2021 Was The Best Year of My Career

The end of the year causes me to pause and reflect on what I have accomplished and what’s yet ahead. This year, more so than any other year of my career, a lot of time has been dedicated to the inner work (working on myself), leading to what I feel is the best year of my career (so far). Here’s how.

Claiming My Confidence

Throughout my career, there have been times when I struggled to find and/or hold onto my confidence. And there are a lot of factors that feed into the why.  The inner work wasn’t always easy, but through it, I realized that it’s far too easy to play the comparison game and feel “less than” when I see what others are doing or achieving. 

While the voices of doubt will always be there, I can control their volume and not let them overshadow my confidence. Through the partnership with a great mentor (thanks Colin Callahan), here’s how I amplified my confidence and turned down the volume on doubt.

I took stock of my accomplishments.

What have I done and in what timeframe? What can I say “I did that” about? The most important part of this exercise was giving myself permission to claim everything and anything that I have done. This year I landed on the “Top 20 Coaches in Charlotte in 2021” list!

I claimed and proclaimed my superpowers. 

While I always had a sense of my superpowers, this year they became crystal clear. I reserve the right to evolve and add to the list. I embraced every opportunity that arose to proclaim them: Makes sense out of chaos; rips off the band-aid to get quick and lasting results. 

I turned my kryptonite into superpowers. 

I took my own advice — I don’t need to change to change, meaning I don’t need to turn into someone else or take on their persona. By uncovering which behaviors weren’t working for me and changing my approach. After doing the new behaviors enough, they started to became my new way of working (a more effective way). All while staying true to myself and being authentic.

Finding and Using my Voice

As I started living more confidently, a lightbulb went off and I had an “aha” moment: I have a perspective that helps others unleash their potential. I needed to stop hiding my light and, instead, share my insights more broadly. 

I turned down the volume on doubt, “No one will read it.” “Who are you to share this?”, and started my writing adventure.  Welcome to my journey. In less than 6 months, I’ve written nine articles, including this one, some of which have been picked up by multiple outlets. And I have no plans of stopping or slowing down. I want to see what happens as I continue to amplify my confidence. I wrote about everything from how to define your superpower, to strategic thinking de-mystified, to myths about the hybrid workplace we need to stop believing.

While I don’t know what 2022 holds for me or where my adventure will take me, I do know that with my stronger voice and amplified confidence, the sky’s the limit! 

My wish for you in 2022: Embrace the opportunities to grow and develop and be ready for the next adventure in your professional career.  

What’s the best thing that happened to you in your career in 2021? Share your answer in the comments so other Fairygodboss’ers can cheer you on!

This article was written by a Fairygodboss contributor.

Kristy is an executive coach and talent management consultant, who is known for helping individuals, teams and organizations unleash their potential, one conversation at a time. What is your Next conversation? Check out Next Conversation Coaching to see how she can help you today.