It’s here, the dawn of 2021.
(That line, btw, totally got me humming to Age of Aquarius… A song that has quite relevant lines for us, like “Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, the sunshine in”)
But I digress.
It’s the dawn of 2021, and like the start of many new years, we start thinking about renewal for our bodies, our families, and our careers.
There’s a lot of pushback against New Year Resolutions.
But I wanted to share 5 “resolutions” I can get behind for you and your career.
Because these are 5 ways of showing up that aren’t some lofty career goal.
They’re simple, straightforward ways to show up more powerfully.
They’re ways that’ll lead to you feeling good about your leadership presence.
They’re ways that’ll get you noticed, sponsored and promoted in 2021.
1. Observe and take control of your energy
This year has been so hard that it’s easy to slide into protective mode, or “just getting by” mode.
And that can be an important energy too.
But don’t let it happen passively. Instead, observe yourself and how you’re showing up.
Ask yourself, is your energy congruent with how you want to show up? Does it match the big goals you have?
Practice taking control of that energy to show up more powerfully.
2. Connect your day-to-day work with your core values
According to the Oxford Dictionary, values are a person’s principles or standards of behavior.
They are your judgement of what’s important in life.
And if you’re feeling grumpy or uninspired by your day-to-day work, it’s like a flashing red light that you’ve disconnected from your core values.
Make some time to identify your core values.
Then connect them to your day-to-day activities.
Remember why you’re doing the work that you’re doing.
3. Let go of impostor thoughts
If “Impostor Syndrome” thoughts have become commonplace, let 2021 be the year that you learn how to purge them.
Remind yourself that an impostor thought is simply your brain’s way of protecting you.
Your brain interprets social or emotional harm as though it was the same as physical harm. The result is that your brain sends you messages to warn you that you might be in a dangerous situation.
So this year, practice purging those thoughts - because they’re simply too exhausting to let them lie around.
4. Develop a personal success formula
It’s critical to know what impacts your energy to create your personal success formula.
Pay attention to the circumstances around you.
What situations, things or people drain your energy? Which ones boost your energy?
Make a list of the biggest drains & boosts to your energy.
Now, what can you do to have more of the boost and less of the drain?
That’s your personal success formula - it’s different for everyone, and oh-so-important to figure it out.
5. Use your strengths deliberately every day
The strengths philosophy is that you are most successful when you operate from your natural strengths.
What I’ve found with working with my clients, is that most people don’t even realize their talents ARE talents. They often think of the TALENT as being a character trait.
What’s interesting is when you think of it as being just part of your personality, you’re taking your talents for granted.
And when you take them for granted, you’re not growing them.
By focusing on your strengths and using them deliberately every day, you’re going to develop and hone those natural strengths.
And when you do that, you’ll be ten times as powerful with half the effort - I pinky promise it’s true.
Final Thoughts
As much as we've gone through in 2020, I know that we can still dream forward into 2021.
We can still have ambition, and we can show up powerfully.
I believe in you because you are capable of amazing things.
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