It is that time of the year when we retrospect, reflect and take stock of the year gone by.
We reminisce about the good times, the achievements, the downfalls and of course, the ‘if only’ moments!
Getting over the 2021 fever (not the literal one), we have to gear up for the year 2022.
A brand new year deserves a brand new you.
No, we aren’t talking about the ‘new year, new me’ cliche, or the classic ‘new year resolution’ that just won’t cross the one-month threshold. Instead of focusing on a single positive attribute, we thought of dedicating the next couple of days to a series of values that you can carry with you for personal and professional growth in 2022.
Just like our business, we too, need to refresh and have a new outlook.
If the past two years have taught us anything, it’s that there is no permanence and that change is the only constant.
As business owners or creatives in a gig economy, we’ve had to pivot and find ways to grow and adjust within a new normal.
As we head into the new year with an equal dose of nervous excitement and enthusiasm, we at upGrowth have created an A-Z guide or checklist that will help you build a “2.0” version of yourself and your venture in 2022.
#ValuesforGrowth — a new series initiated by upGrowth, wherein we will feature values from A-Z that will help you and your business grow and spread a little positivity.
26 days, 26 letters of the alphabet, 26 attributes and values to help you on your growth journey, for business and beyond.
Adopt all, some, many, or just a few…each of these values will help you in some way in your line of work or for your personal development.
Attitude goes a long way in building relationships, be it personal or professional. Positive attitude helps you become strong and sane even in a whirlwind of chaos. Positive attitude strengthens your will to move ahead in life and succeed.
Balance is something you create, not something you discover. The key to success is balancing one’s professional and personal lives. Achieving a balance implies you have the freedom to do what matters most and also giving equal significance to other components of life. Every day, strive for that equilibrium. In the comments box, tell us how you strike the perfect balance.
You are defined by your bravery. To be brave, you must be willing to take risks and face your concerns, even if it is difficult or unpleasant!
Taking responsibility for your poor performance and seeking to improve it is a sign of honesty, and it encourages others to do the same! In the comments box, let us know what you’re working on.
Confidence, Clarity and Courage are the three C’s that will make your life easy and will enhance your personality. With these 3 traits added to your personality, you will be able to overcome your inhibitions and achieve your ambitions, both personally and professionally.
Confidence helps you believe in yourself, clarity contributes to keeping your mind focused, and courage encourages you to try something out of your comfort zone.
Imbibe these values and step ahead in your career and life.
Dedication is the first step towards success. This value will help you cross miles on your journey to achieving your goals. Be it your personal life or professional, dedication helps you focus on your dreams.
Dynamic Beat the ‘dull’ with the dynamic! A dynamic personality adds vigour to your life. Such a personality attracts energy and goes a long way in keeping your spirits high when the going gets tough. Imbibe these values for a better personal and professional growth.
Energy – a strong word that pushes you to explore your fullest potential. You can achieve your goals the ordinary way or by utilizing your energy to the fullest and set a new benchmark. The energy you radiate in your personal life, will also be reflected in your professional life.
It is important to be able to bend as per the situation. Flexibility allows you to find a way out of difficult situations and not being stuck at an issue. It is a quality that makes a person adaptable to his surroundings.
A friendly approach makes it easy to handle even the hardest issues. Personal or professional, a friendly demeanor can help you create lasting relationships and create a happy aura around you.
It is important to appreciate and be grateful for little things in life. Acknowledging the good things in life helps you gain a positive point of view for your personal and career growth.
Goal-oriented Being goal-oriented gives you the drive, the push and the motivation you need to achieve greater things in life. Hold on to this value for a flourishing life.
Spice up your life with this quality that will make your life cheerful and interesting. Humor acts as the perfect ice-breaker and eases the workplace atmosphere.
Being humble will take you farther than you expect. It gives you the positive spirit to take criticism sportingly and keeps you grounded when you are at your peak.
#ValuesforGrowth > Day 9: Letter I – Influential and Independent
Today, it is important to leave your footprints and make a solid mark. Being influential helps you make a difference in the things that matter. Imbibe this value for a brighter personal and professional future.
There’s nothing more empowering than feeling independent. Be independent in your actions and thoughts. It is only with this value that you will be able to embrace your individuality.
