In order to make 2025 the best year of your career, you need to effectively capture your 2024 accomplishments and challenges in a way that will serve your future career moves - whether you stay in your current job or pivot to a new opportunity. 

Here are the top 3 things I recommend that you start with…

1. Document Your Impact Through Multiple Lenses

Don't just list publications and RVUs. Consider:

• Clinical innovations you've introduced or improved
• Quality improvement projects (successful or not - negative results are important!)
• Team leadership moments
• Program development contributions
• Committee participation and outcomes
• Teaching impact and learner feedback

Pro Tips: 

1. Update your CV monthly with new accomplishments, projects, and roles. 
2. Creating a Project sheet with sections for works in progress and pending submissions keeps everything organized and ensures nothing gets forgotten. I even have a section for items that need to go to my CV so I don't forget them. 

2. Track Your Growth Beyond Traditional Metrics

Many physicians often focus solely on publications and clinical productivity. However, there are many things that contribute to your growth and can support your journey towards full professor. I recommend that you capture the following (and add additional metrics that make sense for you):

• New skills acquired (clinical and non-clinical)
• Relationship building successes
• Crisis management experiences
• Resource optimization wins
• Cross-departmental collaborations
• Mentorship relationships (both giving and receiving)

Success Strategy: Maintain a career journal to reflect on personal growth, challenges overcome, and lessons learned - these subtle developments often prove invaluable in future leadership roles.

3. Map Your Evolving Career Interests

Your 2024 experiences likely revealed new interests and opportunities or cemented old ones. They may also have revealed areas where additional training or education may be useful. Document:

• Which activities energized you versus drained you
• Unexpected challenges that became growth opportunities
• Projects that sparked new career interests
• Skills gaps you've identified
• Networking connections that opened new possibilities

Pro Tip: Schedule quarterly career reflection sessions with yourself or a coach or a mentor. Use this time to identify patterns in what energizes you and where you're making the most impact. This insight can guide future career decisions and help you prioritize opportunities.

Summary

Effective career documentation towards promotion isn't just about counting publications or RVUs - it's about telling the story of your professional evolution. Whether you stay in traditional academics or explore alternative paths like I did (CMO, coaching, real estate), having a clear record of your accomplishments, challenges, and emerging interests will help you make intentional career decisions. It is really useful to be able to explain your story. 

For example, my interest in treating children with obstructive sleep apnea led me to work in multidisciplinary clinics. I began to realize that the impact on many of my patients went far beyond what I could do in the medical setting and included things like social determinants of health. With this in mind I became more interested in population health and started working in utilization management, our physician hospital organization, and our accountable care organization. These experiences led me to work as a chief medical officer at a Medicaid Managed Care Organization while continuing to do research and participate in coaching and mentoring.

While your journey may not look like mine, being able to explain how you went from one job or research project or grant to the other is really valuable and helps people see the story in the journey. It also helps a promotion committee see the continuing thread in your experiences and makes it easier to get promoted. 

If you are interested in working with me:

1. Get on the Newsletter - sign up here
2. Be a Founding Member and Join the Academic Physician Career Kickstarter Course which starts in January 2025
3. Learn More about the First Early Career Women’s Group Coaching Program Starting in February 2025 by emailing me here
4. I have a very limited number of 1:1 Coaching spots if you are interested. Set up a strategy call if you are interested or not sure where to start.