Get ready for 2024: 5 Steps to Set Yourself Up for Success Over the Holiday Break
We made it and are right at the end of the year which is usually where things are slowing down, people are switching off and checking out mentally from their work. And right so! However, I think this is the perfect time to take a step back from your normal day to day routine and use the time to be proactive what the next year should look like rather than just coasting through it and take whatever comes.
So I’m unwrapping the perfect gift for your career in this episode – a roadmap to success in the upcoming year.
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Maybe you’re already clocked off for the year and enjoying the sleep ins and slower days or you’re counting down for your break to start - either way, it’s not long now! I don’t know about you but I absolutely love the xmas season with all its quirks and festivities. Very excited for this year as we’re staying in Brisbane (every 2nd year we’re going back to Europe for a white Xmas) but truth told - i love staying here because everything is quiet. No traffic on the streets, empty walkways in the mornings, hardly any people in cafes etc. This is the time where I get to switch off completely and it’s so much more relaxing than going back to my family as they’re full on and always think they need to cramp in 2 years worth of experiences into a month. Anyway, that’s a story for another time and I might cover it at some point as my family is quite a crazy bunch to say the least. I mentioned it on the podcast before that my dad is a serial entrepreneur - like the old fashioned one - and has run businesses since the age of 24. He’s turning 74 next year and he started another business when he turned 70. Not only that - he’s also booked out until 2026 and that’s been the case literally from the beginning. Why i’m telling you this is that my dad and i are very similar (also when i don’t want to admit it) and we’re always looking around the corner and prep for something that’s not there yet but pursue it with full conviction (and trust me - that’s needed when you bet on yourself to not only make ends means but to build something that can sustain for a long time, with or without you and also others. Maybe you’ve seen the big news on Linkedin - but my partner Don has come on board fulltime on Dec 1 and that means, it’s time to shift gears again and prepare for this next chapter. And because I’m such an adhoc and future focused person, I’m very much a planner to allow my the flexibility and freedom to think ahead. So I thought I share with you the 5 steps that I take (not only this year but every year since I can think of) and maybe it spurs some ideas and inspirations how you can apply this thinking and the actual steps to your situation whilst still enjoying the downtime. In the end, you need to act as if it’s already the case so preparing for what’s required from you in terms of mindset, skill set and tool set is exactly what gets you there. So let’s dive into the 5 steps to take to get ready for the year ahead!
Step 1: Mindset Check
Hear me out - you know I’m not a "woo-hoo" person at all, so trust me when I say this has a very scientific and logical explanation for why this step is number one. Especially in the last couple of months in this year, I’ve found myself in situations with clients who I've worked with for years, and as much as I love them and have enjoyed the journey to date, I also realized that we have outgrown each other for various reasons. Looking ahead to where I want to go, there is only so much time I can spend on people, tasks, activities, and projects that don’t get me there. While saying no is still a skill in progress that I’m working on, I realized it’s on me to make the call, and I can’t rely on anyone else to do it for me. However, it’s not an easy decision because the engagements feel very comfortable, and this is also what scares me - that there are some blurred lines when it comes to what’s included in the monthly retainer and what isn’t. Because I have bent over a few times over the years and just made it work, it’s not something that I can and want to do moving forward, and that means I need to change my mindset toward it. The same goes for teaching - I have been teaching at a few different universities for the last seven years, and again - it feels very comfortable and easy because I know what I need to do, I’m familiar with the systems and people. But just because I can doesn’t mean I should, and the mental capacity that it takes out of me to chase students who are late for their submissions, discuss their grades, answer the same questions a million times… this is not something that I have bandwidth for at the stage where I am right now.
Firstly - realizing that keeping me comfortable keeps me small. If we want to make space for something new, we need to let go of something old that no longer serves the purpose for where you are right now.
Secondly - we outgrow people and tasks as much as we outgrow clothes and styles. At the time of this recording, I literally just got my haircut yesterday, and it’s a bob. I haven’t had such short hair in probably nearly 10 years, but that’s usually a sign for me to move on and grow up.
