For 2022, design a work-life balance that works for you

The new year is filled with new expectations, big goals and fresh dreams. But before forging headlong into 2022, it’s essential to take a moment to reflect on what you accomplished during two of the strangest years in our lifetimes. All of the hope, fear, frustration, confusion, uncertainty, false starts, near normalcy—and then back again—have taken a toll on us as people, and on our organizations, too.

Human beings get tired, get burned out, and need nurturing. In the past two years, I’ve seen so many clients near the point of exhaustion and afraid to ask for help. I’ve also seen many who have worked hard to achieve and exceed their goals in a year unlike any other.

This Herculean effort to create success in the face of uncertainty requires not only energy but also time: time to reflect and get very clear on what you are doing and what you want for the your future, the future of your organization and the future of the teams that you lead. We need to give ourselves the space and the grace to take time to reflect on what we did right (and to celebrate those wins!), and also time to reflect on what we can learn from and what we can do to improve in the coming year.

This means creating healthy boundaries around your time to design the future for yourself and your organization.