Lessons from a Year Gone By

Lessons from a Year Gone By

In a few short days we will be moving into a new calendar year. I know that will prompt numerous articles and publications on “What Are Your New Year’s Resolutions for 2022?” or articles like “Planning Your Goals for the Coming Year”. However, I have found in the last few months I have been more of a “reflective” personality than a “planning” personality. That isn’t because there is anything necessarily wrong with planning. I’m just finding that I have been both taking in, evaluating and ultimately savoring what has happened to me in my 2021. And, along the way, I hope I picked up on some lessons that I can carry forward with me in the coming year, and additionally share with you my readers.

From a financial standpoint it was my best year ever. My coaching practice brought in more revenue than in any previous year. Much of that was stimulated by an opportunity that came about late in 2020 to do outplacement career coaching for a company that supported a major corporation in the hospitality industry. The opportunity came my way through my presence on Linked In, and providing an accurate profile of who I am, the types of coaching problems I addressed and how I looked to assist clients. The owner of the company indicated to me when he reached out that my profile seemed to align with what they look for in their coaches. We struck up an agreement realizing that the client base he had likely would only last until the middle of 2021, but indeed it connected me with many outstanding individuals in transition throughout the United States.

It was also a year that taught me that things do not always evolve into your life in your time frame, but in the time frame they are meant to happen. Early in the year, I received a reach out from a friend and former client who has a grant writing business. She was in the process of developing a grant for a neighborhood development group to assist teenagers with career assistance for their summer job search. The grant allocated for the services of a Career Coach. Immediately she thought of me. I met the group, explained how I would be able to provide training and support to the students, and we were all set for the program. However, the program eventually did not take place due to lack of enrollment.

Fast forward a few months, and I heard from the development group again. They had applied for a different grant, which was going to be part of a Youth Development program. This program had several parts, and again had the need for a career coach. The program has been running now for several weeks and continued through the middle of December. It was both an uplifting and beneficial experience for me as I was able to provide guidance to several young people making their way from high school onto their future college and work endeavors.

As I end the year another venture, that was for me over 2 years in the making of happening, is also taking place. I had received a reach out from former colleagues from my corporate working days about an organization they worked for that helped refugee families get settled in the United States. While the organization was having great success in getting the families housing, supplies and establishing them in the community and school setting, finding employment for the family was difficult. The reality was that no one in the organization had experience in dealing with the job search market of today.

When I received the reach out it was late in 2019. Then of course the COVID19 pandemic struck the world shortly thereafter and all movement of individuals stopped in the world. However, during the middle of 2021 the organization reached out to me at that time. They anticipated having a new refugee family sometime before the end of the year. The crisis in Afghanistan became front and center. In October, the organization knew they would have a family arriving in late October and being settled in during November. Over the last several weeks, I have been participating with this organization in a new effort in my coaching journey. The lesson in both the story with the refugee family and the development group is that one never knows when the items they reach out on today may blossom into reality tomorrow. Often, it is easy to get discouraged when we don’t get immediate response to a venture or process in which we look to become a part.

A third lesson that I learned and kept building on, is that the people who may have an impact on you and your life, may be no more than a computer screen away. Yes, it is of value to have a network of connections that are close to you, and whom you can meet in person. However, the events of the last 18 to 20 months certainly had an impact on that. As such, many of my networking partners that share my interests, live in other states, and even in a couple of cases other countries. We can share ideas, so we are able to assist each other in the form of ideas for growing each other’s businesses, and possibly share opportunities with each other. And, while I do welcome the ability to now be freer to meet with people in person, I value the professionals who have become part of my network virtually.

What will 2022 bring for each of us? We may try to anticipate what those realities may be. I’m open to the fact that as much as we can try to influence what we bring into our lives we still are not in complete control of everything that will happen. However, if we do a good job in laying some solid background work and stay open to what happens around and to us, it often blossoms into opportunities we may not always be able to predict or expect.