Spread the cheer with your Jauntiness! Being Jaunty adds a charm in your life and makes you instantly approachable. A cheerful and funny personality will spruce up your office atmosphere.
Make lives better with kindness. Kindness never fails. People are more likely to follow your example when you exude kindness. A more compassionate workplace will make everyone feel appreciated, which will boost productivity!
It is the conduct and not status, that defines leadership.
The ability to turn a vision into reality is what leadership is all about. Persuading others to support your ideas and making them a reality through communication makes you a good leader.
No matter how thick things are, motivation is the value that will keep you going during tough situations. Self-motivation is what you need to perform better in your life.
Focus on upgrading your skills. Your skills will ensure that you climb to the top of the ladder to success. Challenge yourself and make yourself competent by acquiring new skills.
A team makes the task fun, interesting, easy and most importantly, successful. Many small components together make a unit and it is only through the efficient and smooth functioning of this unit that your professional life will have a smooth sail.
It is important to be perceiving another individual’s thoughts, feelings and actions. The quality of being understanding helps prevail a congenial work atmosphere.
Being versatile adds different shades to your personality. Versatility gives you the zeal to learn new things and adapt to your surroundings. It gives you the flexibility to bend and make it through the problems.
You need the X-factor to stand out from the crowd. This quality can take you to the path of leadership as it brings out the uniqueness of your personality. The X-Factor will help you make a mark in the professional world.
Unless and until you yearn, you won’t be moving ahead in life. Yearn to learn new skills, new hobbies and break the mundane chain of activities. The quality of yearning will help boost your professional stature.
In order to achieve success, one needs to be zealous and dedicated. It is the energy that you need to scale great heights and not be burdened with the new challenges ahead. This quality will help you be happy and cheerful when the going gets tough.
So, that was about it! These were the A-Z guidelines for living a well-groomed, enthusiastic and meaningful life. With these values in tow, you will have an amazing and progressive 2022!
For Curious Minds
The #ValuesforGrowth series offers a foundational shift from temporary resolutions to permanent value integration. It provides a structured, 26-part guide designed to build a more resilient professional and personal self, recognizing that lasting change stems from character, not just goal-setting. This approach is more effective because it addresses the root of behavior and decision-making.
Instead of a single, often abandoned goal, this framework encourages a continuous journey of development. By focusing on one value for each letter of the alphabet, you can methodically build a stronger operational and personal philosophy. For example, cultivating a positive Attitude (Day 1) fundamentally alters how you approach challenges, while instilling Dedication (Day 4) ensures you persist through setbacks. This method creates a compounding effect, where each new value strengthens the others, leading to more profound and sustainable growth for you and your venture. Explore the full series to see how this A-Z guide can reshape your year.
This A-Z guide serves as an internal compass for navigating external uncertainty. Rather than prescribing specific business tactics that can become outdated, it focuses on building core attributes that enhance adaptability, resilience, and strategic thinking. For entrepreneurs, this means fostering an agile mindset from the inside out.
The guide's structure provides a roadmap for this development:
Attitude: A positive outlook helps you see opportunities in chaos rather than just threats.
Bravery: This encourages calculated risk-taking and the courage to make necessary pivots, even when uncomfortable.
Dynamic Personality: This value helps you attract new energy and ideas, preventing stagnation during tough times.
By systematically cultivating these 26 distinct values, you build a versatile personal and professional foundation that allows you to adjust your strategy without losing your core direction. Discover how each value contributes to a more robust business framework.
Cultivating a core value like Confidence creates a multiplying effect on all your capabilities, while acquiring a technical skill typically offers a linear, task-specific benefit. Prioritizing foundational values builds the capacity to learn and apply any future skill more effectively. Confidence, supported by Clarity and Courage, enables you to overcome inhibitions, make bold decisions, and inspire your team.
A technical skill might solve an immediate problem, but confidence in your abilities and vision is what drives sustained innovation and leadership. Consider that a skill can become obsolete, but the courage to learn a new one is timeless. The upGrowth series argues for a 'both/and' approach but emphasizes that values are the bedrock. A leader with deep-seated confidence is better equipped to identify which skills are necessary, delegate effectively, and lead through ambiguity. See how the series balances these concepts for holistic growth.
