4 New Year’s Resolutions to Upgrade Your Career

Are you looking for inspiration for your career-focused new year’s resolutions? Well then, you’ve come to the right place.   

We want you to stick to your resolutions and achieve them. That’s why you’ll find here how to improve yourself career-wise with 4 suggestions that are easy to achieve. Let’s get started!  

1. Learn Something New Just for Fun

How about you start 2022 with something you’ve always wanted to do? 

You know, that thing you say to yourself has no “practical application” in your job. That thing you always think you’ll find the time to do someday, but the day never comes.  

We often put aside things that seem to have no practical purpose in our lives. We often forget to discover new experiences and simply have fun. Miniature painting? Dancing lessons? Starting your own book club? The possibilities start and end with you.  

These fun experiences outside work can bring a much-needed balance to your daily life. They can also give you skills that may be surprisingly useful in the long run.  

2. Improve Your Digital Communication Skills

Since remote and hybrid work are on the rise, the need for better communication among coworkers is increasing. As much as we use Zoom for our meetings, most communication is through writing.   

Here are a few quick tips to ensure clear and upbuilding communication when talking to your teammates: 

Lead with a key point: Remember that others’ time is just as precious as yours. When writing a message, open with the main point you want your coworkers to know.  

Consider the tone: Use punctuation to convey the tone. Keep your communication friendly with a healthy dose of exclamation points, emojis, and GIFs. Used sparingly, they can be helpful tools in establishing the correct tone to your messages.  

Stay away from negativity: Avoid using sentences like “You probably didn’t…” or “Perhaps you’ve missed…”. These are minefields to any team, and they also can backfire on the one who used them. Instead, choose a neutral or positive approach. For example, “How are you handling the workload for this project?” or “Did you have a chance to look at the report I sent you last week?”. 

Always respond: Make it a point to acknowledge your colleague’s messages. If you need more time to think about what they’ve asked of you, just let them know that. Always be sure to respond to them on time.  

3. Attend (at Least) One Professional Networking Event

Do you want to boost your career but aren’t sure how to do it? Consider attending a conference or webinar. That can help you stay up to date with your industry and make new connections while you’re at it! You can also attend meet-ups, workshops, and other types of events that may bring you much-needed fresh ideas. Many events are also going fully online, so you can also look for something cool outside your area.  

If you’re looking forward to broadening your connections, you might also like to consider having a mentor. Take a look at our article about the benefits of having a mentor.  

4. Read 4 Books to Expand Your Horizons

Challenge yourself to read one book every 3 months. Choose a topic or story you’re interested in and something that’ll also inspire you or broaden your thoughts on a particular matter.  

Fiction or nonfiction, pick something that’ll give you food for thought. For every quarter of 2022, you’ll have a new book to freshen up your mind.  

These are our suggestions to kickstart the new year with a positive mindset. Think about what will work best for you and consider your own personal resolutions to boost your career and life.  

One final tip: be sure to make your goals specific, realistic, measurable, and give them a clear timeframe. Good luck!