Hello, 2023! Out with the Old and In with the New

I don't know about you, but I was so ready to kick the dust of 2022 off of my shoes. I am prepared to leave behind the habits and thought patterns that no longer serve me. I have found as a successful entrepreneur that this is an important personal growth practice at the start of the new year (or any new beginning). I'm always looking for ways to make sure that I'm growing. Every day is an opportunity to improve, strive higher, and become more successful. As I embrace 2023, I'm shaking off several behaviors and beliefs to better myself professionally and personally.

Fear of Failure

The first behavior I plan on shaking off is the "fear of failure" mindset. Yes, dear reader. Despite a successful career that includes founding a $400+ million-dollar company, leaning into fear and speaking words of success rather than failure are still something I struggle with. While it can feel daunting to put yourself out there with new ideas when you know risk is involved, doing so often leads to great rewards. Rather than considering failure as an eventuality, I am instead embracing the challenge of trying new things without any predetermined outcome. Besides, failure is a great teacher – especially if you fail forward. By this, I mean using it as an opportunity to optimize. Edison made 1,000 attempts when creating the light bulb. He didn't see them as 1,000 failures. When asked, he said, "The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

Saying Yes to the Wrong Things

Let 2023 be the year we start saying "No" more often. It's essential to prioritize your time, energy, and resources toward things that will help you reach your goals. While it can be tempting to accept every opportunity that comes your way, you must be choosy with your availability. Be clear on the kind of work you want to do, the people you want to spend time with, and the activities that light you up. Learning how to politely decline invitations or tasks that don't align with that list will open up much more space for higher-value opportunities. Being selective ensures that we channel our energy and time to commitments that move us toward the lives we want. Time is a precious commodity. One can always make more money, but one cannot make more time (hat tip to Mark Cuban).

Decisions Based on Emotion

Another habit I want to leave behind this year is making decisions based on emotion rather than logic. One trait of successful entrepreneurs and leaders is their ability to use reason rather than feelings when making crucial choices. We may often lean towards impulsive decisions out of passion or fear. However, it's important to recognize when our emotions are clouding our judgment and make sure we are making sound decisions that will benefit our businesses (or vision for ourselves) in the long run.

Devaluing One's Instincts

One thought pattern I aim to let go of this year is thinking that someone else knows more than me. Discounting my expertise, experience, or instinct is a tough habit to break because it takes root in another unhelpful pattern – self-doubt. It's natural to feel like other people have more knowledge or experience than you (especially when starting something new like a job or business). However, this attitude can limit your potential. You actually give your power away by not trusting yourself and relying on others to make decisions. When I'm empowered, I can empower others. Self-doubt can be a crippling emotion. It's vital to recognize when it's holding you back and push past these feelings of inadequacy. The rewards are worth it in the end. It's almost impossible to achieve success if you don't believe in yourself and your abilities. This year let's build that self-confidence muscle and let self-doubt atrophy.

Continually Comparing

The compulsion to compare has become pervasive, thanks partly to our reliance on screen time and social media. Think about how often we fall victim to comparing our successes, achievements, and lifestyle choices to others in our daily lives. Comparison is damage that compounds by blurring the focus on our goals and diminishing the joy we get from successes aligned with who we are – not someone else. Having a clear Why tied to your goals and actions helps combat this. When the comparison vortex begins to pull us in, our Why can keep us tethered to our world, our values, and all the things most personally and professionally meaningful. As the new year begins, let's commit to stopping this unhealthy habit. Resolve to focus on your successes (even the tiny ones) with joy and without judgment.

Perfectionism & Procrastination

Striving to be excellent is worthwhile. But you don't need to be perfect to be excellent. Sometimes good enough is enough. Progress is what counts. So often, when mentoring a female business owner, I encounter someone stuck, focused on the perfect outcome. They are wasting time myopically concentrating on details that have become obstacles. Or they delay decisions. It's ironic how often perfectionism can manifest as procrastination. We often put pressure on ourselves to be the best or do things perfectly, but this can take away from our creativity, innovation, momentum, and once-in-a-lifetime chances. Let's realize that done is better than perfect and moving forward is the goal.

People Pleasing

Lastly, another habit I want to leave behind this year is spending too much time worrying about pleasing everyone around me instead of focusing on what I know is the right thing to do in the context of my vision and goals. This is a critical growth goal for entrepreneurs and business owners – especially female leaders as we have been conditioned since childhood to be "nice." Throughout my journey as an entrepreneur and business owner, I was often faced with choices that were going to be unpopular. But I had to sacrifice pleasing people to grow the company in the best way possible for its stakeholders: employees, customers and investors included. While it matters to be respectful and understanding of people in our orbit, staying true to our values and focusing on our own goals is also important.

The door to 2023 has opened. With a fresh mindset and an open heart brimmed with courage and confidence, I welcome what lies beyond the threshold. Let's step through it feeling lighter as we leave behind the beliefs and tendencies that limit our potential.

Originally published on www.celestegudas.com