Wrapping it up

This is the final article in a four-part series.

New Year Musings

With a new year comes New Year resolutions:?Pledges we make that align to our revisited and refreshed hopes, dreams & goals.?This period around New Year presents a temporary watershed in the time continuum where we consciously separate the past from the future; we say goodbye to the old year, and we ring in the new with friends, fireworks, fanfare, and festivities. ?We make our personal pledges, and we wish each other blessings of health, wealth, and happiness for the year ahead.?

In my own reflections of what 2021 has meant for me professionally, the lessons I’ve learnt, and how I want these to play out to give different and better results in 2022, I’ve coalesced on three themes.?I have shared them in the past few days on this platform, not strictly in the form of new year resolutions, but in the same way that we move from the old year to the new, the past to the future, I have presented them as juxtapositions.

The three themes are:

1. MINDSET: Past – Future ????From: Stuck in the past. ???????To: Visioning the future.
2. SALES: Driven – Led???????????From: Driving others. ???????????To: Leading.
3. FOCUS: Fame – Fortune ?????From: Fame. ?????????????????????????To: Fortune.

My personal reference point is professional services organizations, although I suspect the three points transport to other sectors equally.?These themes represent different ways of thinking and behaving.?They do not necessarily in themselves represent a scale, as in “from good to great”, or “from poor to rich”; in some cases they are just different ideas or ways of seeing things.?For the most part changing from the left to the right does not necessarily represent mountains of effort; on the surface it might just be an “aha” moment for someone as they reflect on what the change represents.?

Putting a bow around it all

The last two years will stand out in the history books, for sure, and for many they will be defining in some shape or form and will have changed whatever trajectory was being assumed and taken for granted.?Whilst I escape the impacts of 2020/21 with health and family intact, for which I am eternally grateful, all else that I, like many others, thought was certain, and the confidence and trust I have in others and in the future, exists now only in mottled shades of certainty and darker shades of circumspect.?How do we ever get back to long term goals and plans??

Standing on the threshold of a new year, my own reflections run deeper than the three themes presented. There is much that I consider, on many levels.?I have reflected on how fine the line is when striving for continuous improvement and that no matter how honest the intentions and noble the desired outcomes are, there are many variables and people that will derail if not managed appropriately. I’ve contrasted, in endless array of examples, the differences in economy and society between living in America and Africa (and Europe) and found myself wondering into existentialist territory as I seek to reconcile my own purpose in all of this. ??I’m far from being confident that I even understand the questions, let alone have the answers, but as I wrap up 2021 and try to make some sense of what’s been, and what’s to come in 2022, my focus will be on three personal resolutions that I take from the three themes I reflected on.

1. My first resolution for 2022 is to be future-focused, and to ponder the past only insofar as it’s sharing memories with friends and family or reflecting on what from the past can help shape the future. I have seen what it's like for others to be stuck in the past, and how it hinders growth and progress, and that's not where we should live.?Celebrate the past for sure, but let’s not dwell on it at the cost of a brighter future.
2. My second resolution for 2022 is to be passionate and inspiring in all that I do.?To be a leader, not a driver. I, like you, can reflect on what Good looks like and on what Bad looks like too; we've all experienced doses of both. It should be our goal to apply effort and intentionality to create our own personal brand of "Best", to be inspiring leaders in our fields.
3. Plot twist! My third resolution for 2022 is to chase neither Fame nor Fortune.?If either is attained, it will be as a byproduct of fulfillment of some other goal or goals.?Don’t get me wrong, fame and fortune are great outcomes but chased alone they are simply vanity goals. And what I’ve learnt in 2021 from watching others chase these is the tendency for them to be illusive and illusionary when given myopic focus.?Rather, there are many specific outcomes to strive for, that, if achieved, can drive a fame/fortune outcome and it’s these that will get focus.?Call it a personal balanced scorecard if you wish.?Not a new concept, but being a new year there’s no better time to pull this together.

What’s on your personal scorecard for 2022?

?Wishing you safe and happy New Year celebrations, and success in all your goals in 2022.

NOTE:?The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any employer, past or present.

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