While writing the last piece to wrap up the year, one was filled with the hope that magic dust would be sprinkled, and we would be able to step into the ‘New Year and New Me’ mode with much aplomb. No, no such luck. We wrapped the year with a new coronavirus variant, old lockdown woes, worries and restrictions. WFH, home school and huddle indoors were the starters. The main course and dessert? Never mind.
BEYOND January 17…
Recently, I was told about an interesting observation. January 17 is believed to be a date when the majority of folks let go of all the usual resolutions they make. Lofty ones of being a better, kinder person to the lame ones like being healthier, (cigarette sales drop, gym membership goes up, kale and broccoli is bought in plentiful) and focused are disregarded and dumped fairly sharply. Have you heard of the term Veganuary? It’s some sort of a vegan movement with January focus. You get the drift, right? Cleanse is the operative word. Soul to skin, heart to head - almost all want to attempt this change. Not to be left behind, the corporate czars, in the various town halls, impress upon the employees some mega vision statements of many a step change. But life-wise or work-wise, resolutions usually go downhill. Of course, being locked back again does nothing to anyone’s morale or motivation; so it’s OK to step on the yoga mat a little later and equally OK not to torture ourselves with food that is oh-so-green. By the way, have you seen the emoji to depict sickness? Yes, it is green too!
Let’s calm down a bit. Its OK if the resolutions were rumpled and slam-dunked. So, can we start over? Absolutely. Who says things need to begin on a set date? Why is 18th of the month not good enough to start something new? Or what if I do not want to be obsessed with this fad of a ‘New Me’ and the blah? Instead, focus on a few achievable steps that perhaps makes life and work and our output a lot more meaningful. Self-care and self-motivation areas essential and so is a whole bunch of other things. It makes a lot of sense to call January the practice month as we start all over again.
COMPULSIVE CHANGE
Look around, so much is happening. Metaverse is such a big reality that the Meta wars are being discussed. It is the new conversations for brands and businesses. Marketers have adopted all things data, AR and VR as part of the routine and are set to move to the next. Video, in all formats, is ruling the roost. Personalization is happening at scale and consumers are being wooed and wowed on an hourly basis. Meanwhile, Pantone has the lovely Very Peri as the core colour for the year 2022. So much of positive (in the right note) change. Habits have changed, consumption has changed; most importantly, the world as we knew it sometime back has most certainly changed. It is completely viable and possible for us to change the process in which we will change and start over again. The question to ask, though, is change all that matters?
In this frenzy of change and improvement, some unsung heroes that need acknowledgement and recognition are ‘routine’ and ‘resolve’. They can perhaps be also called discipline and rigor. We often connect these words either with school life or with the military. Rightly so. For, we can learn a lot from the military and to evolve both personally and professionally, being a student for life is a valuable skillset. Discipline, if applied as a life-skill, can give us both structure and process to manoeuvre and navigate ourselves well. Rigor helps us focus. Even in the business of creativity, craft and ideas, both discipline and rigor help in scaling heights. So, often in the rush to do the new, we discard the wealth of time-tested assets like experience. It is worthwhile for us to remember that much as we love the unicorns, many of the most loved and trusted brands are more than 100 years old.
DO RESTART NOW
This is something I have said earlier as well: let’s not rush for the shinier and gleaming new things (people, products, services) and discard the value of experience and long-standing values. Discipline allows us to segregate the important from the urgent, the real from the fake, the fad from the timeless. The so-called need to trend must give way to the quality of being reliable. It is perhaps the year to have steely resolve. Resolve to reset. Reset life and its key elements. The way we will be with what matters most - our families, friends, communities and people around us. Reset the way we will be at work and play. Importantly, reset how we will be with ourselves.
It will be a new season soon. The season for fresh growth and glorious blooms. If you ask me, the best time of the year to shed the baggage of gloomy cold weather and thoughts. Time to resolve to literally have a spring in our step and restart ourselves. Yes, we can!
(The author is an independent brand curator, coach and consultant)
