Many people look to the start of a new year as a chance for renewal. This year especially, we could all use a little inspiration, a blank canvas on which to paint our future. Two major trends right now are (1) for people to want to turn a blind eye to prior year, keeping it in the rearview mirror and never looking back, or (2) for people to feel too afraid to set a year-long resolution, since the future is uncertain (and we all know how our 2020 resolutions fared). But the year behind doesn’t have to be completely erased, and our view of the future doesn’t need to be so bleak. Let’s explore a few ways to view 2020 positively and to make resolutions for 2021 that are attainable and inspiring.
So, about last year…
It may be tempting to pretend 2020 is gone and to call it a wash in terms of development or goal-achieving, but that might only be appealing because you haven’t yet been able to positively reframe 2020 in a constructive manner. To think more optimistically about the past, something many of us forget to do as we move forward at full steam, we need to first reflect on it as objectively as possible. Looking at the facts, what got done? What did you do this year? You don’t need to compare what happened with what you thought would happen – just look at the outcomes of the year. Starting here will help you see that you most likely achieved more than you thought.
For example, at my job as the head of a brand team at an ad tech company, I had to pivot my marketing strategy and provide a different type of content than we had originally planned. I had strategies, plans, and OKRs set around running events, but our first event (March Madness) got postponed because of the onset of COVID, and the rest was history. We could have looked at that as a failure, but I don’t, because a) we have everything planned for whenever events start back up again, b) I was able to use the context of event planning to train a new team member, who can now look back at the experience as an exercise to build her knowledge rather than a lost cause, and c) what happened instead was even better – we started providing robust content packages each week to our sales team, culminating in a presentation where we walked through every single asset, its use, and its intended impact on our target audience. This was a huge hit across the board and led to an improved relationship across departments, more relevant thought leadership content, and new ideas that sparked better marketing tactics which, in the end, yielded better results than we had forecasted. As you can see, if we just measured our success by looking at our yearly goals, we didn’t run events, so that would mean we failed at that goal; but because are looking instead at what we DID achieve, we are able to acknowledge what great strides we made and the impact they yielded that none of us could have guessed.
It is also important to note that no response is too small to include in your “what I achieved” list for 2020. Just getting by is good enough. If your one achievement is that you made it through the year, then that is a substantial enough achievement by any means. It was an incredibly challenging year, and simply waking up each day and finding the positivity to move forward is a feat in and of itself. Anything you are able to recognize on top of that is a bonus.
Now, where did I leave that crystal ball?
Let’s start at the beginning – a very good place to start: You’ve never been able to see into the future (I hope I’m not crushing any dreams by admitting that). This year is no different in that regard. But why does it feel different?
We have been plagued by uncertainty over the last year. At the start of 2020, you may have set resolutions for the year. By March, they might have been a moot point. Maybe it is in your nature to give the benefit of the doubt, so maybe you hoped that by summer, things would be back to normal. Nope. Maybe you hoped that you would be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with your family. Didn’t happen. Maybe you had planned a getaway with your friends to ring in the new year. Cancelled. Everywhere you turned, your hopes might have been “negatively punished” in the behavioral psychology sense – as laid forth by B. F. Skinner, negative punishment occurs when something good is taken away to reduce an unwanted behavior. For example, we weren’t able to hug our families (removal of a positively viewed stimulus) in the hopes that the spread of COVID would be reduced (reduction of the connected behavior). As we dealt with the hope of positive events continually being taken from us, we may have lost hope for positive events to occur in the future – or at least we stopped expecting these events to occur. It is almost as though the Coronavirus outbreak has conditioned us to be afraid to plan ahead. But just as it would be dangerous in business to avoid forecasting, we would be leaving opportunity on the table if we stalled progress in our personal lives. If we are able, we should still do ourselves a favor and put something positive on the horizon to work towards – even if it’s just for the next 24 hours.
As such, if you don’t feel comfortable crafting year-long goals in 2021, then you don’t have to. But instead of neglecting goal-setting altogether, consider shorter term aspirations. Shorter time frames may feel less risky and more attainable, which will improve the optimism we will have about achieving them. The tradition of setting resolutions is a practice that, when deconstructed, essentially involves striving to create positive habits or do something good for ourselves, improving our lives in some way. Thus, to answer the questions swirling around your head, yes, a resolution can be as simple as a positive concept we are resolving to fulfill.
You should do what works best for you – always – but here are some ideas:
Can you set a goal for the month?
Maybe an intention for the week?
Maybe a frame of mind for the day?
Wake up in the morning and find a mantra that you can repeat, doodle on your notebooks, put on a Post-It by your computer monitor
Think of one word you’d like to capture or embody that day – positivity, acceptance, calm, bravery
Find a quote that ignites your soul – or even just makes you slightly less annoyed with your job
Choose a task you’d like to do more of, and break it down into digestible bites (if you want to be more organized, your milestones might be to make a to-do list each day this week, clean up your inbox or office next week, or take more effective notes in work meetings next month)
There are many ways we can challenge ourselves to be just a little bit better than yesterday, and sometimes these are the practices we need to do in order to make our lives just a little bit better. It’s not necessarily about being your ideal version of yourself tomorrow – it’s about taking baby steps along the way until you arrive at a place where you are happy and at peace. Don’t feel pressured to carve out lofty goals for the year ahead, out of fear of having to face failure when the environment causes us to pivot time and time again; break down your resolutions into small intentions that shift your mindset. If you don’t have the energy to do anything more than to get through the day, then that’s a good enough goal – find a word to repeat or a frame of mind you’d like to embody or a quote that inspires you, and feel happy with wherever you are at the end of the day.
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