Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
It’s one of those career questions we’re supposed to know how to answer. Vice president. CEO. Partner. Founder. Running a division. Running your own company. Maybe working from a beach somewhere with excellent Wi-Fi.
There’s nothing wrong with ambition, and there’s nothing wrong with having a destination in mind. But building your entire career around a precise job title 10 years from now assumes something fairly extraordinary: that you already know the woman you’re going to be 10 years from now.
You don’t.
You may discover an industry you didn’t know existed. Technology may fundamentally change your profession. You could become fascinated by something you’re currently ignoring, start a business, sell one or move somewhere new. Your family and relationships may change. You may burn out and recover. You may even realize that the job you spent 15 years pursuing isn’t actually the life you want.
That’s not a career plan going wrong. That’s a life happening.
So instead of creating a rigid 10-year plan, try building a career with direction, momentum and options.
Here’s how.
1. Start With the Life, Not the Title
Before asking what job you want in 10 years, ask a bigger question: What do I want my life to look like?
Maybe you want to lead a large organization or build something of your own. Perhaps you want to travel extensively, work internationally or live in a particular city. Maybe flexibility matters enormously to you, or financial independence, meaningful work, family time or the ability to be more involved in your community.
Career planning becomes much more useful when you stop separating the job from the life surrounding it.
The title may sound impressive. But what does Tuesday look like?
That’s worth knowing.
2. Choose a Direction
You don’t need to know the exact destination, but you should have some idea which way you’re heading.
Maybe your direction is leadership. Maybe you want to own something, become an expert in your field, achieve greater financial independence or find work with more meaning. Perhaps you want to move from execution into strategy or build a career at the intersection of two fields that interest you.
That’s enough to begin making better decisions.
A direction gives you something to move toward without pretending you can predict the future.
3. Work Backward, but Not All the Way From 2037
Traditional career advice often tells us to envision exactly where we want to be in 10 years and work backward from there.
Keep the useful part. Lose the rigidity.
Think three years ahead instead. What would meaningful progress look like? Maybe you want to manage people, own a budget, increase your compensation, change industries, build expertise in AI, strengthen your professional network, launch a business or serve on a board.
Then bring it even closer: What would need to happen in the next 12 months to move you in that direction?
Now you’ve turned a distant ambition into something actionable.
4. Build Skills That Create Options
The old career model rewarded expertise in a particular job. The modern career requires something more: adaptability.
Technical skills matter, but so do the capabilities that travel with you. Communication, leadership, judgment, financial fluency, problem-solving, negotiation, relationship-building, AI fluency, data literacy and the ability to learn quickly and lead through change can serve you across roles and industries.
Think of these as career assets.
Your employer may change. Your industry may change. Your title almost certainly will.
The assets travel with you.
5. Get Closer to How the Business Works
If you want greater responsibility, learn more than your own job.
How does your organization make money? Who are its customers? What drives profitability? What are the biggest costs? What threatens the business? What does leadership care about? Where is the industry heading, and what’s changing because of technology?
The more senior you become, the less your value comes from being excellent at one narrow function. You’re increasingly expected to understand how your decisions affect the larger organization.
Start learning that before someone gives you the title.
6. Stop Waiting for Someone to Decide You’re Ready
Women can spend an extraordinary amount of time preparing. One more certification. One more year. One more project. One more credential. Then I’ll be ready.
Preparation is useful. Perpetual preparation isn’t.
Sometimes the next step requires raising your hand before you feel completely qualified. Ask for the assignment. Apply for the role. Pitch the idea. Request the introduction. Tell your manager what you want next.
There is no career fairy quietly monitoring your performance and waiting for precisely the right moment to reward you.
Make your ambitions visible.
7. Find Sponsors, Not Just Mentors
Mentors are valuable. They advise you, challenge you and help you see things differently.
Sponsors do something else. They talk about you when you’re not in the room. They recommend you, put your name forward, connect you with opportunities and say, “She’s ready.”
You need relationships with people who know your work well enough to advocate for you. That doesn’t happen by collecting LinkedIn connections. It happens through trust, performance and real relationships built over time.
Your career isn’t built only on what you know. It’s also shaped by who knows what you’re capable of.
8. Take the Assignment That Stretches You
Some of the most important career moves won’t look like promotions.
It may be the messy project, the new market, the turnaround, the difficult client or the cross-functional initiative. It could be the assignment nobody quite knows how to do or the first opportunity you get to present to senior leadership.
These experiences expand your range.
