Happy New Year to all of you fabulous women in travel and hospitality! I hope your holidays were joyful and relaxing. Mine were, and I was especially grateful for the downtime, which enabled me to spend quality time with my family and close friends. One thing I didn’t do, however, was make New Year’s resolutions. Why? Because after two years of a pandemic with seemingly no end in sight, putting more pressure on myself by setting a goal that might not be realistic doesn’t work for me this year.

In fact, Dr. Sophie Lazarus, a psychologist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, says we may be better off without making resolutions. In this recent article, Dr. Lazarus says that while there really is nothing inherently bad about making New Year’s resolutions, things can get problematic when they’re done from a place of pressure or obligation.

“What we don’t want to do is set a really large sweeping kind of goal and resolution and not meet it and feel more stressed and discouraged,” said Lazarus. “We sometimes think it’s going to help us get more done or be more productive. I think it really tends to just increase our stress and make things worse.”

Goal setting as a new year begins, however, can be very important. So, what if instead of focusing on resolutions we spend our time on reflection as a way to help us set goals? What if we spend time thinking about everything we accomplished in 2021 and getting a motivation burst from that?

As such, instead of setting goals for 2022, I spent some time putting together a list of things I’m most proud of completing in 2021. They include sending my first-born off to college; helping to safely and successfully launch a live musical theater production of “Grease” in my community this summer; working with our fabulous team to bring both Women Leading Travel & Hospitality and Women in Retail Leadership Circle in-person events to life; spending more time with my 84-year-old mom; and walking and enjoying nature more.

Looking at what I accomplished this year gave me positive reinforcement and also helped me set the tone for the upcoming year. Ultimately, this type of reflection will help me reach more realistic goals than a New Year’s resolution ever could.

What are some things you accomplished in 2021 that you’re most proud of? And how is this reflection helping you with your goal setting in 2022? Please let us know by dropping me a line at mcampanelli@napco.com.

And remember, Women Leading Travel & Hospitality is all about helping you work through your goals in both your professional and personal life. We thrive on being the steady and trusted resource you need for whatever obstacles come next. Our mission is to inspire and empower our community of women leaders by providing unparalleled resources, support and motivation for personal and professional growth. Tell us how we can best do that via this survey. If you’re interested in joining our group, please check out our website and apply for membership.

Happy New Year!