New Year, New Blooms: How to Track Your Wins in 2021

Aside from the hustle and bustle of the holidays (shopping, wrapping gifts, coming up with new ideas for that darn Elf on a Shelf), this is typically the time of year that we’re all slowing down a bit, taking a breather from work, and spending more time with family - maybe even catching up on some much needed sleep. 

This holiday season has felt a little bit different, though. The pandemic has brought many of us new challenges. For some that has meant more “down” time — a lesser commute, working from home vs. in office, or a slower social life; for others, it has meant less “down” time — learning new technology, balancing full-time jobs with teaching kids from home, or caring for loved ones who are hurting. 

Although it has been a challenging year, I have tried to best focus on the tiny “blooms” in my life. I mentioned in a previous blog that working from home (with no commute to and from the office) provided me with an extra free hour each day. That extra free time allowed me to brainstorm and reflect on my purpose.

It led me to find a new creative outlet in The Bloom Pod and connected me with old friends and new. One of those “new” friends is Tim Bryson, who was Guest no. 3 on the show. He shared a mantra on his episode: “You Can’t Impeach Vision.” Tim has continued to carry out his vision and to bloom — he launched a podcast (which recently surpassed 8,000 downloads), started his PhD journey, and founded an LLC (Walk With TFB).

I mention Tim’s continuous bloom because it’s part of what inspired this blog post. In the latest episode of his podcast, Walk With TFB, Tim talks about the concept of “Better Late Than 30,” which ultimately asks: what are you waiting for? And while the title hit me right in the feels — my 30th birthday is a week from today — the content of the episode left me feeling inspired. 

Even in a year where we have faced so many collective challenges in addition to the ones we’ve faced individually, Tim’s latest episode reminded me that there is no time like the present. During Women Leaders X (Women Leaders in College Sports’ Virtual Conference), Brené Brown said, “The brain is malleable; it will keep developing as long as you press it.” She also said, “Stop separating YOU from the people who can do that” — whatever “that” might be.

Similarly, my mom shared a Tony Robbins story with me recently that talked about how we often say, “I’m too young, I’m too young, I’m too young, and then it becomes I’m too old, I’m too old, I’m too old.” Thirty is not too old and neither is any other decade that you might be approaching. Some of the greatest didn’t bloom into the people we know them as until much later in life. Alan Rickman, of Die Hard and Harry Potter fame, didn’t get his first big role until he was 42; Samuel L. Jackson was 46 when he hit it big with Pulp Fiction; and the comic book icon, Stan Lee, didn’t publish his first comic book until he was 39.

Blooming is a life experience (or a series of experiences) that we all have at some point. It’s inevitable. What separates the good from the great, however, is the active choice we make to continue blooming. A plant’s life cycle naturally has time of withering and pruning to achieve full growth. It’s possible this year felt like a withering for some; while for others it felt like a time to prune back. Either way, it shows us that the best is yet to come. A plant must wither to come back stronger; the keeper of the plant must sometimes prune back its current growth to achieve full growth later down the road. 

As 2020 comes to a close, map out where you’ve been. Did you wither or prune back this year? And if so, how will those steps help you continue to bloom in 2021? It is easy to look back on a chunk of time — 5, 10, 15 years — and notice the ways you’ve bloomed. My challenge for 2021 is to focus on the smaller blooms — day to day, week to week, or month to month — that I’m achieving that are leading to success on a grander scale.

I’ll be continuously and intentionally tracking my blooms in 2021 using this PDF. Here’s an example of what a week of tracking might look like.

Stay the course, be intentional, and keep blooming, y’all.