In this episode, I discuss ditching traditional career goals and instead embracing your own career vision by audting your career in the past 12 months. I discuss 10 steps to start with at the beginning of 2025 to audit your career.
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‘Tis the season to set big, lofty career goals for the New Year. It rolls around every year, lasts about a couple of days/weeks/minutes to a month and generally ends in a puddle of unanswered emails and too long meetings. If you’ve been there, you know what I’m referring to. You also may realize like me that with time, we may get tired of the big, lofty goals, and want something different. You know the “it’s not you, it’s me” kind of thing, just with your career on a Monday morning instead of the usual Saturday night heart-to-heart. And like so many working women and moms, you may just have come to the point where you’re ready to move on from the collection of scattered, albeit great, goals, and embrace the vision of your career that fits in with your life.
I realized after years of setting pages-long lists of ambitious career goals that I wanted something else. Something more “me”, that lets me be all of me, the mom, wife, writer, nerd and everything in between. After a career change, kids, marriage, and in the throngs of perimenopause, I was over the career hype and fallacy that women should have it all at all times. Basically, I was tired of dating my work goals, and ready to marry my ideal career. There, I said it…
Why Ditch Your Work Goals and Marry Your Career Vision Instead
Your work goals are the guys you pick and go on a few dates with. Your career vision is the guy you marry and stick with (hopefully) for the rest of your life, through the ups and downs, the kids, mortgage, grey hairs and aching knees. Now your career vision may take different forms, quite a few iterations, lots of changes, flexibility and forgiveness, but at the end of the day, it’s still the vision.It still keeps you grounded while teaching you to bob and weave through the obstacle courses of life as a working woman and mom. And no one goes through longer and more arduous obstacle courses in life than women and moms…
So if you’re a working woman looking to be more grounded in your career while still maintaining your professional edge, I’d strongly suggest jumping out of the goal-dating poll into the vision-setting arena. And it starts with auditing your career first. Independently of being an ex-auditor and totally biased on the subject, I’m also a fervent believer of the maxim “In order to know where you’re going, you must know where you’re coming from.” Your career holds a wealth of data that can help you learn about yourself, your purpose and your vision; that is, if you take the time to re-evaluate it periodically, at least once a quarter. And this is exactly what a career audit can provide…
Why Auditing Your Career Matters
Just like a financial audit sheds light on the financial results of a business, a career audit provides clarity on you stand professionally. Not only is it a powerful indicator of your strengths and areas of growth, it’s also an opportunity to reflection on your purpose and alignment with your life path. A career audit can help you determine if the work you do indeed supports you values and priorities, and contributes to your well-being, or if it’s time to make some changes.
Here are a 10 steps to audit your career and set a vision for your professional future:
Step 1: Make an Inventory of Your Achievements
This first step is probably the most underrated, yet among the most critical ones, especially for working women. While many of us tend to underestimate our accomplishments, they can be a powerful source of information for our careers. Whether these are successful projects, professional milestones, or individual objectives, do not discount them!
Ask yourself:
How did I best contribute to my team or organization?
What were my most significant wins at work?
What are the achievements I am the most proud of, and why?
Action Step:
To make this process easier, create your own “Bragging File” by using a spreadsheet or journal to keep track of your accomplishments. In addition to being an undeniable mood-booster, it will also facilitate the process of updating your resume/CV as well as your Linked In profile.
Step 2: Assess Your Growth
Your growth in skills and abilities is your career currency. Assessing how much you’ve grown in terms of the skills you’ve acquired or improved is crucial to auditing your career. So is the practice of flagging the areas in which you need more improvement.
Ask yourself:
What new skills did I gain this past year?
What existing skills did I improve upon?
Are my current skills in alignment with my career progression and industry trends?
Action Step:
To help with this step, create a learning plan for this year including the skills you plan on learning or improving in. Your learning plan may include workshops to attend, online courses or certifications to take, or mentorship in specific areas.
Step 3: Evaluate Your Job Satisfaction
You spend too much time at work not to assess your job satisfaction. It’s about more than just collecting a pay check. It’s also about your fulfillment, your joy, and ultimately your alignment with your purpose.
Ask yourself:
What was your level of job satisfaction this past year on a scale of 1-10?
Did you feel supported and valued at your place of work?
Was your personal life in sync with your career and vice-versa?
Action Step:
Depending on your job satisfaction score, asses what needs to change in your career. It may be considering a new role, seeking a promotion, or making a lateral move.
