By Jeremy Tiers, Director of Admissions Services
4 minute read
I was in a hotel room in Iowa on March 11 when all of sudden players from the Utah Jazz and OKC Thunder walked off the court, and the NBA suspended their season because a player tested positive for COVID-19.
After finishing an on-campus training workshop and meetings with an admissions team, I flew home (on Friday the 13th ironically) to news that the World Health Organization had classified COVID-19 as a pandemic.
Here we are nine and a half months later. Our patience has been tested over and over again. We’ve had to adapt our work, family, and personal lives in a way that most of us never imagined.
Even though 2020 will go down as one of the toughest years in many of our lives, in the end we’ve found a way to make it through.
Let’s talk for just a minute about how we’ve been able to do that because I believe there’s a common thread that has helped so many of us make it to the end of this year.
You gave yourself permission.
For a lot of us, it’s hard to give ourselves permission to go for what we want or to change something. Why? Our hesitation is usually grounded in fear and self-doubt.
It took 2020 throwing everything and more at us, and in some cases, backing us into a corner before some of us finally just said “To heck with it, I’m doing this.”
When you give yourself permission, you open the door to more growth, happiness, and fulfillment. And when you don’t, it holds you back.
Self-care is something I continue to talk about a lot during trainings and 1-1 meetings. Simply put, you are the most important person in your life.
As we turn the calendar to 2021, here are some important things that you may need to give yourself permission to do – professionally and/or personally.
- Permission to believe in yourself.
- Permission to change (things that aren’t working, or things that are working but maybe not as efficiently or effectively as they could be).
- Permission to step out of your comfort zone.
- Permission to try something new.
- Permission to think bigger.
- Permission to fail.
- Permission to worry less about what other people think.
- Permission to ask for help when you need it.
- Permission to keep bringing new ideas to your boss or your team even if they keep getting shot down.
- Permission to say no to things.
- Permission to acknowledge you’re not happy.
- Permission to change your work-life balance if you’re not happy.
- Permission to focus on what you can control – your mindset, attitude, and effort.
- Permission to remove negative people and people who bring you down from your life.
- Permission to take critical feedback from your boss or your colleagues and friends and use it as a growth opportunity instead of a personal attack.
- Permission to have a bad day.
- Permission to enjoy the process.
- Permission to take breaks.
- Permission to hold yourself accountable.
- Permission to set both short and long term goals.
- Permission to have fun.
Remember, you don’t need someone else to give you permission to do any of those things, it’s your decision.
If you read this article and feel like you’re already in a good place when it comes you giving yourself permission, that’s awesome! Who do you think could benefit from reading this? I encourage you to share it with them.
And if you’re interested in doing some more quick professional development during the holidays, you can find hundreds of articles with tips and strategies you can use here in our Admissions BLOG.