5 ideas that could transform your 2021, both personally and professionally

2021 has us all wondering what’s next and so much confusion about, well, everything, can be disorienting. It’s easier to work when you have clarity but we spend so much of our lives just groping in the dark, hoping that what we’re doing works out in the end.

A tip that should help — understand that most of the confusion we’re struggling with has been created by us.

Our unclarity is a source of income, of profit, for industries that provide us with “solutions” to them. It’s like creating an issue when there was none just so you can swoop in and save the day, and it’s happening EVERYWHERE.

Our mantra for 2021 is, therefore, to disentangle ourselves from the unnecessary web of chaos that we’ve spun. To do this, we need to embrace the power of small steps. Tiny changes to the way we deal with things can have consequences that alter the end result drastically.

Let’s talk about five such opportunities and how they can be applied, starting with…

1. Skill-based shifts

Without even realising it, we operate under the assumption that more is better.

If that’s the case, then it’s easy to see why we think that more skills, more inputs and more contributions are desirable. After all, having multiple skills means that you’re of higher value to the company. You need to be proficient in a whole bunch of things to retain your job.

Except, that isn’t true anymore. Everything going online has helped redirect demand and supply in a way that wasn’t possible before. It’s now fairly easy to find buyers for hyper-specialised products that would have been impossible to market before.

By zoning in on the parts that work for YOU, you carve your own niche in a market that has space for many. Stretching yourself thin by doing a dozen other things doesn’t help anyone in this situation. It’s better to do one thing and do it brilliantly than do a dozen and be mediocre.

To help you figure out what this is and get better at it, tools like Coursera, edx and even YouTube are worth their weight in gold. In the skill-based economy of today, it makes sense to exploit these resources to the limit. Learn all you can about your niche and aim to conquer it.

2. Task-based shifts

So much time and resources get eaten up by any company’s project management that it’s only natural to wonder whether they serve any real purpose. Turns out, they don’t. They’re clunky and ineffective and we could do without them.

So voila, as a result, we’re inching towards being a full-fledged “gig economy,” where outsourcing is the norm.

The thing to work on here is communication. For “gigs” that are a bit out of the box in any way, it’s incredibly important that both sides of the transaction understand what’s expected of the product. If anything gets lost in translation, the client is left frustrated and the seller has lost out on a potential flow of income.

Thus, the crucial step here is learning to organise and manage these micro-tasks. Once you’ve got that down, there really won’t be any stopping the perks that come along with it.

3. Community-based shifts

There is only so much that you can learn on your own. Once you feel like you’ve reached that limit, joining an online community can do wonders for the skillset that you’ve already built.

These spaces are filled with people that are interested in learning more about the same things that you are, be it data analysis and number crunching or something hyper-specific like Australian biotech.

Members can sharpen their talents through collaboration and the kind of curious, supportive environments they breed are the opposite of what your average corporate office fosters. Welcoming, encouraging and open to sharing, there’s not much to complain about.

The trick here is not to get lost at sea. Finding the right micro-community to join is a task in itself and can mark the difference between a fruitful and a frustrating experience.

These spaces are just starting out and will probably blossom some time down the line. It definitely doesn’t hurt to check them out even now, though, and take away from them whatever you can.

4. Income-based shifts

This section is the natural next step that follows the previous three. All your split up tasks, your fine-tuned skills and your collaborative communities can be used to create several different income flows.

This is in contrast to the traditional model of having a single job that grants you one big paycheck at the end of every month. Having several smaller flows prevents dependence on any one job and, importantly, gives you a lot more freedom in deciding what work you want to take up.

The small sums that you pick up will add up at the end of the month as long as you organise them practically and reasonably. They’re a great option for those who have hyper-specialised or want a little more flexibility.

5. Health-based shifts

There’s nothing like a global pandemic to remind you that your health should be a priority no matter what age you are. Even if you think it’s too late to start, keep in mind the often-quoted Chinese proverb:

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Developing healthy habits is key and a support group to keep you accountable for those all-important first weeks could help you stick to your goals. Start off slow and slowly ramp things up, taking the tiny, tiny steps that we’ve learned are oh so important.

2021 has been a challenge so far, but the rest of the year could be improved hugely by keeping in mind these five new trends. While it’s impossible to predict what’s going to happen next, it does seem like these changes could be here to stay and anyway, when did a little yoga do any harm?