After nearly 18 years at Google, Jenny Wood now dedicates her time to helping people grow their careers. She does this through her weekly newsletter, Big Small Things, and she hopes to do this with her forthcoming book, "Wild Courage," due out in March 2025.     

"I made so many mistakes as I rose from entry-level to exec," she says, adding that "these mistakes included the actions I didn't take (which led to the most regret) and the actions I did take (some of which were cringe-worthy)."

When it comes to setting yourself up for success in 2025, Wood has a couple of tips.

Figure out your 'Baltics' and your 'Boardwalks'

First, figure out what tasks and projects will actually make an impact. Wood compares this to low-value and high-value properties in Monopoly — you have to determine "what are your Baltics in 2025 and what are your Boardwalks," she says.

"Agreeing to take notes for every team meeting or showing up early to help decorate for an office party" are Baltics, says Wood. They're not contributing to your professional progress. On the other hand, "raising your hand to increase a given metric by 20% or volunteering to help drive a reorg and present it to leadership," are Boardwalks. They will help move you and your company forward.

Ask your boss about their top priorities or read an exec's newsletter outlining those for the company, then write two to three personal Boardwalk goals for the first quarter of 2025. Every quarter write another two to three.

Ask your boss for what you want

Second, Wood recommends asking for what you want to do next year.

Say your company's working on two initiatives, a vanilla ice cream and a chocolate ice cream. You get put on the chocolate ice cream team even though you hoped to be put on vanilla. Especially if you're early in your career, it can seem counterintuitive to say you want to be on that other team. But don't be afraid to push back, she says.

Say something to your boss like, "I'd really enjoy the opportunity to work on vanilla ice cream," she says.
"I like the stakeholders on that project. It's a different product than I've been used to. I've been working on chocolate ice cream for the last three years. I'd like some variety to learn new skills."

That push back says you're a risk taker, she says, "and that's the kind of stuff that gets you promoted."

Before the end of this year, figure out what you want to focus on in 2025 then invite your boss to a meeting where you can discuss these objectives.

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