Two thousand twenty! 2020! Whew, what a year!
Are you good?! I’m good!
I took the time this week to reflect on this doozy of a year just like I do at the end of every year. Here are my top 5 lessons learned in 2020:
- If You Stay Ready You Don’t Have To Get Ready
I am a natural prepper but what has been driven home for me this year is the need to be ready in case tragedy strikes or awesome opportunities arise. This applies to both our personal lives and our professional lives. Many were scrambling to find toilet paper at the beginning of the quarantine and had to deplete the funds in their savings accounts after losing their jobs. Alternatively, others were able to secure new employment because they had a strong professional network and did not lose income because they had a successful side hustle. The 2020 poster child for “If you stay ready you don’t have to get ready” is DJ D-Nice and the launch of Club Quarantine.
2. 20/20 Vision Is A Gift
Let us not forget the good things that have happened this year. I assert that 2020 has given us an invaluable gift – the gift of 2020 is 20/20 vision. They say hindsight is 20/20 but 2020 has allowed us to reflect, reevaluate, and remove in the present. The quarantine (though difficult) has given us time to reflect on the things that matter most, decide the kind of life we want to live and with whom, and remove the people, places and things that no longer serve us.
3. Celebrate Your Victories
Before January 1, 2020, I decided that my word for this year is VICTORY! It just felt right!
I hear the sound of victory! Victory Is Mine! I Am Victorious!
When I made that declaration last year, little did I know just how perfectly my word choice would summarize this year. Twenty twenty rolled through with a fierceness and destruction unlike anything most of us have ever seen or experienced. If you have health, happiness, food, clothing, shelter, income, and ones you love and that love you – you are truly victorious! I am grateful for my victory! Celebrate your victories.
4. Show Up
I hosted a 30 day Career Acceleration Series on the Nicki Sanders Leadership Consulting Facebook page in January 2020. Visibility is a powerful career acceleration strategy. This year sent many of us into a tailspin and forced us to pivot in various ways. In order to succeed in 2020 you had to show up for yourself – you could not bury your head in the sand and hide when things got hard or scary.
- Show up to the virtual conference and share your expertise.
- Show up on the video call with the toddler sitting on your lap.
- Show up to the virtual coffee and pitch your idea.
We all had to remain visible in order to thrive in 2020.
5. Grant Yourself Grace
You may not have reached all the goals you set this year. You may have gained 10 pounds. You may have indulged in retail therapy more times than you want to admit. You may have binge watched more Netflix series than ever before. You may have spent more time in pajamas than pants. You know what? It’s all good! Whatever you did to persevere, it’s all good. You made it to the end of December and you deserve a pat on the back, a virtual hug and grace. It was a very tough year and you deserve your grace – the same grace that you have gifted to others.
Nicki Sanders, MSW, CEO, is a travel and cupcake lover with an aptitude for authentic connection and career design. She has an extensive background in developing and managing successful programs and leading high-functioning multi-disciplinary teams. She is an accomplished professor, coach, trainer, and group facilitator who has merged her Master of Social Work degree and over 20 years of diverse work experience into a thriving business. Nicki Sanders Leadership Consulting helps businesses recruit and retain the best employees and helps women in mid-level management design the careers of their dreams.
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