Personal and professional development before your new resolutions for 2021.

Several keys to keep in mind to face your new year's resolutions in the best way.

With the beginning of this new year, it is easy that you have proposed resolutions with which to make the most of the coming months. These dates are a source of inspiration for millions of people, a stage of closure of a cycle and the beginning of a new one that encourages us to try new things and not stay anchored in what we already know.

For this reason, in this article we will talk about the pillars on which you can build your new personal and professional projects for 2021..

6 Areas of personal and professional development from which to set your goals

If you have decided to take advantage of the beginning of the new year to self-motivate yourself and give a boost to your personal and/or professional career, take a look at these areas in which you can grow and improve. They will serve as reference points on a map that will help you set goals, perceive will help you to set goals, perceive your progress and make corrections as you go along..

1. Know how to set yourself new challenges

The simple act of specifying (putting into words, among other things) the challenges you want to prioritize in the coming months is a key activity. There are some simple tips you can apply to do it in the best way, for example:

• Set aside a day to a week to think about challenges and write them down in a notebook that you carry with you.
• Establish an order of priorities in two categories: short and medium-term challenges, depending on whether they last days or months.
• Select between one and three challenges in each category.

2. Overcoming uncertainty

The current situation of economic and health crisis makes it necessary to learn to tolerate uncertainty more. If we allow ourselves to be paralyzed by the fear of being wrong, everything will have been in vain..

In this sense, it is necessary to develop anxiety and stress management skills; if you need help, it is always possible to start psychotherapy either in person or by video call.

3. Knowing how to measure our strengths

It is very important to to control well the times of rest, planning and execution of plans, so that we do not run out of time.It is very important to control well the times of rest, planning and execution of plans, so that we neither stay without doing anything nor get frustrated and end up throwing in the towel with the idea that we are not advancing as we wanted. Challenges always have to involve a certain amount of effort, otherwise we will not progress.

4. Boost your self-esteem and self-confidence.

Your self-esteem and self-confidence have to develop as you progress through your projects.. You must be able to recognize your progress as such, so that you don't reach a point where you feel a certain "vertigo" when facing the next phase of the challenge, and without the impostor syndrome holding you back (especially if you are focusing on your professional development).

5. Boost your professional skills development

This involves both having as references (whether teachers or mentors) the best in the areas in which you want to improve, on the one hand, and knowing how to "map" from the beginning the professional skills you want to perfect and polish.

Something that usually helps in this is to keep in mind the distinction between soft skills and hard skills.. The first ones refer to knowledge that cannot be put into words and have to do with the management of emotions, communication and social skills, and even the fact of having physical preparation, in certain cases. The latter are related to knowledge and experience that are directly related to a specific field of work: knowing how to program, mastering the use of a computer program, knowing the jargon used in a sector, etc.

Knowing this, and assuming that progressing in one way does not mean making great strides in the other if we do not invest time and effort in improving in both, it is easier to reach our goals.

6. Improve your self-motivation capacity

None of the above will be viable if you do not adopt certain habits and strategies to self-motivate yourself.Especially at the beginning, when you face new challenges that may catch you "by surprise" and demoralize you when you realize that at that point you know how to do almost nothing.

The good thing about getting used to taking care of this aspect of professional and career development is that this experience can serve you for many types of projects you propose; the bad thing is that to achieve this you cannot just observe what others do and copy it, because each individual has his or her own sources of motivation and gratification, interests, values, etc.

However, there is a rule that applies in almost all cases: not subdividing the big goals into small short-term objectives or even achievable in a matter of a few hours is fatal, so make sure you always do it.

Do you want professional psychological support?

If you are interested in psychological assistance and/or coaching services, we invite you to contact us. At UPAD Psychology and Coaching e have been working for years for individuals, professionals and companies in the fields of psychological therapy, coaching, sports psychology and training. You can count on us both in person and in online sessions by video call. Here you will find our contact details.

Bibliographical references:

• Fryer, J. and Elliot, A. (2008). Self-regulation of achievement goal pursuit. In D. Schunk and B. Zimmerman (Eds.), Motivation and self-regulated learning: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 53 - 75). New York: Erlbaum.
• Harackiewicz, J.; Barron, K.; Elliot, A.; Tauer, J. & Carter, S. (2000). Short-term and long-term consequences of achievement goals: Predicting interest and performance over time. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(2): pp. 316 - 330.
• Mantilla, L (1999). Habilidades para la vida: Una propuesta educativa para convivir mejor. Bogotá.
• Stella, C. (2013). The Study Skills Handbook. Londres: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Richard, W. (2008). Time Management: Proven Techniques for Making Every Minute Count. Adams Media.