Step 4: Review Your Performance Feedback
Feedback is a powerful tool to help identify your strengths, areas of growth, as well as the fit of the team or organization you’re in. Reviewing the feedback you receive, whether in the form of formal performance reviews, internal feedback, or informal advice, can go a long way in assessing how you are perceived and making the necessary changes, if needed.
Ask yourself:
What were the main themes emerging from the feedback you received this past year?
What were the areas of improvement and growth noted?
Did you agree with the feedback?
What did you do to implement the advice given?
Action Step:
Create a feedback evaluation file, where you log in the main feedback themes, areas of growth, as well as steps taken to address these. Based on your evaluation, identify areas you will work on this year to address the feedback from last year.
Step 5: Evaluate Your Compensation
Newsflash: the gender pay gap is far from closing. Hence why it is so important to periodically review your compensation. This not only ensures that you’re aware of industry trends, as well as competitive salaries for your role, but that you also keep yourself marketable in your role and company.
Ask yourself:
Is my salary competitive with industry trends and standards?
Is my salary in line with peers at my current organization?
Are my benefits in line with my actual needs (parental leave, healthcare, retirement, etc)
Action step:
Create an “I’m Worth It” Folder that you periodically update with research on the current salary benchmarks for your industry and role. You can use platforms such as Payscale or Glassdoor to conduct your research.
Prepare yourself to negotiate your salary and/or benefits if need be.
Step 6: Conduct a Network Audit
One of the most underrated career assets for women is their network. Sallie Krawcheck, founder and CEO of women’s focused investment platform Ellevest, famously said: “Networking is the number one unwritten rule of success”. And she was right on the money…
The stronger and more diverse your network, the stronger your career…
Ask yourself:
What new professional connections did you make the past year?
Did you nurture your professional network in the past year?
Do you need to strengthen your network, in terms of mentors, sponsors and peers in your field and beyond?
Action step:
Crete a “Networking File” where you log at least one networking event per quarter, and update it regularly as you strengthen your network.
Step 7: Re-evaluate Your Work-Life Alignment
I don’t believe in work-life balance. There, I said it again…At the end of the day, balance is elusive, but alignment is possible. Re-evaluating how well this alignment is working is a priority at the beginning of every year, and frankly, anywhere in between.
Ask yourself:
Did you feel your work was in alignment with your personal life this past year?
Did you experience overwhelm or burnout? When and for how long?
Did you set proper boundaries last year to take care of yourself? If not, why?
Action step:
Commit to setting boundaries in your work this year. It could be not addressing emails after a certain time, or not working on weekends.
Step 8: Fail Forward
Repeat with me: “Failure is not a dirty word.” Research by Borgnovi and Han (2021) shows women tend to report higher fear of failure than their male counterparts, which can negatively impact women in and out of the workplace. Yet, failures are one of the most invaluable sources of growth. Hence why reflecting on what didn’t go well can be so beneficial in a new season.
Ask yourself:
What were my biggest professional failures and challenges this past year?
What did I learn from these?
What can I do this year to not repeat the same failures?
Action step:
By now, you know I love creating reflection-based files. Well, this is no exception. Create a “Failure Journal” to log your failures throughout the year, lessons learned and steps taken to address these. Remember, the more you recover from failure, the better you get…
Step 9: Visualize your Ideal Career
Now the real fun starts…Call me a dreamer, but I believe in seeing the end result before it manifests, that is, seeing it in your mind’s eye. So pause and take a minute (or 100) to dream up your ideal career. Visualize in the eye of your mind what your career looks like at the end of this year.
Ask yourself:
How does your career feel at the end of this year? (peaceful, energizing, inspiring, etc)
What role or work environment is a good fit for you?
What accomplishments would make you feel purposeful and fulfilled this year?
How does your career best align with you personal life and values?
Action Step:
Create your “Career Vision Board” where you illustrate with pictures what your ideal career looks like. If you’re not a vision board type of gal, then consider writing yourself a letter describing your ideal career. Use these all throughout the year to refresh yourself on your vision.
Step 10: Commit to a first step toward your vision!
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your ideal career won’t either. So start this journey with a first step. Decide on ONE thing you can do TODAY to leverage your career audit and move toward your career vision.
Ask yourself:
What is ONE thing I can do TODAY to get closer to the vision of my ideal career?
Action Step:
This one is pretty short. Just do it!
Performing a career audit is not for the faint of hearts, I’ll give you that. Yet, it may be the single most rewarding investment you make of your time and energy as the year starts, especially as a working woman and mom. Reflecting on your path so far, and committing to a career vision that frees you to be all of you, is already a win! And you’re just starting the year…
Will be auditing your career this year? Are you ready to embrace the vision for your career this year?
