The Elite Edge: 🧭 The Reset: How to Close 2025 Strong — and Step Into 2026 With Leverage
Doing The Research For You.
Deepali Vyas
December 29, 2025
In partnership with
Elite Edge | Week 67
🧭 The Reset: How to Close 2025 Strong — and Step Into 2026 With Leverage
This is the final Elite Edge of the year.
Next week, calendars flip.
Titles don’t magically change.
But positioning does.
Before we talk about 2026, we need to close 2025 the right way — with clarity, reflection, and a few strategic conversations that can materially change your trajectory.
🧠 THE PROMPT THAT HELPED ME CLOSE 2025
I want to leave you with one prompt — not as a productivity hack, but as a career reset ritual.
Use it with ChatGPT.
Use it in a journal.
Use it with a coach.
Just don’t skip it.
“Give me a summary of what you learned about me this year — include my wildest questions, the patterns and growth you saw in our conversations, and a prediction for my next year.”
Why this matters:
It surfaces patterns you were too close to see
It shows you how you actually showed up — not how you intended to
It gives you a forward-looking lens instead of a backward spiral
Clarity compounds when you pause long enough to see the pattern.
This is how you close a year with intention — not exhaustion.
💼 HOW TO APPROACH YOUR PERFORMANCE REVIEW (SCRIPTS YOU CAN USE)
Most people treat performance reviews like a report card.
A players treat them like a positioning meeting.
Script #1: Reframing the Conversation
“I’d love to frame this conversation around impact and trajectory — not just tasks completed. I want to make sure we’re aligned on where I’ve created the most value and how that positions me for what’s next.”
Why this works:
You’re signaling maturity, ownership, and forward thinking — not defensiveness.
Script #2: When You Want to Highlight Impact (Not Effort)
“One thing I’m proud of this year is how I handled ambiguity — especially around [project/problem]. I’d love your perspective on where you’ve seen that make the biggest difference.”
Why this works:
You’re guiding them to evaluate judgment, not busyness.
Script #3: When Feedback Is Vague
“That’s helpful. Can we anchor that feedback to a specific moment or decision so I can understand how to apply it going forward?”
Why this works:
It turns soft feedback into something actionable — and shows coachability without submission.
💰 BONUS & COMPENSATION CONVERSATIONS (WITHOUT CRINGE)
If your bonus or raise is under discussion, your posture matters more than your pitch.
Script #4: Anchoring to Value, Not Need
“I want to talk about compensation in the context of scope and impact. Over the past year, my role expanded in [specific ways], and I’d like to align that with how the business is valuing this work.”
Why this works:
You’re tying money to business outcomes, not personal circumstances.
Script #5: If Budget Pushback Comes Up
“I understand budget constraints. If compensation movement isn’t possible right now, I’d love to discuss what future alignment looks like — timing, scope, or other levers we can plan around.”
Why this works:
You stay strategic instead of reactive — and keep leverage alive.
Script #6: When You’re Being Undervalued
“I want to be transparent — I’m committed to doing high-impact work here, and I also want to ensure my growth and contributions are recognized appropriately. How do you see that path unfolding?”
Why this works:
It’s calm, confident, and impossible to dismiss without revealing something important.
🎓 QUICK REMINDER BEFORE THE YEAR CLOSES
If you’ve been meaning to attend one of my sessions — this is it.
👉 Tuesday, December 30th at 7pm EST
This is the final webinar of 2025, and we’ll be:
Breaking down what actually mattered this year
Resetting your positioning for 2026
Translating insight into action (not overwhelm)
Sign Up Here: https://careergameplan.youcanbook.me
📅 January webinar dates will be shared soon, and they’ll go deeper — more tactical, more focused, more forward-looking.
Thank you to everyone who has already joined me this year and invested in themselves.
This community continues to show up with thoughtfulness and ambition — and I don’t take that lightly.
📚What I Read Week…
📰 Fortune: Scott Galloway on the Real Key to Getting Hired
In this Fortune piece, Scott Galloway reinforces a truth I’ve seen play out for decades inside hiring rooms:
The fastest way to land a role isn’t another application — it’s having an internal advocate. The key takeaways:
Being “good” isn’t enough — you need someone pulling for you
Jobs are filled through trust and relationships long before postings close
Visibility and social capital outperform credentials alone
This directly ties to everything we’ve talked about this year:
optionality, A-player economics, visibility, and leverage.
If you don’t have someone advocating for you internally, you’re competing at a disadvantage — no matter how strong your résumé is.
🎙️What I Listened to This Week… (Podcasts)
😂 Meme of the Week
💬 FINAL WORD
2025 asked a lot of you.
It asked you to adapt faster.
To rethink assumptions.
To hold steady while the rules shifted.
If you’re ending the year clearer than you started — that’s a win.
Don’t rush the reset.
Close the year with honesty.
Enter 2026 with leverage.
I’ll be right here in January — with more lives, more frameworks, and more truth about how careers actually work.
Until then: rest, reflect, and remember —
your career is not something that happens to you.
It’s something you build.
Until next year,
— Deepali Vyas
Your Elite Recruiter
Doing the research so you don’t have to.
💼 This Week’s Elite Job Drops 💼
💼 Exclusive Job Drops — Before They Hit the Market
These openings are under the radar — not on LinkedIn, not on job boards. I’m sharing them here first, straight from my insider network.
✨ ELITE RESOURCES ✨
Find out why 100K+ engineers read The Code twice a week
Staying behind on tech trends can be a career killer.
But let’s face it, no one has hours to spare every week trying to stay updated.
That’s why over 100,000 engineers at companies like Google, Meta, and Apple read The Code twice a week.
Here’s why it works:
No fluff, just signal – Learn the most important tech news delivered in just two short emails.
Supercharge your skills – Get access to top research papers and resources that give you an edge in the industry.
See the future first – Discover what’s next before it hits the mainstream, so you can lead, not follow.
As you walk into reviews, resets, or job conversations in January, remember this:
Your résumé and LinkedIn are not documents.
They are signals.
My Resume Fix, LinkedIn Overhaul, and Power Presence Package are live — built with my elite recruiting and coaching team to help you show up clearly, confidently, and competitively.
I know my personal calendar is limited — which is why I’ve expanded an elite coaching team, trained in the same frameworks and hiring realities you see in this newsletter.
👉 All services + coaching info:
https://www.deepalivyas.com/products
👉 To learn more about concierge coaching or receive the community discount, email: hello@vyas-media.com
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Feedback is a Gift
I would love to know what you thought of this newsletter and any feedback you have for me. Do you have a favorite part? Wish I would add something? Felt confused? Please reply and share your thoughts!