How to Start the New Year with a Fresh Attitude
/
2022. We’re all getting ready to turn the calendar to a new year. But while a new year usually makes us think about renewal, healing, and a chance to start fresh, this moment feels different.
After two years of the pandemic and so much change, people are tired and overwhelmed. The radical changes at work that were just starting to seep in a few years ago have fully arrived. If you’re over 45, work probably feels radically different now than it did when you were starting out.
Talent comes into their roles with different expectations. Corporate culture has changed incredibly fast. It might feel unclear how you’re supposed to manage people anymore. Not to mention, the core businesses we’re all working in continue to be rocked by disruption from the pandemic, manufacturing challenges, and technology disruption.
Oh, and! New variants like Omicorn make us wonder whether we’re headed back into tough days of pandemic response.
As a result of all this disruption, we’re hearing common questions from people in our orbit:
How do we deal with this new normal? How do we keep a productive attitude in the midst of uncertainty?
We hear you. We know that this long moment of change feels overwhelming and confusing. To help you take the first step toward gracefully adapting, we’ve developed 3 ways you could approach your work in 2022 with a slightly different spin.
1. Understand yourself first.
If you’ve been reading our blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that we’re bullish on the idea of introspection. In fact, we believe introspection is the #1 skill that sets top performers apart from the rest.
While we all should seek regular 360-degree feedback (from managers, peers, employees, partners, and customers), introspection is the art of honest self-reflection.
When we take the time to reflect and understand our own impulses, we’ll be able to more calmly and clearly approach big change, disruption, and our relationships.
Introspection can transform partnerships, personal growth, and your own career journey.
To get started practicing introspection, we suggest:
Set aside time and find a quiet place to think.
List the hard skills and soft skills you need to excel in your current job. Then, think about skills you’ll need in future roles.
Prioritize the top 2 or 3 areas of growth.
Take an honest self-assessment about your strengths you can play up, and any gaps you need to address.
Divide your list and create a manageable plan.
2. Then, understand your team.
Another theme we often write about is mutual empathy. Mutual empathy is all about meeting other people where they are -- expressing what you want and need, and truly understanding what other people want and need.
When you seek to understand other people’s goals, limitations, concerns, and needs, you can ask for the same in return. Working together with everything on the table leads to more aligned teams who are more prepared to innovate, be creative, and achieve the outcomes they all want.
We know that the best teams know and understand each other. But knowing each other has gotten a lot harder when we’re all just little boxes floating on a Zoom screen.
To get started building your mutual empathy muscles, ask yourself these questions:
What is your team going through?
What are they excited about?
What is overwhelming them now?
How could you all come together to build each other up and strengthen your chances of shared success?
Which co-worker relationship do you need to strengthen? (And when will you schedule that conversation?)
3. Get in the right mindset.
It’s no secret that we’re all swimming in change and disruption. We can’t change that, but we can decide how we react.
Are you going to throw your hands up and grumble your way through 2022 or are you going to embrace the change and find a new way to thrive?
Are you going to resist change or will you look for the potential upside?
Will you be a cynic or a trailblazer?
These choices are yours, and your mindset will largely determine how you feel and how you perform in the year to come.
Which takes us right back to introspection. Ask yourself these questions to ensure you’re off to a fresh start when you flip your calendar to January:
What do I need to do to build my brand as a change agent?
Am I generally motivated about starting my work day? If not, what do I need to change?
Do I drain energy from others or energize others?
How can I grow my skill set, or identify teammates who can fill in the gaps?
Do I spend enough time understanding where the trends in my industry are going?
Change isn’t easy. Watching work transform around isn’t easy. Working in a pandemic is something none of us signed up for. But we’re here, and it’s up to each of us to create a future we’re excited about and engaged in.