How To Use The ‘New Year Energy’ To Reset Their Career Vision For 2026

There’s always that distinct period right after Christmas where everyone gets a jolt of motivation out of nowhere, but not really to recalibrate on their goals before the new year hits. Before work routines start back up and Q1 metrics kick in, women are hurriedly creating pressure-filled checklists to cross off to feel like they can seize the entire year in a short time. That energy feeds off ambition, which is not enough to thrive in your career goals for a whole year. As 2026 approaches, let’s reflect on practical ways to truly live in our “New Year Energy” and visualize a career plan that truly aligns.

There’s been a recent shift from women fixating on job titles to choosing autonomy in the workplace. Women are constantly battling burnout from overextending themselves with work to get a promotion and sport their new job title.

Do you relate to any of the following?:

• Taking on too many work projects (some of which aren’t in your job description)
• Constantly working after hours to finish work tasks
• Skipping or working through your lunch break

According to the 2025 State of Women in Leadership report, there’s only been a 0.2 percentage point increase in the number of women in leadership since 2022. Progress has felt almost impossible as women navigate leadership, career pivots, and even entrepreneurship. 

That constant acceleration of doing more, faster, and quicker, for little to no praise or recognition, is not New Year energy. New Year energy is creating space to determine how much energy a role actually requires, and not just what it offers on paper. 

Ask yourself: Does my current pace support the life I’m building or just the expectations attached to my job position?

A workplace study report, with a survey of 27,000 workers, found that women have the same goals for advancing their careers as men. But it’s become a pattern of a new opportunity that presents itself, you work hard to get a promotion or new job, then you receive a title change (and maybe a small pay raise). And that’s it, until the pattern repeats itself on a different level.

Do you do any of the following? 

• Confuse excitement as confirmation
• Romanticize the “assumed” best-case outcome
• Jump into things quickly without clearly thinking

Women are starting to pay attention to how their achievements make them feel, as there are “42% of working women say their job has had a somewhat or extremely negative impact on their mental health.” Usually, women have completed work projects, gained more work responsibilities, and added more value to their company.

Underneath all of that is a growing disconnect between the earned career success and how you experienced it, as 60% of women do not feel able to switch off from their work. Sociologist Erin Cech’s book The Trouble with Passion further supports the idea of how navigating career decisions can be motivated by external measures of success, which links fulfillment closely to achievement and identity. 

New Year’s energy is all about awareness. It’s time to assess what fulfillment truly is, and understand how work feels matters just as much as how it looks.

Reflection Question: When I think about my career success and what it took to get there, did it silently drain me?

So we’re adjusting our career pace, and evaluating how the work is making us feel, and now we can have a full understanding to make decisions instead of rushing to decide. Author of the Harvard Business Review, Guide to Crafting Your Purpose, John Coleman writes, “At the heart of critical thinking is the ability to formulate deep, different, and effective questions.”

Women often feel impulsive and obligated to quickly set their goals and make changes to have the best year. Associate Professor of Clinical Neurobiology, Jack Grinband, PhD, says, “Postponing the onset of the decision process by as little as 50 to 100 milliseconds enables the brain to focus attention on the most relevant information and block out irrelevant distractors.” So, taking a pause to clearly think about what a role or opportunity might require of you is key before acting on it. 

Slowing down to make better decisions allows women to “feel more engaged, more connected, and more in control.” When it comes to envisioning your career goals for 2026, think about expectations that might be beyond the job description. Consider things like those after-hour emails, realizing that being an entrepreneur is a 24-hour job, unlike a 9-5, or the added responsibilities that come out of nowhere.

New Year’s energy is having clarity about what your desired career requires before committing to it. Instead of making huge changes at the start of the year, make sure your next decision is an informed one and not rushed.

Reflection question: Before I commit to the next thing, do I fully understand what I’m saying yes to?