Thirdly - supporting activities that include your lifestyle. Again, especially over the last few months, I have realized that I’m in a very comfortable routine when it comes to my personal life. While I haven’t missed a workout in 11 years this year, I also found myself repeating the same exercises over and over. Yes - I increase the weight, add more stability work into the routine, and have gone back into running again a little, but overall, it’s still seven days a week of weights and 2-3 times a run. I’m getting older, and I can see and feel that this routine has served its purpose but doesn’t feel like the right solution for me for the next chapter.
So what are the concrete steps for you to take here?
Reflect and Evaluate:
Take dedicated time for introspection. Assess your current engagements, both professional and personal, and evaluate if they align with your future goals. Map them against your comfort level as well as your growth level/ opportunity. If they are more toward the comfort zone, it may be time to reconsider letting them go or at least redefining how much space and time they can take in your next chapter. So this step requires a mindset shift toward letting go of something that is so comfortable and known to you but also what is becoming your biggest baggage if you don’t address it in one or another way, which brings me to my next step:
Set Boundaries and Prioritise:
Alex Hormozi explains it so well when he says: anxiety comes from too few options. Overwhelm comes from too many options and lack of prioritisation. And this is exactly where I found myself many times over. I’m a very futuristic thinking person and I know exactly what I want to do in 2035 so the lack of options has never been an issue for me. It’s definitely the latter one- having too many options and not enough priorities as all activities, clients and projects seem equally important. How I decide which people, task and projects are actually important and urgent? It comes down to the input vs output relation. I can keep doing what I’ve done with my clients who’re overstepping the boundaries and condition that behaviour or I can draw a clear line in the sand and have a hard stop but of course, explaining where this decision has come from.
Over to you - what kind of engagements do you want and need to prioritise over others that actually align with your values and lead you towards your goal? This step requires a mindset shift toward strategic decision-making, to make sure your time and energy are invested where they matter most.
Diversify and Innovate in your personal life:
Your environment is as much of a contributing factor to success 9or the lack of it) as it’s your professional setting. I always say ‘control what you can control’ and this is exactly the type of environment you can create and it starts by auditing your professional routines and see what kind of behaviour and activities no longer get you the biggest bang for bucks. For me, it’s reducing time on social media, watching TV and continuing with my workout routine. What it means for next year (and I already started) is to still exercise daily but add functional training classes (which I haven’t done in years) and yoga to the mix (which i also haven’t been religious with). It’s small steps but even joining a new gym (I still stick with my other gym though for weights) exposes you to new people, behaviour and stimulation and that can make all the difference also in terms of motivation and seeing things through when they get hard.
Step 2: Audit Your Skills
The holiday break is also an excellent time for a career skills audit and check whether your current skills are still aligned with your future career goals and/or with what the next world of work demands. AI has taken the world by storm and impacts every industry, profession and sector so chances are - you will be impacted as well, if you haven’t been already. This next world of work requires more soft than hard skills and they are more difficult to learn as they are also more difficult to measure. However, the lack of those can hinder you to get and stay ahead and I always say when people ask me where to focus on: when it comes to your hard skills, focus on your strengths but when it comes to your soft skills, focus on your weaknesses. A great exercise is to conduct a 360 and you can do that fairly simply by just creating a google form, make the details of respondents not a requirement so the responses say anonymous and you get candid and honest feedback. And of course - you also want to conduct your self assessment and think of situations over the years where the lack of skills or the lack of refined skills may have hindered you. For me, it certainly is - and has been forever - though conversations. It’s not something that I particularly enjoy doing, nor godo at and given english is my 2nd language and my response mode to stress is freezing, I literally can’t answer on the spot. So having a couple of different phrases handy that can buy me some time when I’m in those situations have been super helpful for me.
However, in terms of hard skills - think of what’s required in the next chapter. For me, it’s building my board portfolio and companies that I invest and help build from a talent, team and tech perspective. That’s why I completed the advisory board certified chair course early December as this was the missing link to me getting active and serious about not only getting on more boards but actually offering it to companies to set them up for them - complementing their governance boards. So think of a hard skill or even a certification (you can do through short courses or self study) that will help with achieving your goals.
