Skip to content How I’m Checking In, Pivoting, & Reclaiming
My Resolutions
Crazy Curls & Career Confessions
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This blog will help you:
Ready to strengthen your network and head into the new year with intention? Let’s dive in.
Before you can nurture your network, you need to identify the people who’ve been instrumental in your career this year. Take a moment to think about:
Action Tip: Create a short list of the five most impactful relationships you’ve had this year. Write down one specific way each person contributed to your growth.
Gratitude is a simple yet powerful way to maintain and strengthen connections. The key is to make it personal and specific. Instead of generic “thanks for everything” messages, highlight what the person did and why it mattered to you.
How You Can Show Your Gratitude:
Action Tip: Send personalized notes via email or handwritten cards. If possible, invite them for coffee or a virtual chat to express your gratitude directly.
If you’ve fallen out of touch with key connections, year-end networking events are a great way to reconnect. These events offer a casual yet professional setting to check in with peers, mentors, and even new potential connections.
Where to Find Events:
Attending these events not only strengthens your existing network but also helps expand it, introducing you to people who can play a critical role in your professional development in 2025.
Action Tip: Before attending, prepare a short “year-in-review” story about your career progress and goals. This makes it easier to spark meaningful conversations.
While group events are great, nothing beats a personalized conversation. Use this time of year to schedule one-on-ones with your key connections to reflect on the year and discuss future opportunities.
Conversation Starters:
These conversations show genuine interest in their perspective and can strengthen your relationship.
Action Tip: Offer to treat them to coffee, lunch, or even a virtual meeting if in-person isn’t feasible.
The relationships you nurture now can continue to grow in the new year—but only if you’re intentional. A connection plan ensures you’re staying top of mind with your network, even when life gets busy.
Ideas for Your Plan:
Action Tip: Make a list of three new connections you want to establish next year and find relevant networking events or groups to build those relationships.
Your career isn’t just built on skills or accomplishments—it thrives on the relationships you cultivate. As you close out the year, take the time to reflect, express gratitude, and intentionally nurture your connections. Whether it’s reaching out to a mentor, attending a networking event on Meetup.com, or sending a thoughtful note to an advocate, these small actions can have a big impact on your professional journey.
The main benefit of this “press tour” concept is keeping my momentum going. When it comes to networking, your work is never finished. At some point, you become the person people are trying to meet—and that’s what you’re working toward. But something with such abstract benefits can be hard to get out of bed for. But when I’m tempted to bed rot after a day of work instead of putting on my networking outfit and leaving the house, I pump myself up by reopening my vision board and remembering that if I want my life to feel like a movie, I have to go on the press tour.
he key to 2025 isn’t just setting ambitious career goals—it’s building the network to help you achieve them. Let’s make it a year of connection and growth.
For more career chats, check them out here.
Crazy Curls & Career Confessions
Share your wildest work or hair story anonymously. I’ll share advice via the career chats page on how to navigate them.
Let’s Run Our New Year’s Resolutions Back
January goals always start with the best intentions. We even talked about easing into work after the holidays, whew that feels like ages ago. You make a plan, maybe even buy a fancy planner, and tell yourself this is the year everything aligns. And then? Life happens. Work deadlines pile up, motivation dips, and suddenly, that “daily gym” goal turns into “maybe next Monday.”
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
This year, instead of forcing things that no longer fit, I’m checking in, pivoting where necessary, and reclaiming my goals—without apology. Because progress isn’t about perfection; it’s about adjusting with intention and keeping the momentum alive. So if you’ve already felt that pull to reset, let’s do it together.
Step 1: Reflect on What Worked (and what didn’t)
Most of us were taught that success is about rigid discipline—but the truth? It’s about adapting without guilt. This year, I’m focusing on flexibility and intention, and here’s how you can too:
Before making changes, take a moment to reflect. Ask yourself:
Here’s what it looked like for me:
| Win | Challenge |
|---|---|
| Set clearer boundaries at work (Said ‘no’ more and protected my time!) | Yet still felt guilty (Worried about how it would be perceived—am I being ‘difficult’?) |
| Started prioritizing my health (Consistently working out & meal prepping!) | But struggled with balance (Work demands made it easy to fall back into bad habits.) |
📝 Try this: Write down your own wins and challenges. Seeing them laid out helps you move forward intentionally, not impulsively. If you need any additional help on coming up with goals, check this article out about honing into your soft skills.
Progress isn't about perfection, it's about adjusting with intention.
Step 2: Pivot without Guilt
If something isn’t working, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed—it means you need to adjust. Here’s how to shift without frustration:
Step 3: Evaluate Goals with Clarity
If something isn’t sticking, it’s not because you lack motivation. It might just need a better approach. Ask yourself:
🔄 Example: Pivoting a Goal That Isn’t Working
Step 4: Reclaim Momentum (One Win at a Time)
Progress isn’t linear. Some days, you’ll feel unstoppable; other days, you’ll feel stuck. That’s okay. The key is to keep moving.
🔥 Actionable Tip: Start a “Win Jar”
Why This Matters for Black Women
We’re no strangers to high expectations and overperformance. We’re managing careers, businesses, families, and personal growth—all while being twice as likely as our peers to feel like we have to prove ourselves in professional settings.
📊 Stat Check: A 2023 Harvard Business Review study found that Black women are twice as likely as their white peers to feel the need to “prove themselves” at work—leading to higher stress, burnout, and pressure to overachieve. This isn’t just about goal-setting—it’s about creating sustainable progress without self-sacrifice.
So if you’re feeling the pressure to be everything, do everything, and never drop the ball—this is your permission to put some of those balls down. Balance is necessary, sis.
Call to Action: Let’s Build A Community of Accountability
Progress isn’t linear. Some days, you’ll feel unstoppable; other days, you’ll feel stuck. That’s okay. The key is to keep moving.
Final Thought: Reclaim Your Goals, Reclaim Your Power
This is the year to stop forcing what doesn’t fit and start building what works for you.
Your goals are yours to define, refine, and reclaim—without guilt, without apology.
So if January didn’t go as planned? Adjust. Recommit. Keep going.
Because the most important part of any goal? Is you.
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