Of all the different kinds of resolutions to make at the crossroads between the old year and the new, the ones pertaining to work and career are the trickiest, because their success often depends on external factors. Here are three ways to bring the ball to your court in 2016.
Give yourself an update
You want that raise or promotion this year? Give yourself a skills boost. Take stock of your skillset, and also the ones required by a better paid position, and then get to work achieving those skills. Set some time aside to attend a workshop, or get some training. There are plenty of sites offering online courses to help you. Once you have acquired some shiny new skills, update your CV and then make the pitch for a bigger slice of the pie. Your chances of getting it will be far greater.
Prioritise, prioritise, prioritise
Do you find yourself worrying that you're not networking enough? Most of us have been there. On one hand, Facebook is giving you a bad case of FOMO, on the other, you've got everything from traffic jams to endless, pointless meetings/seminars/commitments filling up your schedule. An easier way to make things happen would be to make a to-don't list. Take stock of all your upcoming social commitments, set aside only the most essential ones, and do away with the rest. You should now have enough time to schedule in a professional meet-cute.
Get heard
If you're worried about being the wallflower at meetings, plan ahead and brainstorm ideas before you go in, so that you're not tongue-tied and trying to hide behind your chattier co-workers. A good way to improve your chances of bagging choice assignments is to bone up on them beforehand and then talking to your supervisor to make it known that you're ready for it. And if being heard means that people realise that they're dumping too much work on you, use those fancy calendars you get every year. Mark up your ongoing project, and then use the magic word “reschedule”. If it's a time-sensitive task, and they see you're not available, they'll hand it to someone else, and it's not your problem anymore.
