We have launched into 2022 with high hopes and expectations to turn the corner, even as we enter year three of a global pandemic.

The turn of the calendar to a new year also brings to mind resolutions. A recent CBS News study found that fewer Americans planned to make resolutions in 2022 (29%) than in 2021 (46%). While empirical data suggest that it is fruitless to initiate resolutions, a Forbes magazine article focuses on the benefits of making resolutions as opposed to the resolutions themselves. According to Forbes contributor Tracy Brower, there are four benefits to making New Year’s resolutions. They are:

• Intention
• Hope & Engagement
• Responsibility
• Inspiration
  

Without extensively paraphrasing the author’s assertions, I would suggest that these four reasons are worth considering.

On intention, I would offer that our extended period of uncertainty cannot let us become complacent and continue to play defense. We should intentionally work to ensure we are able to tangibly benefit from our collective adversity through some sort of self-improvement initiative.

For hope and engagement, we need only recall where we were one or two years ago. Barren store shelves, rapidly changing COVID protocols and widespread isolation were more the norm than they are now. Even with the evolving impact of the omicron variant, we can see a path forward.

Responsibility is self-explanatory and should motivate us to ask ourselves what we can do to make the lives of others better. This is vitally important as we make our commitment to being a community leading the path forward a reality.

Finally, inspiration reminds us that we serve as role models for others even when we don’t realize it. That means our actions have the opportunity to motivate or demotivate others that observe or even choose to emulate us.

So, I urge us to take a look at this Forbes article as we ponder how to be better stewards of the opportunities that lie ahead of us, personally and professionally, in 2022.