When people talk about achieving big things in their work life, they often overlook the most important first step: CLARITY. Without clear career goals, you’re essentially trying to navigate the unknown without a compass. This is how you end up stuck in a role that doesn’t reflect who you are or where you want to be. It ultimately leaves you feeling discouraged and overwhelmed. If you’re an ambitious woman working toward a higher-paying position, looking for a remote job, or simply trying to figure out your next career move, keep reading. I’ve got three straightforward exercises that can help you gain the clarity you need to move forward with purpose.

Let’s chat for a moment about three simple strategies—each one designed to help you uncover what you truly want from your work life.

Why Career Clarity Matters

Before we dive in, let’s take a moment to talk about why clarity is so crucial in setting career goals. When you have a clear vision, you’ll find decision-making becomes easier. You’ll know which opportunities align with your values and which ones aren’t worth your time. That sense of direction also helps you become more confident during job interviews, networking events, salary negotiations, or even daily conversations with colleagues.

A clear set of career goals acts like a high-level roadmap, guiding you to the roles and organizations that best fit your lifestyle and aspirations. Whether you’re hoping to negotiate for remote flexibility or make a complete pivot into a new industry, clarity is what drives meaningful progress.

Exercise 1: Create a Career Vision Board

You may have heard of vision boards in a variety of contexts. Some people use them for personal life goals, fitness journeys, or even as a motivational tool to focus on specific milestones. But when it comes to career goals, vision boards can help you visualize exactly where you want to go.

What Is a Vision Board?
At its most basic, a vision board is a collage of images, words, and/or quotes that represent your ambitions and desires. It could be physical—like a poster board with magazine clippings—or it could be digital, assembled on a platform like Pinterest or a simple doc on your computer that you save as your background image. I even have mine as the background on my phone.

Why It Works
When we regularly see images reflecting our goals and aspirations, it keeps them top of mind. In the context of your career, it might include pictures of people working remotely from a home office, symbols of financial freedom, or visuals that represent positions of leadership. By seeing these images regularly, you remind yourself daily of what you’re working toward.

How to Get Started

1. Collect Images and Words: Find items (photos, slogans, color palettes) that reflect the work environment, salary level, or type of impact you want to have.
2. Arrange Them Meaningfully: You can place them in categories—like “work setup,” “financial goals,” or “types of projects.” OR…you can choose to categorize them in some other way that aligns with your focus.
3. Keep It Visible: Put your vision board somewhere you’ll see it regularly. If it’s digital, consider setting it as your desktop background or phone wallpaper.

This exercise not only helps you identify your deepest career goals but keeps you motivated each time you look at the board.

Exercise 2: Identify Patterns in Your Past Successes

A powerful way to uncover your career goals is by analyzing your past experiences. Chances are, you’ve had moments in your work life that left you feeling proud, energized, and certain that you were on the right track. By studying those high points, you can detect patterns that will guide your future decisions.

Steps to Follow

1. Brainstorm Past Wins: If you’re anything like me, you have a journal or two within arm’s reach. You’ll need it for this exercise. I’d like you to think of specific achievements—like that project you led that finished ahead of schedule, or the remote role you excelled in during the pandemic. Write them down in a bulleted list.
2. Note What Made Them Successful: Did you love the team collaboration? Was it the autonomy of working remotely? Did you gain a significant pay increase that motivated you further? Pinpoint the factors that made each experience fulfilling.
3. Look for Common Themes: Maybe you thrive in environments where you have creative freedom, or you do your best work when you can mentor junior colleagues. The goal is to see which elements of past career successes you can replicate in your next role.

Why This Works
When you recognize common threads in your achievements, you start to see a pattern of what you need to be at your best. Is it a certain style of management, a particular kind of project, or a consistent level of challenge? Knowing this helps you eliminate positions that won’t be fulfilling and zero in on the ones that match your style.

Exercise 3: Journal About Your Ideal Workday

Hold on to that journal you just used in Exercise 2. There’s something about putting pen to paper that can unlock insights you didn’t even know you had. Writing things down significantly boosts focus and helps cement ideas in your mind. While it might feel a bit basic, journaling is a proven method for sorting through thoughts, concerns, and aspirations.

Getting Started

1. Set Aside Quiet Time: With your journal in hand, find a space where you can think without interruption.
2. Describe Your Perfect Workday in Detail: Imagine where you are, what tasks you’re doing, who you’re talking to, and how you feel. Are you working from a home office? Traveling for client meetings? Leading a team brainstorm?
3. List the Key Elements: After you’ve written your ideal scenario, note the recurring themes—flexibility, problem-solving, leadership, higher earning potential. These points can serve as indicators of the roles or environments that will suit you best.

Why Journaling Helps
Beyond clarifying your career goals, journaling can also shine a light on any fears or mental barriers you might have. Sometimes, seeing our worries in written form makes them more manageable, offering a route to address them head-on.

Introducing the “Clarity in Career Goals” Worksheet

These exercises might sound simple, but they can be transformative when approached with sincerity. To make the process even easier, I’ve created a “Clarity in Career Goals” Worksheet that guides you step by step. The worksheet includes:

• Vision Board Templates: Simple layouts so you can collect images and quotes related to your future work life.
• Success Pattern Analysis: A structured way to list out your achievements, pinpoint what made them fulfilling, and draw out consistent themes.
• Ideal Workday Prompts: Journal prompts to help you define and refine your vision of a typical day in your dream role.

If you’ve been feeling scattered or uncertain about your next move, this worksheet is for you. It’s designed to spark insights, confidence, and a real sense of direction—without getting bogged down in complicated strategies or endless goal-setting methods.

Click here to download your free “Clarity in Career Goals” Worksheet.

What Happens After You Gain Clarity?

Clarity is powerful because it sets the stage for everything else—whether that’s updating your resume to target specific roles, reaching out to mentors in your chosen field, or negotiating for a remote schedule. Once you know what you want, each decision becomes more purposeful.

With all of this newfound clarity, it’s possible you’ll still need a bit of extra support to turn that clarity into tangible action. That’s where personalized guidance can make a world of difference. As someone who partners with ambitious women, I know that sometimes one conversation can ignite a major breakthrough, while ongoing support might be necessary to navigate a complex transition.

The Next Step: Schedule a Free Consultation

If you’ve completed the worksheet and you’re still unsure about how to move forward—or you just want to bounce your ideas off someone with experience—let’s chat. A quick, no-obligation call could be exactly what you need to convert those insights into a real plan for advancing your career.

Click here to schedule a free 20-minute consultation, and let’s figure out how to tailor a roadmap that suits your strengths, goals, and desire for a more flexible, rewarding work life.

I’ll leave you with this…

Clarity is the foundation of any successful career shift or advancement. Taking time to get clear on your vision might feel like a luxury you can’t afford when you’re eager to earn more or find a remote position, but in reality, it’s the most strategic investment you can make. With vision boards, a good look at your past successes, and some journaling about your ideal workday, you can create a powerful baseline for your next steps.

Download the “Clarity in Career Goals” Worksheet today, and if you’re ready for a deeper dive into charting your path, schedule a free consultation to see if customized support is right for you. Remember, a more fulfilling, higher-paying role might be closer than you think—especially once you gain the clarity to reach for it with confidence.