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If this is the year you’re serious about climbing the racks at work, you’ve got to have a gameplan—one that helps you slay the competition, grab the spotlight, and dazzle the head honcho. “Getting promoted doesn’t happen overnight,” says Russell Wild, author of Career Smarts (Clear Light, 1999). “You have to prove your value—repeatedly—to impress the pants off your boss.” Don’t worry. We’ve boiled down your rise-to-fame campaign to the essential moves you need to make each quarter. Study them, set them in motion, and you’ll be the office star in twelve months or less.

Month 1: ID Your Mission
To begin blazing your professional trail, you need to nail down exactly what your dream position is, then tailor your talents to the part. To do that:

Shop around. Do you want the job of your immediate supervisor? How about a post in another department? If you’re still fairly low in the totem pole, you’ll have to dig around before deciding. “Nicely ask several higher-ups for a summary of what they do and what skills are need to hold their job,” says Robin Ryan, author of 60 Seconds and You’re Hired! (Penguin, 2000). “Get a glimpse of your options, then set your sights on a position that suits your interests.” And if no single job screams out to you? Carve out your own spot on staff.

Work wise. Once you have a firm idea of the position you cover, start boning up on the specifics you need to nab it. “Slaving away like a demon won’t get you anywhere if you’re not concentrating on the right areas,” warns Wild. So pay attention to what your boss rewards the most. Is it a Palm full of clients? Anal-retentive attention to deadlines? Killer schmoozing skills? Knowing where to focus your energy makes the difference between working smart and just wasting time working your ass off.

Month 3: Get the Ball Rolling
With your career goal crystallized and a few months of attention-getting hardwork under your belt, it’s not time to clue your boss in to your plan to take the professional world by storm. The next step:

Have a chat with the Big Cheese. Get the no-bull lowdown on what your superior expects and values from her staff—something your coworkers (a.k.a. the competition) are left blindly guessing at. It’s a bold move. But that’s precisely the point. Your boss will see you as an ambitious, take-action employee—and most important, she’ll have her eye on you from then on.

“Schedule a few minutes and say, ‘I’d like to grow here, what do you recommend I do?’” says Lona O’Conner, author of Top Ten Dumb Career Mistakes…and How to Avoid Them (VGM Career Horizons, 1999). “And take good notes.” The worst thing you can do is ask her advice, then not follow it because you were too nervous to remember what she said. “The next day, send her a short memo thanking her for her time,” says O’Conner. “And mention something specific that came out of your meeting.”

Work with your boss’s grain. You have the boss’s attention, so keep your relationship running smoothly by getting in sync with her style. If she’s a morning person, show up early to work perkier than the hosts of Breakfast—even if it kills you. If she’s a meeting lover, muster up your nerve at the conference table. If she thinks a Palm Pilot is the greatest office gadget, get one. And pay attention to her verbal pet peeves. If, for instance, saying “I don’t know, but…” makes your superior seethe, strike it and replace with “I’ll find out.” Adapting to her speech and work habits will help you communicate with her more effectively.

Month 6: Launch Your Impress-athon
You’ve made a big promotion commotion, so you need to back up your big mouth. Now’s the time to:

Blow your boss away. Pitch an idea that’ll knock your boss’s sock off. “But make sure it’s something you can handle,” warns O’Conner. The trick: Consider your strengths—organizing, winning over clients, troubleshooting—and showcase that talent. “Once you’re given the green light, underpromise and overdeliver,” says Talane Miedaner, author of Coach Yourself to Success (NTC/Contemporary Publishing, 2000). “Everything takes twice as long as you think it will. Building in a time cushion will have your boss believing that you’re turning assignments in early.”

And keep in mind that your ultimate goal is to bliss out the big kahuna. “People get promoted when they were hired to do five duties and they’re doing seventeen,” says Ryan. Gretchen, 27, a mortgage broker, volunteered for the hellacious job of setting up brokerage transactions online—a duty that had other employees ducking under their desk every time the boss walked by. But that short period of pulling her hair out helped Gretchen blow by her coworkers.

Be a showgirl. You could be accomplishing more than Martha Stewart on a sugar rush, but it won’t get you anywhere unless you claim credit for it. So send your boss regular status reports. “If you don’t fill your superiors in on your progress, no one else is going to do it for you,” says Marci, a 25-year-old interior designer who was promoted three times in a year after initiating regular update meetings with her manager.

One sneaky way to squeeze extra juice from a great gig: “Stand up in a meeting and say, ‘I’d like to acknowledge Rebecca for helping me on the marketing project. We achieved a 10 percent sales increase,’” advises Miedaner. You’ll look managerial and generous while touting your own work.

Some other sly standout maneuvers: Adopt signatures to stamp your work. Neon orange Post-Its will clearly mark those brilliant notations as your own and uncommon font (try Futura) will let everyone know exactly who came up with that clever idea.

Month 9: Play the Field
To be a serious Go girl, you have to reach beyond your cubicle confines to gain knowledge and broaden your professional perspective—plus think ahead by tracking your accomplishments. Here’s how:

Be a professional slut. The more you get around and meet people in your field, the bigger your network to call upon for information, contacts, and advice will be. Rub shoulders and attend industry parties and events—you’ll never know everything, but if you surround yourself with enough people who do, you’ll become a huge asset to your boss, says Adelle Scheele, Ph.D., author of Skills for Success (Ballantine Books, 1996). “Plus, it’ll keep you up-to-date on business news and trends.” And meet with headhunters. Yes, you’re loyal to your company, but these professional work watchers can give you the scoop on what’s happening in your field overall.

Start tallying your scorecard. By now, you’ve transformed loser projects into winners, taken on two dozen new responsibilities, and saved the company a bundle, thanks to your clever idea to switch office-supply vendors. Your boss is…oblivious. Sure, she reads your reports, but she’s too concerned with her own agenda to keep track of yours. So, in a memo, add up all of your success so far this year: clients you’ve brought in, extra duties you’ve taken on, idea’s you’ve pitched, feedback you’ve received. “Numbers matters most, so include money you’ve earned and saved the company in bulleted points,” says Wild. Give your self evaluation to your boss at least two weeks before your review. Okay, now you can start preparing for the final promotion push.

Month 12: Seal the Deal
You’ve done a bang-up job, but until you actually hear the word promotion, there’s still work to do. That means you have to:

Ace the big meeting. “This is the point when people often wrongly assume they’ve nailed the gig,” says Ryan, “so they don’t prepare properly, flub their review, and end up disappointed.”

Instead of gloating about what you’ve done, impress her with plans for the future. You’ve already turned in your outline of accomplishments. So spend some time studying trade magazines and asking around for insight, then present her with your strategies for handling a new position. If she claims the budget won’t allow for your getting a promotion right now, don’t toss on the towel immediately. Say you’ll take a title change and a review in six to nine months.

Make mad money. Yes! You go the promotion. Now it’s time to talk actual pesos. Beforehand, surf salary-savvy Web sites to find out the industry average for the position. You need to clue into how much coinage you can expect to get. You should also research human resources guidelines on yearly raises and promotion increase so you know what’s realistic within your company. With all this info in mind, pinpoint a fair salary. But let your boss start the bidding. You don’t want to lowball yourself. If she tosses you peanuts, say in a very neutral language, “I’m looking for something more in the ballpark of…”

And if the chief won’t cough up the dough or the promotion? You could negotiate more vacation time, a bigger bonus, or use of a company car. But if the answer is still no, without an explanation and despite your stellar performance, it’s time to move on. The good news is that right now is a great time to be looking for a job. There are plenty of companies itching to give a deserving star like you center stage.