You know that sumthin’ sumthin’ about Christmas and the year-end holidays that just makes you lose a bit (or a lot) of your financial mind and neglect your money a bit (or a lot)? That feeling that you don’t need to check your bank account or credit card statement until after the New year because… YOLO? And then the New year rolls around, you’re not exactly sure where you stand financially and you’re setting new money goals with no baseline to start from. I’ve been there…This is why a smart money move to make as a working woman and mom is to audit your past year’s finances before even considering setting new financial goals for the New Year.
Now more than ever, women’s finances are taking center stage. As revealed by a 2020 McKinsey and Company report, women are to be the primary wealth holders in the U.S. by 2030. According to this Lending Treeanalysis, single women surpass singe men in home ownership. Women now run more than 10% of all Fortune 500 companies. This potential wealth transfer will cause American women to control much of baby boomers’ $30 trillion in assets. Needless to say, now is not the time to neglect your finances or mishandle your money.
If you are considering smart money moves to make as the New Year rolls around, here are a few financial boxes to check:
1. Do Your Financial Year-End Audit:
Reviewing your finances is one of the first steps to building a healthy financial house. From revisiting your budget to checking your holiday spending, taking some time to strategically go over your financial situation:
Budget check: Check your budget for the past 12 months to better understand your spending patterns. This will allow you to adjust your budget for the new year as needed.
Emergency fund check: Do you have 3 to 6 months of savings that could be applied to emergencies such as job losses or medical crisis? If not, reconsider your savings patterns and adjust your goals for the new year.
Debt check: Where is your debt standing at the moment? Have you been making a dent in it, or has it been increasing? Itemize your debt, see how much progress you’ve been making in the past year, and what you have left to tackle in the next few years.
Benefits check: What is the current status of your retirement, health or insurance benefits? Have you been contributing enough to grow these sustainably? Are you taking advantage of matches offered by your employer if any? If not, can you pivot next year? Can you use any remaining funds in your Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) prior to them expiring? Are there other unused work benefits such as reimbursement programs or stipends you can still take care of?
Holiday spending: This one may hurt a bit. It’s easy to get off track with holiday spending, hence the need to review it at year-end. Where did you get off budget? Did you even have a budget to begin with? What could you have done differently? Are there any discounts or cash back opportunities you can still use for last-minute purchases or returns?
2. Evaluate your investments and retirement accounts:
Evaluating your investments and retirement accounts allows you to ensure your money is not only growing well, but is being used optimally over time. This is where reviewing your retirement, investments and kids’ college savings plans can make a world of difference.
Retirement Contributions: Have you contributed enough to your IRA or 401(k) to optimize your tax benefits and maximize employer matches?
Investments: Where does your investment portfolio stand? Does it align with your financial goals and the amount of risk you’re willing to tolerate? If not, how can you modify your approach going forward? Is your money invested in high-yield savings accounts or just sitting in a zero yield account?
College savings plan: As a working mom, have you set you set up and contributed to a 529 plan for your children’s education? If so, have you been able to take advantage of state tax benefits?
3. Plan for the upcoming tax season:
Taxes are not going anywhere, so you might as well plan early for them. Much of the burden of leveraging tax season is spending the necessary time planning for it before it is time to file. If anything, it may just be one of the smartest one money moves you can do as a year closes and another one opens. Here are some steps to do so:
Tax deductions and credits: What are potential tax deductions and credits you can take advantage of in the upcoming tax season? These could be childcare expenses, medical costs, or student loan interest. As a working parent, can you identify tax credits such as the Child Tax Credit that you can also leverage in your taxes.
Charitable donations: Now is the time to make last-minute charitable giving your go-to in order to increase your tax deductions. This will also help you declutter and streamline your belongings or finances before the year closes.
Tax documentation: Rather than waiting until the last minute, year-end is one of the best times to gather your tax documentation. This may include purchase receipts, W-2s, and other tax documents to prepare for tax season and even file early.
4. Set your financial goals for the upcoming decade, not just year:
Reviewing your finances is one thing, moving forward is another. Setting measurable, specific goals for the future is a non-negotiable as you close one year and stepping into another. When it comes to your money, planning for the future is not just limited to the next year. Instead, painting a wider, more long-term financial picture can help you progress more effectively towards establishing a long-term legacy and not just meeting short-term objectives. So how about planning for the next decade and not just the next year? Here are some tips to do so:
Financial goals: What are your financial goals going forward (e.g., paying off debt, increasing retirement contributions, ? Have you done your estate planning? If so, is it in need of reviewing? What is your wealth plan for the next year, five years, decade?
