

Energy is a professional asset.

✅ Smart Resolution: Sustainable success habits

• Treat personal priorities with the same respect as work commitments.
  
• Protect thinking time.
• Schedule rest.
• Set boundaries that support focus and sustainability.

➡️ Careers are marathons, not sprints.

➡️ Longevity matters.

🚨 Why All Of These Goals Work Together

These goals aren’t separate tasks — they’re a system:

• Clear goals create direction
• Documentation creates leverage
• Advocacy creates visibility
• Mentorship builds insight — sponsorship builds momentum
• Skills and accountability create progress
• A healthy balance creates sustainability

➡️ Together, they give you clarity, confidence, and control over your career.

A Final Thought

If I could go back and give my 25-year-old self one message, it would be this:

✅ Don’t wait to be ready. Be intentional.



If you want a practical roadmap I wish I’d had earlier — including real-world strategies for navigating male-dominated workplaces — my new book, Play Smart - Playground Strategies for Success in a Male-Dominated Workplace , was written for you. Many of these lessons — from speaking up to networking strategically — are the skills I break down in Play Smart , because no one teaches us this early enough. 

➡️ Your career deserves more than hope.

➡️ It deserves a plan.