Goodbye 2021, Hello 2022!

The beginning of a new year is just around the corner and I have one question I need to ask… “Are you and your team ready for what’s ahead?” This question opens the door for uncertainty, anxiety, and a huge heaping of the unknown for a lot of people in the world. Don’t get overwhelmed. If you take things step by step and are sure to learn from your past, everything will be fine!

Truth is, none of us can plan for what 2022 will bring. For example, how many times have you heard about your friend who plans on rejoining a gym and getting back in shape in the new year? Three months go by, it’s April, and suddenly, your “gym rat” friend is back to their old habits. They nixed the protein shakes and free weight routine to become a reborn couch potato. Others swear they’ll stop drinking as much or plan to take less trips to Chipotle or the McDonald’s drive thru (that’s my personal guilty pleasure). Plan all you want. Plan five years from now or even five days from now. Either way, you’ll most likely have an unplanned bump in the road.

Before you imagine and prepare for what the future holds, you and your team have to learn to appreciate the past and what it has given you. That means doing two things: 

One: Assess your business in 2021. This assessment can be both positive and negative but, overall, it should go something like this:

• “Did you accomplish everything you planned in 2021?” If the answer is yes (in most cases it won’t be), congrats! If the answer is no, or somewhere in-between, why is that? Reviewing the past gives you time to acknowledge what has worked and what led you in the wrong direction.
• “Do you have a team member that’s an obvious weak link?”
• “Were you unorganized or bad at communicating, leading to mistakes at work?”

Take a few minutes to make a bulleted list of your achievements and your weaknesses. Hang the list somewhere in your office or workplace as a reminder to embrace your past, instead of straying away from it. Follow this and your team will be stronger and better in 2022.

Two: Reflect on your passion and what fueled you throughout 2021. Passion kick-starts creativity. Without it, work becomes slow and effort from your teammates reaches an all-time low. I challenge you to find something that motivates you and gets you out of bed each morning. Passion and energy are contagious, so when you have it, it spreads to your teammates and creates an overall healthier and happier environment. Finding passion at work is easier said than done. If you’re unhappy with your current situation, steer your career in a new direction in 2022.

You owe it to your team to be the best version of yourself every day, but they also owe that to you. The start of a new year means you can start over again remembering your past successes and failures. Always keep your why in mind.

 Best of luck in 2022.

 Cheers!

 -CLC