With the arrival of a new year and the emergence of the goal of “new year, new me” in our heads, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. We all sincerely want to learn how to build a successful career in 2025, but we don’t even know where to start. Is it worth it? And will we be able to do it? As career reimagining coach Katya Vlahos says, the problem isn’t even that the goal itself is too big, but that we’re not sure we can achieve it.
ContentHow to build a successful career in 2025: first stepsChange your idea of a career in 2025How to build a successful career in 2025: practical career steps
Unfortunately, women often find themselves in a “cage” of their own expectations and beliefs, holding back their professional and personal growth. We have everything to reach the top, but due to fear of failure and doubts, we slow ourselves down. WomanEL wants to help you break out of this and completely change your professional life next year.
How to build a successful career in 2025: first steps
When it comes to entering 2025 with a clear understanding of where we want to go in our careers and what we want to achieve, Katya explains that the first thing to do is “identify your core values, sense of purpose, and vision.” To do this, she recommends thinking deeply about what is most important to you and how it impacts your perception of the world.
From there, you can use this as an anchor to navigate your professional life this year, asking yourself, “Does this career move or goal align with my core purpose and values?”
Let go of the self-defeating notions of success. “The path to true success begins with allowing yourself to dream, without being limited by conventions,” says Katya. “What would you do if you knew that failure simply wouldn’t happen? If you could start all over again, where would you go, what would you do, who would you be? Give yourself permission to dream big and let your mind wander.”
Katya recommends making sure that your goals are “aligned” – consistent with your values and core motivations, not someone else's – and flexibly formulated. “Treating your resolutions as experiments rather than fixed goals opens up room for growth without the burden of perfectionism,” she says.
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Change the way you think about your career in 2025
Work on your thinking and get rid of outdated prejudices that you don't deserve something, Source: freepik.com
Decision fatigue can be a huge obstacle to achieving your career goals in 2025. You may be racking your brain with questions like: Did I get the right job? Should I look for a new one? Is this new job right for me? The paralysis we feel can keep us from making career-defining decisions and cause us to act out of fear or panic, choosing a path that isn’t right for us.
Katya recommends reflecting on the pressures and expectations of what we think we “should” be doing in our careers to see if they are affecting our ability to make career decisions. “We can get trapped by external markers of success—a fancy title, a secure path, an office,” she says. We build invisible cages of these expectations, convincing ourselves that we are “protected” from uncertainty. This affects our behavior and our attitude toward ourselves.”
To overcome career decision fatigue, you need to ask yourself: Are my career goals truly my own, or am I chasing someone else’s definition of success? Why is this move right for me, beyond the obvious practical benefits? How will it help me achieve what I want?
This way, you can clearly navigate your career goals for 2025, with minimal decision fatigue and greater clarity in understanding what we need from our future and progress in the workplace.
Impostor syndrome is a common affliction for women when it comes to careers – and other areas of our lives. Katya explains that to combat this phenomenon in 2025, we need to reconsider our attitude towards goals, taking into account both the boundaries we are in and where we could potentially end up in the future.
When the inner critic whispers, “I’m not a very good speaker,” we can change that thought to, “I’m on my way to becoming an inspirational speaker.” “In this way, we acknowledge both our current reality and our potential for growth.”
How to build a successful career in 2025: practical career steps
Are you planning to ask for or negotiate a raise at work—or a raise if you’re self-employed? Katya recommends developing a strategy beyond “formal checkpoints” like annual or quarterly reviews. “Waiting for them means missing out on opportunities to demonstrate your value and prove yourself right,” she explains. In her coaching career, she’s “seen how this passive approach often leads successful women to underestimate their contributions.”
“Keep a record of your accomplishments, influence, and positive feedback to get a sense of your contribution and growth,” she says. After you’ve done your research and considered the full package—not just the money, but things like flexible working hours and new leadership opportunities—start the conversation. If you get a no at first, take it as a conversation starter, not an outright rejection.
If you don’t hit your 2025 goal on your first try, don’t give up. Part of growing is staying true to your goals.
“Ask for specific goals that will justify the compensation you want, and offer a timeline for how you’ll get there,” says Katya. “The most important thing is to maintain your professional composure, because how you handle this moment can have a significant impact on future opportunities.”
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