Instead of only asking, “Does this come with a better title?” ask, “What will I know how to do afterward that I can’t do now?”
That’s career growth, too.
9. Learn Before You Enroll
Taking a course or earning another credential can absolutely advance your career. But don’t collect credentials without knowing why.
Before paying for another degree, certificate or program, ask what specific capability you’re trying to build. Does your industry value the credential? Could you learn the skill another way? Will it increase your opportunities or earning potential? Will your employer help pay for it? Is there a faster or less expensive route?
Education can be an extraordinary investment. But the goal isn’t more letters after your name.
The goal is more capability.
10. Treat a Side Project as an Experiment
A side hustle isn’t mandatory, and you do not need to monetize every hobby.
But sometimes a project outside your primary job can teach you something your current role can’t. Write. Consult. Teach. Volunteer. Join a nonprofit board or committee. Build something. Experiment with an idea. Help a small organization solve a problem.
A side project allows you to test a possible future without immediately abandoning your present.
You may discover a business, a new skill or an entirely different career. You may also discover that the thing you dreamed about doing full-time is considerably more enjoyable as a hobby.
That’s useful information, too.
11. Don’t Chase Every Promotion
Here’s where some traditional career advice deserves an update: Not every promotion moves you forward.
Sometimes a bigger title gives you more money but no new skills. More responsibility but no authority. A terrible manager. A role that pulls you away from the work you actually want. A lifestyle you don’t want. A prestigious detour.
Before automatically saying yes, ask what the opportunity gives you besides a title. Does it offer more money, scope, visibility, leadership experience, P&L responsibility, new expertise or access to better opportunities?
A promotion should move you somewhere you actually want to go.
12. Know When Moving Sideways Is Moving Forward
Careers aren’t always ladders anymore. Sometimes the smartest move is sideways.
A lateral role can give you experience in a new function. A smaller company can give you much greater responsibility. A lower title can put you in a faster-growing industry. A temporary step back can create room for a major reinvention.
Don’t evaluate every career decision by whether the title got bigger.
Ask whether your options got bigger.
That’s often the better measure.
13. Review Your Career Once a Year
Instead of creating a 10-year plan and trying to obediently execute it, conduct an annual career review.
Look at what you learned and accomplished over the past year. What increased your value? What drained you? What kind of work energized you? What relationships did you build? Has your compensation kept pace with your contribution? What skills are you missing? What opportunity would you like next?
And then ask the question that matters most: Do I still want the future I’ve been working toward?
You’re allowed to change your mind.
14. Keep a “Career Receipts” File
Don’t wait until you’re applying for a job or negotiating compensation to reconstruct everything you’ve accomplished.
Keep track as you go. Record revenue you’ve generated, money you’ve saved, projects you’ve led, teams you’ve developed and problems you’ve solved. Save positive feedback, awards, presentations, new responsibilities, measurable outcomes, important introductions and skills you’ve acquired.
It makes résumé updates easier, performance reviews better and compensation conversations stronger.
And on the inevitable day when you’re wondering whether you’ve accomplished anything at all, it’s useful evidence that you have.
15. Pay Attention to What Keeps Pulling You
Careers leave clues.
Notice the assignment you always volunteer for, the subject you keep reading about or the person whose job makes you think, I’d love to do that. Pay attention to the part of your current role you’d happily do more of and the thing colleagues consistently ask you for help with.
Don’t dismiss those signals simply because they weren’t part of the original plan.
Your next chapter may already be trying to get your attention.
What If You Have Absolutely No Idea?
Then don’t force a 10-year answer.
Run smaller experiments. Talk to people whose careers interest you. Take the class. Volunteer for the project. Shadow someone. Attend the event. Ask for the informational interview. Try something.
Career clarity doesn’t always come from sitting alone and thinking harder. Sometimes it comes from doing something and noticing how it feels.
You don’t have to see the entire road. You need enough information to choose the next turn.
Pink POV
We’re all for ambition. Write down the big dream. Picture the corner office. Imagine the company you’ll build. Think about the woman you’d like to become.
Then hold the plan loosely.
Because some of the best things that happen in a career were never on the original spreadsheet.
Build skills and relationships. Raise your hand. Know your value. Stay curious. Take the interesting assignment. Change direction when the evidence tells you to. And once a year, ask yourself whether you’re still climbing toward something you actually want.
You don’t need to know exactly where you’ll be in 10 years.
You need to make sure the woman you become along the way has plenty of choices when she gets there.
