How to Be Unapologetically You in 2022

We make such a huge deal about the turning over of a new year. We count down eagerly as the ball drops in Times Square, hopeful that this new set of 365 days will be different than the last.

But…not much actually changes when the clock hits 12:00. It’s anticlimactic at best, and often overwhelming in the next few days, as we scramble to keep up with our resolutions in the midst of our continuing day-to-day work, family, and social calendars.

It’s not the new year itself that drives change — it’s us. So let’s take things into our own hands this year. Let’s be intentional about our goals in 2022.

We’ve seen practically every landscape shift in the past two years, whether it’s work culture, expectations at home, or what we owe to our communities. There’s no question that 2020 and 2021 have been tumultuous, but 2022 can be the year we take hold of culture’s forward momentum to claim our space and our needs.

2022 is your year to be unapologetically you.

Set your expectations.

Don’t do everything at once, and don’t expect yourself to do everything at once. Break down your resolutions into smaller goals, little moments that will help you continuously move forward down the path you seek.

It’s so easy to give up your New Year’s resolutions in the second week of January because they seem too big. There’s a reason you didn’t enact them mid-April — you were hoping to use the momentum of the new year to propel you into getting them done.

And you can use that momentum — but use it wisely. If your goal is to exercise more, don’t assume you’ll be running a 5K by February. If you’re looking to rise through the ranks at work, don’t despair when an offer letter doesn’t magically appear on your desk.

Set manageable, concrete goals for yourself over the course of the year. Break those down further into small, forward-moving steps to take. And, as I chatted with Mridu Parikh about in last week’s Ellevate Podcast, actually write them down on your calendar. Set aside time to take a fifteen-minute walk or connect with someone in your network you haven’t spoken to in two years.

And, of course, you have to follow through. And keep following through. Speaking of which…

Have someone to hold you accountable.

This is so, SO important when it comes to meeting your goals. No matter how self-motivated we are, sometimes it can feel like we’re our own worst enemy when times get tough.

Have a support group to cheer you on and check in on you at a regular cadence. For me, this is my Ellevate Squad; we meet weekly to share triumphs and struggles, but most importantly, to hold one another accountable to our goals.

Having a support group makes you feel like you’re part of something, that your goal is not yours alone, but everyone’s. You don’t have to be Atlas, carrying the weight of your world on your shoulders — you can share that burden with others, and help them carry their own worlds in return.

Get creative.

We’ve come through a time when we’ve had to be more resilient, which has meant creativity when problem-solving. Who would have thought I would be homeschooling while working from home? But I figured out how to make it work, as have so many people around the world these past two years. And that creativity will serve us well in 2022.

When you’re setting goals for yourself, don’t hold yourself back by assuming the only ways of doing things are what we’ve always done. There was a time when we couldn’t imagine working fully remote, but now we’ve been there, so we know it can work. Take that try-anything attitude and apply it to your plans for this year.

The clock is moving forward, whether we like it or not, so don’t be afraid to hijack that momentum for your own purposes. Claim space for yourself and make 2022 your own by setting realistic expectations, finding others to keep you accountable, and getting creative when the going gets tough.

Let’s normalize owning what it’s like to struggle to be resilient, and to succeed, as well. Let’s normalize the doubts that keep us up at night. Let’s normalize that sometimes we feel we have it all together and sometimes we don’t. Let’s normalize what it’s like to set goals for yourself and to unapologetically accomplish them. Let’s be open and honest about all of the above, and use it to make 2022 our best year yet.

Will you join me?