Low unemployment and rising wages for skilled labor have put educated workers in the driver's seat of their careers. With conditions so positive, why settle for a miserable work life? Consider making these New Year's resolutions for your career:

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Keep an "I'm fabulous file"

Nothing spells success like a positive track record. Employment experts recommend keeping a file of accomplishments to trot out when annual reviews come around.

"You've got to toot your own horn," says Jennifer Sullivan, a spokeswoman for Careerbuilder.com. "Quantify those results whenever possible. And then talk about when you are going to be moving up."

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Get yourself a rabbi and a mole

We're not talking religion or zoology. Find a company veteran or a colleague of a higher pay grade in which to confide your frustrations and confusion. Like a person of the cloth, they can paint the bigger picture for you, and give you the inside dish on your situation. And if the relationship is tight enough, there's little risk that what you say will get out.

Finding a mole can be harder. But developing an internal source with access to high-level information will get you tipped off to what's coming to your department or team, and let you know who and what is in or out of favor. Knowledge is power. Being able to anticipate changes will give you a competitive advantage.

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Work to live

Building a better balance between home life and work life came out as the top resolution of employees surveyed by Talent2, a human resources outsourcing firm based in Sydney, Australia. (The least popular resolution: freezing out a painfully annoying colleague - 2.1 percent)

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Use your Rolodex

Building a network of contacts — and investing in your relationships with them — opens up doors when you need it most. Keep in regular touch with former vendors, customers, colleagues, and bosses. If you have trouble remembering to stay in touch, use a calendar to remind you to drop a line. A quick e-mail once a quarter can do the trick. Services like LinkedIn, an online social networking site for workers, can build connections to the people your classmates and colleagues know. Having a good reference at, or a referral to, an organization can give you the inside edge in a job applications.

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Get the roadmap

Employees may be in the driver's seat, but it still helps to know where your manager sees you heading. A biweekly or even weekly meeting with your boss to discuss your progress isn't inappropriate. These conversations can help bring up the subjects of promotions and raises without making it seem like you're demanding an unwarranted boost.

"Really it's not just a conversation of, I want a promotion," Careerbuilder.com's Sullivan says. "It's a legitimate request to sit down with a supervisor (and ask) can you give me a timeline, or where you may see me in the next couple of years. What are the things that I need to do? What are skills that I need to acquire, or challenges that I need to take on?"

A survey showed that 81 percent of employers plan to increase salaries next year, with nearly one in five planning a 5 percent boost, Sullivan says. And nearly half said they are planning to raise initial salaries to new employees. Didn't get the raise you wanted? Instead of demanding it now, request a review in six months and start building a "fabulous file" for that meeting.

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Stop whining

It's a rookie mistake you don't often catch the most successful people doing: complaining openly about a previous employer or a current co-worker.

"That can really come back to bite you," says Sullivan.

Gossiping makes it less likely that your colleagues will entrust you with inside information. After you badmouthing a boss, the news can quickly spread. Dish it at your own peril.

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asap contributor Daniel Sorid is a business reporter for the AP in New York.

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