We are finally at the end of a consequential year that few of us will forget soon. Now what should we do?
Standing on the precipice of a new year, it is easy to fall back on the usual greeting card good wishes:
- Out with the old, in with the new: may you be happy the whole year through. Happy New Year!
- May this year bring new happiness, new goals, new achievements, and a lot of new inspirations on your life. Wishing you a year fully loaded with happiness.
- Wishing every day of the new year to be filled with success, happiness, and prosperity for you. Happy New Year.
But, given the year we’ve just come through, I think a different approach might be in order. While it would be only natural to wish for a return to “normal,” a return to life pre-Covid-19, that is neither realistic nor wise.
So what is the better approach? Follow Neil Gaiman’s advice:
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.
We were given a tremendous gift in 2020 to experience a way of working and living that was inconceivable to most of us (and our employers) in 2019. But the transformation is not finished. Now we have to experiment further to find an even better way of working and living. For that, Gaiman’s advice is absolutely right.
As long as we make intelligent mistakes, and then learn from those mistakes, we can ensure that 2022 will be even better than 2021.
To that end, I wish you a fabulous 2021 filled with great mistakes!
[Photo Credit: Annie Spratt]
Above and Beyond KM 