New Year's Eve, so we meet again. Since it's the last day of 2014, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the year. It was a tough year but so worth it. Here are some things I learned:
1. Make sleep a priority
I have tendency to spread myself thin. I want to do everything and I want to be everywhere. When I started the year, I was working in a job with overnight hours. The job gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted during the day, but I never quite figured out when to sleep. Usually, it was broken up throughout the day in 3-4 hour blocks. I was in a consistent zombie-like state and not a fun person to be around. Arianna Huffington was right, "Sleep your way to the top."
2. Timing is everything
Earlier in the year, I got a job offer from a company I really admired. I was excited about what the company was doing, but the position wasn't helping me propel my career forward from a responsibility and compensation perspective. I ran the offer by a few members of my board of advisors, and they all had their hesitations about it. I was stubborn and tried to defend my reasons for why I was going to take it. When I took a step back, they were right. While it was nice to feel like another company wanted to hire me, I was unhappy in my role at the time and my emotions almost drove me to make a rash decision. Ultimately, the timing and position were not right for me. A few months later, I received another job opportunity, and it was the right time for me to leave.
3. Make time for you
Sometimes you just need time for yourself to recharge. Especially in a place like New York City, everyone is so ambitious. Why does everyone have to be in such a rush? I spent the latter half of this year finding time for myself. No plans, no errands to run. It was amazing. I know we have a million things booked on our calendars and on our to-do lists, but why can't we make "me time" a priority too?
4. Show up
I'll admit, there are times when I'm "too tired." Seriously, I hate that excuse, but I'm not perfect either. There are also times when I'm not really in the mood to "network." Actually, that's most of the time, but I digress. If you live in NYC, you know that this is an amazing place. Friend's birthday? Networking event? Just show up. Chances are, you won't regret it. This year, I had the chance to be inspired by Arianna Huffington, Soledad O'Brien, Alexa von Tobel, Amy Chua, Chantel Waterbury, Scott Harrison, Louie Psihoyos, the list goes on. And I had the chance to support and catch up with some of my amazing friends.
5. Everyone matters
This is advice I would give to college students looking for networking advice at finance internship information sessions, but it applies outside of that. I try to make it a point to make everyone feel welcome, because it sucks to not feel welcome. And I'm sure we've all been on the receiving end of that before. I also try to make it a point to respond to your messages and meet with you if we're in the same city. (If you've sent me a message and I haven't responded, please send it again.) Everyone has a story, everyone is interesting, and everyone matters.
6. If you don't ask, the answer is always no
This can apply to a lot of different areas of life, but for me, it was about stepping outside of my comfort zone. I had originally asked my mentee if she knew of any campus organizations that might be interested in hosting an event with my chloe + isabel business (there is a lot of asking involved here, too). She ended up introducing me to a campus organization that wanted me to share my career advice with its members. It was incredible to see how much of an impact my personal story could have on others and motivated me to want to find more opportunities to share my story.
7. It's OK to make new dreams
I thought I was following my dreams. I wanted to meet interesting people and have a broad platform to make an impact. I was in a job thinking I was taking steps toward my dream, but after awhile, I was so unhappy that I wasn't hungry to keep chasing it. I read the open letter from Bethenny Frankel when her show was canceled, and it resonated with me: "I felt a bit diluted, filtered and somewhat constricted. I am a free spirit. My late father (a horse trainer) used to say 'She is a mustang. You need to let her run.'" I finally had to admit to myself that the reality wasn't what I wanted.
8. Save, save, save
It really wasn't until I went to LearnVest Live that I started thinking about saving. You never know when life is going to throw you a curve ball and your financial situation changes. Set aside some money every month in a money market or savings account.
Do you agree? What did you learn?
