Three Things I’m Taking Away From 2022
365 days — one year. It doesn’t sound like much, but some years can feel like they span an entire lifetime.
365 short days and life progresses. We change. The world changes. We want to change the world. Maybe it’s the world that changes us.
One year ago today I was sitting in the same exact space. I was writing and thinking about an adventure that would happen in 8 days’ time, as I prepared to meet my cute Australian co-worker face-to-face for the first time. I had spent countless hours getting to know this man from across the vast Pacific Ocean. Who knew you could find love during a pandemic? In the 2021 lockdown world, it didn’t feel like a big deal that he lived 7,500 miles away on a totally different continent.
Fast forward to December 31, 2022 and I’m writing on a gloomy Northern California morning. I sit and watch the drops splash into the small muddy river that has formed in my backyard after days of rain.
While listening to the rhythm of the rainfall, I reflected on the last year. In 6 days, I am marrying the cute Aussie who managed to steal my heart and life will change again. Over the last year I had a good run at my day job and am back into the writing practice I love. 2022 was a year of more wins than losses and I’m grateful.
One more year in the books, another trip around the Sun, and life moves forward. There’s no way to predict what the year ahead will hold. No way to guarantee 2023 will be the best year ever. If you stare long and hard enough into the fog of the future, you’ll see light and shadow. Random and fluid outlines hinting of things to come that have not yet taken shape.
What lessons did 2022 reveal to you and what course are you charting for 2023?
I have three takeaways from my year in retrospect. These are the ideas that moved me forward in 2022:
- Calculated risk has its rewards: Risk isn’t a bad thing. Not venturing out of the warm cocoon of comfort keeps us safe, but it doesn’t invite progress. Risk comes in many forms. There’s a wild, unscripted version. That’s where you plunge ahead into the unknown without a thought of consequences. Then there’s the calculated kind of risk. The one where you know the potential downside. You weigh risk with reward, study possible outcomes and have a backup plan in case it doesn’t work out. Diminish the potential downside with careful calculation before stepping off the ledge.
- Seek the possible in every situation: It’s super easy to get sucked into a limited pattern of thinking. Limitations kill creativity. In the grind of day-to-day living, our brains crave familiar neural pathways that don’t need a lot of effort. Follow the pattern, get your cookie. Rinse and repeat, day after day. It’s a recipe for boredom. Question the familiar path when new opportunities come your way. What if, instead of saying “We can’t do that”, you took a different perspective that says, “Let’s try it”? What would change if you saw life through a lens of possibility instead of pattern?
- Intention accelerates progress: The big idea of intention sounds vague. At its core, intention is literally intending or planning to do something. Drifting through each day without direction leads to weeks, months, and years of time lost. Intention gives shape and direction to your goals. It begins with a self-inventory: Who are you at your core? (Hint: it’s not your title or job and it’s not what others expect of you). What do you really want? What skills do you have today to get you there and what do you still need to learn? These questions are at the heart of formulating the right plan for you. They provide a structure to put pen to paper, so you can design a plan that gets you from where you are to where you want to be.
2023 lies ahead, 365 days yet unshaped.
Gift yourself time to take inventory and craft your plan. What calculated risks will you take? What is possible for you in 2023? What intention will you set for the coming year?
