This trope has likely come up in subject lines and web searches time and time again over the last few weeks urging you to become a better version of yourself now that we’ve approached a new year.

This never really made sense to us, because, often at the beginning of a new year we’re recovering from a busy holiday season, the days are short, and, honestly, our capacity for change is minimal.  That’s why we don’t typically recommend resolutions and heavy goal setting first thing.  However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be thinking about the year ahead and how you might want to maximize it.

More and more, as we chat with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who are tired of the status quo, we have realized that they’re looking for more, but just aren’t sure how to get there.  If 2022 has presented you with this unique challenge and it feels scary and uncomfortable, yet oddly exciting, then you’re likely on the right path.  

It may seem cliched, but to grow, we must first face the uncertainty and fear of moving outside of our comfort zone. Growth is exciting and motivating, but it is also uncomfortable, uncertain, and all-around strange when you’re in the heart of it.

Nonetheless, if you’re coming around to putting together a plan for 2022, here are our top tips: 

If you never challenge yourself, you’ll end up tuning out most of your life on autopilot

It can be easy to ignore feelings of ‘wanting more’ from your career or professional life when they seem daunting and unclear, especially while we’re living in these times.  However, if we consistently push down our desires for more, eventually that drive will disappear and that’s when we end up coasting on autopilot for the rest of our careers.  

The way out is to face the fear, ask for help and make a plan to take your knowledge to the next level – hoping you’ll allow for a little shameless plug here…. because we can help with that!  What you’ll find is that once you breakthrough the uncertainty, you’ll unlock an entirely new way to share your life’s work in a way that is exciting and refreshing to both you and your audience.

When you open yourself up to new opportunities, new neural pathways that fuel your creative spark and enhance your memory are created 

That scary feeling that you get when you embark on something new…the reason that it feels like butterflies or pins and needles is because you’re literally creating new neural pathways. These pathways wake up creativity that has become dormant and enhance your memory function, allowing you to tap into elements of your vocation that you had long forgotten. This combination of learning and re-learning is very powerful when it comes to growth and development.  So, before you shut down the idea of taking your body of knowledge to the next level, consider doing a little learning to see what might surface!

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, put your ideas onto paper where you can physically see them

Sometimes when we’re heading into a period of growth, the thoughts swirling around in our heads can make the process even more overwhelming than it needs to be.  As a result, we often recommend putting those thoughts to paper (the old-fashioned way!) to free up some space for growth focused energy.   

The act of physically writing out and seeing the thoughts is very impactful in making them a reality.  In fact, a recent study by Dr. Gail Mathews showed that people who record their thoughts visually are much more likely to complete them than people who simply verbalize them.  

Additionally, when you write out your goals and professional objectives, it becomes much easier to form them into a tangible plan, meaning you are that much closer to making them a reality.

Identify the source, what part of this new path is creating the most discomfort and can you cater to it?

Often, we don’t realize that our own battles with imposter syndrome or self-esteem skew the messages that we tell ourselves about our own capabilities. These unconscious biases can be major distractions and deterrents to growth.  

In many cases, if we can look at the proposed outcomes from an outside view, the obstacles can seem much easier to overcome.  One way that we encourage our clients and program participants to do this is to ask them to create a path for their audience using those similar hoped-for outcomes. When the personal barrier is removed, the path to the end goal often becomes much clearer and more feasible.

If you feel uncomfortable, then you’re ultimately doing something right, stay the course and ask for help!

So, if you’ve come this far and are still in doubt, that’s ok! You’re exactly where you should be.  The good news is you don’t have to go ahead alone. Asking for assistance to bring you to the next level is the first sign of a growth mindset. We work with many professionals who have spent their lives building their bank of knowledge and perfecting its delivery, they’re just not sure how to bring it to the masses in a scalable and authentic way.  

That’s where we come in!  

If you’d like to chat more about moving from Subject Matter Expert to local, national, or even global facilitator, we have the tools to help you get there. Get in touch to see what programs are coming up!