Five pearls of wisdom from 2020 for a brighter future.

Assess your year now for the nuggets of wisdom.

Needless to say, it was a rough year. Even so, you likely gained some pearls of wisdom that will serve you well in future years. Take some time to reflect as you wrap up the year and do your planning.

In case you’re stuck or the pain is too fresh, these five pearls might help jog your memory.

Five pearls of wisdom gained this year

 

1/ Give First

Give first is the mantra Brad Feld follows in life and is the guiding principle for his global startup community. When I was accepted into the community, I offered to help. I was not aware of the give first principle but I honored it. As a result, I now host weekly office hours for healthcare startups.

The philosophy of Give First is about giving without expecting anything in return. However, the generosity will likely be returned to you at some point in the future. 

2/ Live into your values

Brene Brown has written several books about vulnerability and values to help people live and lead more authentically. She recommends whittling your list of values down to two guiding values. It’s harder to do than you might think but worth the effort.

First and foremost, it’s easy to remember them when you only have two to remember. More importantly, it becomes easy to live into them with every decision you make and every conversation you have.

3/ Be compassionate with yourself

Everyone needs compassion now and then and probably even more now. There is no better person than you to give you the compassion you need.

It’s worth your time to read the book Self Compassion by Kristin Neff. Before reading the book, I used the words “honeybun” in my self talk and realized that it made me smile. It’s something that my mum says when she’s empathizing with me. Using those types of loving words in your self talk is form of self compassion.

Everyone self talks. If your self talk is not supporting you, change it. Incorporate some words that make you smile especially when you’re going through a difficult situation.

4/ Lead authentically

Lean In is a good book to read or re-read. It was enlightening to get another woman’s perspective on corporate America. It made me laugh out loud and cry because it validated my own experiences.

Gender bias is real. In the book, How to Lead by David Rubenstein, Melinda Gates talks about almost leaving Microsoft because she no longer liked herself. As a last ditch effort, she gave herself one last chance to lead in a more authentic way. She stayed and her approach worked.

Give yourself permission to lead in a way that is authentic for you. If it doesn’t work, then move on. Everyone spends too much time at a work to suffer the consequences of a bad fit.

5/ Prepare for new opportunities

Prepare your resume in a compliant format so that when opportunity knocks, you’re ready. Executive recruiters won’t do the work needed to enter your resume or Linked In profile into their database. So if you want to be considered for a new opportunity, your resume needs to be in a format that is pleasant and can be easily uploaded.

This resume solution will also help make sure you provide the information needed for the type of job you want.