It’s that time of the year once again. As we celebrate the close of one year and look towards the beginning of a new one, we’re all inclined to make a little bit of a recap. It’s a fresh new start, filled with exciting new opportunities and the perfect chance to learn from any little slip-ups (after all, we can leave these firmly back in 2020).
We’ve all made a promise to our business and our teams. We’ve made a commitment to continuously improving our outcomes and changing how people feel about their work. We’ve been optimizing our workflows the whole year long; we’ve been increasing our performance and decreasing delivery times to grow loyalty and building up even more trust with our customers all the while.
But first, let’s go forward by taking a step back. Do you remember why you wanted to improve in the first place? What were the drivers that fuelled your decision to take on that transformation initiative?
Often, with all the energy and effort that goes into each day, we forget to think about why we’re putting in all this work. But you know what? That’s ok! Today, with the new year just about to start, we’re going to return to our initial purpose and remember why it was so important for us.
For those of us who can’t stay still for a second, forgetting why we’ve started is easy.
Let’s try to remember why we wanted to change. Was it because there is too much work to handle at a time? Or was it due to seeing our teams falling into a full-fledged burnout while working hard to meet unrealistic expectations? Did we struggle to hit our targets? Was it because we’ve lost the trust in our team’s ability to deliver or probably we were tired of always being late? Was it because we wanted more transparency, more predictability, more time to spend with our families, more joy of doing what we’re doing…
These are meant to be your reasons for starting down this path of change. But do you still remember them?
Today, we’re going to make a commitment together to stay present and show up differently in 2021.
Let me give you some personal context. Last week, I was reviewing a new digital course and suddenly I found myself opening a bunch of browser tabs. And then, I found myself looking at LinkedIn on my phone. And then my husband Hristo came in while I’m trying to listen, he sat down on the chair right in front of me and he wanted to chat.
Wait for a second! I was supposed to be present in that session, and in fact, my mind was going in 20 different directions instead.
At that moment, I snapped out of it. I said to myself “this is not how I’m supposed to do things”. I will not be able to achieve what I wanted if I allow this to keep happening. I need to stay present, I need to remember my why. Every time I do something that’s taking me away, I say “today, I’m going to stay present, I’m going to show up different!”.
When I go to my phone (cause I’m addicted), pick it up and start scrolling, what I remind myself is “I’m going to show up different today”! Just today, and I’m reminding myself that every single day.
Don’t lose yourself in multitasking or forget what’s important. Start being present. Do it once and you’ll feel so proud of yourself. What’s more, you’ll have accomplished so much more by the end of the day by just snapping out of it quickly and keeping your goals at the forefront of your mind.
And yet, remember that we’re only human, so it’s ok to behave like one.
When I feel nervous or overwhelmed by the day and this negativity gets stuck in my head, when Hristo sees it, he’ll say to me ‘Sunny, come back here!”. Right away, he snaps me back into the present. He pulls me out of this mind trap back to the present.
What I want to say today is “Come back here!”. You could have lost yourself somewhere along the way, but this is your invitation to remember your why and show up differently today. Play full out! Show up today. That’s my commitment that I’m going to make for myself and I want you to make it for yourself as well.
Embrace your goals once more and start making them come true!
You can’t imagine how much time and energy we waste by wondering and hesitating, searching for excuses, or letting our own insecurities take over. Instead – just be brave and make a difference.
Remember your motivation. What does success mean to you?
Is it more money? That’s fine, I’ve got nothing against money! Maybe it’s to manage happy and engaged people, maybe it’s to make realistic commitments and meet them every time, maybe it’s to do the right things the right way, or to leave the company culture a little bit of a better place than how you found it.
Think about what success means to you, and continue asking yourself that question throughout the year. Although your answer may change over time, do yourself a favor – whatever your answer is, don’t do anything that will jeopardize your goals.
For the start of the new year, our message to you is this:
Be present and always remember your why!
From all of us at Nave, we wish you great success in achieving your goals and dreams in 2021.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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Meet the Author

Sonya Siderova is a passionate product manager and a driving force behind Nave, a Kanban analytics suite that helps teams improve their delivery speed through data-driven decision making. When she's not catering to her two little ones, you might find Sonya absorbed in a good heavyweight boxing match or behind a screen crafting a new blog post.
Thank you for this post Sonya!
A thoughtful and useful post! Thank you Sonya.