After making it through the past year, it can be hard to know where to start for 2021. Everyone wants to bounce back and make this year better than the previous year to start a positive trend, but making a plan and starting to make progress is often the most challenging part. Many people are putting the focus on their professional and business goals for 2021, but such a broad and undefined scope does not narrow down the best starting point any further than having a general goal for a better year.
Set A Goal
Anyone can set goals ranging from landing that dream job, starting a side business, or simply aiming to have a routine and productive work year. However, while people might share different overarching goals, the day-to-day process for bettering your professional life will look similar. People often focus on the end destination that they forget about taking a healthy path to get there. A year is a long time, and you have months to work towards your business goals but be sure you do not burn yourself out along the way. No matter what your goal is for 2021, below are some general tips to keep you healthy and safe while you work towards your ultimate goals.
Start With A Personal Check-In
Before you can set and start working towards your 2021 goals, you should start with a personal check-in to evaluate all aspects of your life. It may feel like too many things need to be fixed, but taking the time to stop and take an honest look at all aspects of your life may lighten your load. You may not need to put significant effort into reworking your personal or home life, which means you have less on your overall plate so you can focus on professional growth.
Look at the different elements within each area of your life. If you are unhappy at your job, think about what specifically makes you dislike the position. Is it the industry, safety culture, coworkers, or any other factors that are affecting you professionally? Also, consider what you do like about your current professional life. Is there a particular management style you prefer, work hours that work best for your lifestyle, particular projects or topics you enjoy working on, or any other facets you would like to keep in your professional life? Whether you decide to find a new job, start your own business, or work to improve your current job, it will be helpful to understand what you like and don’t like before you start any changes.
Make A Better Home Office
One of the best ways to improve your current work situation is to improve your physical environment and access to resources. If you are one of the millions of people working from home, now is the perfect time to revamp your home workspace, so it is a proper office rather than a hastily thrown-together area with the bare minimum resources. If you have been working from a laptop for the past year, it is time to invest in a 27” monitor and laptop dock, so you don’t need to squint and hunch over to find the tab you want on a tiny screen. Get a monitor with an adjustable stand so you can put the screen at the perfect height to preserve your back and eyesight. It would help if you also considered getting a better chair and always having a water bottle on hand so you can take even better care of your body while working at a desk all day. If you are more comfortable while you work, you are likely to be more productive, you may find the work more tolerable, and your body will take you for the attention.
Set Aside Time For Growth
It can be hard to truly progress and work towards your goals if you never set aside time to work on the stepping stones. If you want to land your dream job, you should use your free time to network and improve the skills you will need for that job. Unless you purposefully label time to work on these stepping stones, you will likely forget and push professional growth to another day in favor of doing something more fun. Make dates in your calendar or general schedule to look for new connections, online skill classes, and stay up to date on industry trends. By putting down planned time to learn, you have an easy way to check your progress towards your ultimate goal and improve your life bit by bit at the same time before hitting the destination.
