My 12 Big Lessons of 2022
2022 has been a fantastic year for me. As a young woman in my 20s, I started the year with many thoughts, overthinking, worries, and confusion, asking myself what the next step would be in my career. Eventually, I gained some insight into so many things. Finally, I applied the knowledge I gained and realized it worked!
Although I am not yet where I want to be, but I sure am in a better place than I was in 2021. Therefore, I have decided to put down 12 big lessons I have learned so far in 2022, these lessons impacted my life all year round, and they might also be helpful to someone out there. Have a good read!
My 12 Big Lessons of 2022
1. God first
In 2021, I found myself involved in so many activities; most times, I started them and ran to God to help me complete them, but eventually, I ended up failing in those activities. So I planned to avoid being caught up in the same situation in 2022. One day around January this year, a pastor said something that struck me. He said;
“When Christians share testimonies of how they got healed/delivered after praying and fasting for days or taking anointing oil. What do you think makes God answer their prayers? The Prayers? Fasting? Or Anointing oil? Of course not! If it were like that, many Christians would scale through life effortlessly.
The only thing that made their problems solved is the Grace of God. With God’s Grace upon anyone’s life, it becomes easy for them to scale through life. So in whatever you do, always pray for God’s covering (Grace) over you.”
This made me understand better what God’s word meant in Matthew Chapter six, verse 33. And from then forth, I decided that whatever I do, I would not shy away from putting God first.
2. Family Second
I owe these people everything; they were the first people I knew before meeting anyone else. So why on earth would I decide to run away from them? They stood by me at my worst and would celebrate with me at my best. In whatever I do, I ensure my family is strongly prioritized.
3. I am only 25!
I found it funny that many motivational speakers, especially some so-called social media motivational speakers, always love to pressure young people into being forced to do things they don’t want to do. You would mostly see things like
“If you are 20 and haven’t made your first million, you should hide,” or “if you are 30 and you are still living under your parents, you should cover your face.”
I understand they are trying to get people to sit up, but I believe there is time for everything. I, therefore, decided to motivate myself by telling myself I am only 25, I don’t have to rush through life when the time is right, all my desires would surely come, and it would be worth it in the end. Well, I don’t just motivate myself; I also work towards my goal. That way, I keep moving.
4. Listen and be close to people who listen
One of my hardest lessons this year is learning to become a student in every phase of my life. First, I cultivated the habit of listening more than I speak, which has helped me learn more from people around me and have proper discussions with people.
Listening to people helps me understand more about them and how to communicate with them. I eventually realized that listening is one of the most underrated soft skills for effective communication. Apart from listening to people, I learned to stick with people who are ready to hear my opinion.
5. Have a mentor and Network
One of the best pieces of advice I got from people this year was to “leave my comfort zone” and mix with people who know more than I do. Even though I found it challenging to do this at first, I could break free from my shell and connect with people with experience in my career field. This helped inspire my hustle.
6. To Never be ashamed of my hustle
This is one thing I carry on my head like gala. My hustle, job, and side jobs are one major part of me, and I have come to realize that when I focus on it, it pays me well. So I ensure I focus on developing myself career-wise regardless of the distractions that come with it.
7. Upskill
One of my many lessons of 2022 is to keep building myself. And the best way to do this in this modern age is to have a skill that can make you money. Both digital/tech and non-tech skills. I learned many skills this year that were helpful to my development both at work and in my personal life.
8. Financial literacy is key
If you find it difficult to survive in Nigeria during these challenging times, you would agree that controlling your finances is one of the hardest things to do. I, therefore, got exposed to learning about finances courtesy of a tech community I belong to; I4G. As a result, I took a financial literacy course, which taught me how to plan my finances better.
9. Read books
As a writer and fast reader, I felt this wasn’t going to be a complex process, but eventually, I shocked myself. I decided to try reading outside my favorite niches (law, crime, and history). I tried reading inspirational books. And I must confess, it was pretty challenging to finish up these books fast. Eventually, I had to develop an interest in inspirational books. One of my best so far is “Ego is the Enemy” by Ryan Holiday. You can check it out, also. It is a great book.
10. Jott my plans down
I am familiar with the saying “there is power in the tongue,” but I never knew there is also power in writing out plans. I mean, this works like magic! Don’t get me wrong, and I am not saying once you write something down, it must come to pass; I am simply trying to say that when you write out your plans, it becomes easier to track them and stick to them. I mean, it worked for me and can work for you too.
11. Regulate Social Media/Plan how to use Social Media
When people talk about spending hours on social media, I often find it difficult to believe it until I fall into this trap. I could literally spend hours streaming TikTok and Instagram, burning data on videos and threads. Eventually, I had to look for a way to stop this, as it could affect my work productivity and mental growth.
The first thing I did was to unfollow all the accounts that distracted me the most and switch to following people who I admire their lifestyle (people I see as mentors). With time, I got my focus back. I also avoided checking social media whenever I was supposed to complete any task to ensure the work was completed on time. This hack was an absolute lifesaver for me this year.
12. Repeat the process
So yeah, these lessons will always be helpful for me again, so I will always repeat this process and add more to it as I grow.
Thank you for reading.
What was the hardest lesson you learned in 2022? If you don’t mind sharing, you can drop it in the comment box below so I can learn from you, also.