Recommendations:
Platforms like LinkedIn Learning offer a plethora of courses.
Dive into industry-specific literature to stay ahead of trends.
Step 3: Enhance Your Online Presence
It’s not a surprise that we live in a digital-first world nowadays and it’s not just the presence of the bad when it comes to content that determines people’s perception about you but also the absence of the good, meaning having not just a profile but an up to date one and optimised one.
Over the slower season, it’s the perfect time to do a little clean up of your digital footprint. Start with your LinkedIn profile and get rid of any skills that are no longer relevant with where you want to go. So let’s say you have Microsoft suite skills listed - this is a basic skill these days and won’t help you if you want to put your hat into the C-Suite or board director role.
Also- review if the headline is still relevant and compelling? Especially if you’re aiming for any type of career change or direction change, you need your marketing material optimised for that rather than for where you have come from or even where you are right now. I usually update my tagline every year because it’s not just about the actual skills you have but how you wrap them.
The other thing you want to do is googling yourself and also check the images that are associated with your name. You may not have posted anything inappropriate but someone else may have and tagged you. Who ever googles you, sees everything so you better get on the front foot with it and clean everything up as well as possible.
Recommendations:
Clean up your online presence
Review and optimise your LinkedIn profile by updating your headline, summary, add any qualifications or credentials you have earned over the year and clean up the skill sections by getting rid of old ones and adding new ones.
Update your professional photo for a fresh and up to date look. As I said - I literally just got my hair cut short so all of my other photos are outdated. I have a photoshoot booked in for mid December (in fact, by the time this episode comes out) and will update all my platforms properly.
Step 4: Amplify Your Influence
I truely believe that these days, content = currency and a tool to increase your influence beyond your title and role and that is key to career success. Usually, creating content gets put on the side bench during the year as everyone is busy but over the holiday break, it’s the perfect time to get ahead and bulk create and batch content so you have a bit of a leg up for the first few weeks but also build the muscle what it takes to develop bulk content in one go and schedule it out over the week or even month. I always work at least 1 month ahead but 2023 was the year where I worked 3 months ahead and this is also what I want to keep it for 2024.
So if you’re serious about strengthening your professional influence through thought leadership content and building a new network, put some time aside, get clear on your content pillars, the big topics that are associated and aligned with your positioning and get started with looking for some inspiration.
Plus- take your relationships to the next level and arrange a few coffee catch ups, including virtual ones. As much as online meetings are convenient and easy to do, there is nothing that beats in person meetings to fast track relationships and trust.
Recommendations:
Prioritise content creation and get started with writing and publishing industry insights especially on LinkedIn.
Connect with professionals in your field for virtual and in real coffee chats.
Also research relevant associations, may it be industry or interest groups as well as any professional events, conferences and even networking groups. I joined the QLD leaders in 2022 and are now an alumni but have made connections beyond my intake cohort. I also got a few coaching clients from it although that isn’t the main purpose of the group but again- you never know where your next opportunity comes from and when you get referred and/or build relationships and trust with
Step 5: Review and Boost Your Income
There is not 1 person who isn’t interested in improving especially their financial situation, no matter the time of the year. Now would be a good time ti assess your current income and explore ways to boost it which may also align with your future career trajectory. There are a few fews to go about it:
Depending on your role, the duration you’ve been at the company, the responsibilities you have etc, you can consider negotiating a raise.
You can also explore ways to consult or contract using your skill set you alreday have or you want to build further. The rates would be different depending on the proficiency level obviously but as the saying goes: you either learn or you earn. And one leads into the other,
A separate way to boost income could be through investing in opportunities which could be property, shares or companies. This is what I’ve been doing more and exploring further as we go. Ideally by the end of 2024, I have a portfolio of 3 companies because that also aligns with my professional direction. I will buy another apartment but that’s not so much an investment for return but more so for lifestyle reasons. Call out for real estate agents on the Gold Coast :)
Recommendations:
Research industry salary benchmarks.
Negotiate your salary if your circumstances have changed.
Evaluate freelance or consulting opportunities.
Explore investment options.