Insurance Policies: Do you have adequate health, disability and life insurance coverage? Is it time to re-evaluate these for your current and future financial standing?
Estate Planning: Are your wills and beneficiaries already set, especially as a working mom? If not, can it be part of your financial goals for the coming year? If they’re already set up, do they need updating?
Financial Check-in: Plan to meet with a financial specialist or advisor to review your financial goals and strategy in the next year.
Plan to involve your family and kids in the process: Teach financial habits to your family and kids. Set up or review their existing savings accounts. Encourage your children to donate or contribute to charitable giving.
Yes, the transition from one year to another is not the easiest time to set your finances in forward motion. However, there is never a good time to do what is best and most challenging for our current and future financial well-being. Using this transition time to take control of your finances is not only one of the smartest money moves you can make. It may just be the most important thing you do to change your financial picture for decades to come.
I remember being in mind-boggling traffic the day before Christmas, with still quite a few gifts left to get on my list, exhausted as could be. The year before, I had promised myself not to get to this point of exhaustion and overwhelm again during the holidays. Yet here I was, mentally calculating how to magically fit in the rest of my Christmas shopping, a quickie shower, and the Christmas service at church, not to mention wrapping the rest of the gifts before the clock struck midnight. Can you relate?
If you’ve ever been in my shoes, you know year-end is a notoriously busy time for working moms. Between holiday preparations, year-end work deadlines, and childcare challenges, most working mothers are exhausted around the holidays. According to a 2006 study by the American Psychological Association (APA), the holidays have a negative impact on women, many of whom are largely responsible for year-end celebrations. A 2024 TODAY survey confirms mothers bear the brunt of holiday preparations 97% of the time. Hence the holiday mental load experienced by so many working mothers…
This is also why year-end is one of the most opportune times to reflect on ways to lessen this mental load and avoid burnout. If like myself, you’ve experienced exhaustion and overwhelm during the last weeks of the year, you may have taken it as a wake-up call. I know I surely have…
Here are the three principles I’ve landed on as part of my year-end reflection as a working mom:
More than at any other time during the year, the flurry of to-do’s, events, commitments and obligations to attend to during the holidays requires prioritizing. What is most important? What can be delegated, postponed or eliminated? These are a few of the questions that must become pivotal in any working mom’s life to avoid constant chaos and make sanity a priority.
Less is More!
If there ever were a motto to modern motherhood, it would be: “less is more”. As a recovering perfectionist, I’ve learned over time that the only medal there is for trying to do all the things as a working mom is that of exhaustion and overwhelm. And there is no better time than the holidays to realize this harsh reality.
For me, year-end is the perfect time to reflect on and practice streamlining my to-do list as a working mom. From building systems to using the power of automation, and lessening my commitments, finding ways to reduce the load as a working mom is an important part of my year-end reflection and planning.
Set clear boundaries!
Last but certainly not least, year-end holidays are a harsh reminder of the power of boundaries (or the lack thereof). During a season where demands, commitments and deadlines rear their demanding heads at every corner, boundaries are essential. As a working mom who’s struggled with setting boundaries, especially during the holidays, I know the dear price to pay for a boundary-less life.
An important part of my year-end reflection focuses on setting up better boundaries with each passing year. From limiting my year-end engagements, to communicating personal and professional boundaries more effectively at work, giving myself some margin during the holidays has become a non-negotiable. In turn, this allows me to further reflect on and plan stronger boundaries in all areas of my personal and professional life.
Over the years, applying these principles has radically transformed the way I approach the holidays and plan for the new year. Although I still have ways to go, I’ve gotten better at prioritizing what really matters, streamlining the insane amount of year-end commitments and deadlines, and setting stronger personal and professional boundaries. In turn, this has allowed me to reclaim my time, and go from constantly exhausted to empowered to thrive instead of just surviving the various seasons of my life and career.
I hope this year-end is also a fresh opportunity for you to reflect on being less of an exhausted working mom, and more of an empowered, and rested, mother.
How are you going from exhausted to empowered in the New Year?
In this episode, I discuss 4 gender biases to look out for in your performance review as a working woman and mom at work. These biases include:
the language bias
the visibility bias
the proximity bias
the ingroup bias
Listen in for more awareness around these biases!
Thanks for Listening!
Thanks so much for tuning in and listening to this week’s episode! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please share it by using the social media at the bottom of this post!
Also, leave me a review for the TCS podcast on Apple Podcasts !
