Why My New Year’s Resolution for 2020 is to Embrace the Uncertainty
In my monthly newsletter for December, I encouraged readers to set aside some time during the craziness of the holidays and do two things to help with their business and professional goals:
1) Reflect back on 2019, celebrating your accomplishments and acknowledging how and where they could have done better.
2) Transform those reflections into valuable lessons learned to make them even more triumphant in 2020 and beyond.
Before leaving on my holiday vacation, I took my own advice.
Reflecting back on 2019, my biggest accomplishment was helping 16 consulting clients and more than 75 workshop attendees gain clarity and momentum to manage and grow their businesses and make their work more gratifying. I invested in continuing education, getting certified as a DISC coach and completing a course on facilitating organizational change. I co-invented a new game to teach management and collaboration skills.
I tried several different social media strategies, some of which were total busts (I’m so not cut out for Facebook groups!). I struggled through a summer course on sales strategies, which really highlighted the tension between my personal values and the realities of running a profitable business. I didn’t refine or update my business plan or craft the perfect 15-second pitch, two goals I set for myself at the start of 2019.
2019 was full of ups and downs, new challenges and recurring frustrations. But reflecting back on it all led me to a very powerful realization:
My professional path is still a work in progress. It’s perfectly okay that I don’t have a 10-year, 5-year, or even 3-year master plan for my business, because I’m 100% sure I’m heading in a right direction.
This may not sound like earth shattering news, but for someone who wishes the world was neatly organized with clear answers to every problem, this is monumental.
Did you notice how I said I’m heading in “A right direction” as opposed to “THE right direction”? Our professional journeys are not like the board games we played as kids, with a direct, defined path and one clear way to win. In fact, if we do take the board game approach and follow the path already laid out, there’s a good chance we’ll end up in a place we never really wanted to go. We succeed by finding a balance between what we are good at, what we like to do, and what needs to be done.
So my new year’s resolution for 2020 is to stop worry about that singular long term business goal. I’m going to approach my professional journey like a scavenger hunt, seeing each triumph and defeat, a-ha moment and gut reaction like bread crumbs. I may not know the where I’ll end up, but at least I know all decisions will be made based on my lived experience and true values.
What resolutions did you make?
in Thingvellir National Park, Iceland