The series correctly frames 'Balance' as an active, creative process rather than a passive state. For a founder, this means designing intentional systems that separate and protect personal and professional spheres. This moves beyond simply hoping for work-life harmony and puts you in control.
Here are proven strategies inspired by this value:
Time Blocking: Schedule dedicated, non-negotiable blocks for personal life, family, and deep work. This creates clear boundaries.
Delegation with Trust: Practice the Bravery to entrust team members with significant responsibilities, freeing your mental and temporal resources.
Digital Detoxing: Establish firm 'off-hours' where you disconnect from all work-related communications to allow for genuine recovery.
Metric-Based Management: Focus on outcomes, not hours worked, for both yourself and your team.
By creating these structures, you build a sustainable engine for growth, avoiding the burnout that derails so many ventures. The full guide provides more values that reinforce this crucial balance.
This form of corporate Bravery, or radical accountability, is a powerful tool for building trust. It involves publicly acknowledging failures and transparently outlining corrective actions, which can transform a potential PR crisis into a moment of brand strengthening. This approach fosters deep customer loyalty and a culture of psychological safety.
A classic example is how some tech companies handle data breaches. Instead of minimizing the issue, a brave response involves immediate notification, clear communication about the failure, and offering robust support for affected users. This honesty, while difficult, demonstrates integrity. Internally, when leaders model this behavior by taking responsibility for strategic missteps, it encourages employees to innovate without fear of reprisal for failure. This creates a more resilient and honest organizational culture. The series explores how this value connects to others for a stronger foundation.
To integrate these foundational values, create a weekly operational rhythm focused on conscious practice. This method turns abstract concepts from the #ValuesforGrowth series into tangible business habits for your venture, creating measurable change over the course of the 26-day series and beyond.
Follow this four-week implementation plan:
Week 1 (Attitude): Start each day by identifying one potential challenge and framing it as an opportunity. At the end of the week, review how this reframing influenced your decisions.
Week 2 (Balance): Block out two one-hour 'no-work' zones during the business day for personal reflection or tasks. Measure your focus and energy levels afterward.
Week 3 (Confidence): Identify one business decision you have been avoiding. Use the principles of clarity and courage to make the call and document the outcome.
Week 4 (Dedication): Choose a single, vital business goal and dedicate an extra, uninterrupted hour to it each day. Track the progress made during this focused time.
This structured approach ensures you are actively building your '2.0' version. Learn how later values in the series build on this groundwork.
Adopting the #ValuesforGrowth framework builds an organization that is inherently agile, as it focuses on developing the character of the business rather than a static set of directives. A five-year plan can be shattered by a single market disruption, but a company culture built on values like Bravery and a Dynamic spirit is equipped to adapt and thrive in any environment. This approach creates a more resilient, future-proof venture.
Strategic plans define what to do, while a value system defines how you decide what to do. When the market landscape changes, a plan may become irrelevant, but your values remain your guide. For instance, a commitment to being Dynamic ensures your team is always seeking new energy and ideas, making pivots feel natural instead of forced. This creates a sustainable competitive advantage based on adaptability itself. The full A-Z guide details the complete set of values for building this operational resilience.
Traditional resolutions often fail because they are tied to external outcomes, and motivation falters when results are not immediate. The #ValuesforGrowth framework solves this by shifting the focus to an internal quality like Dedication, which is about committing to the process, not just the prize. This builds resilience against the inevitable plateaus and setbacks on any journey to success.
When dedication is the goal, every day you show up and put in the work is a victory, regardless of the immediate output. This creates a positive feedback loop that sustains effort over the long term. Unlike a resolution to 'lose 20 pounds,' the value of dedication encourages you to focus on 'being the person who consistently makes healthy choices.' This reframing, championed by upGrowth, fosters a stronger will and ensures your journey toward your goals continues long after the initial wave of enthusiasm has passed. See how other values in the series support this sustained effort.
This trio of values creates a powerful, self-reinforcing cycle that breaks through professional stagnation. Instead of waiting for external opportunities, it empowers you to create your own by first building internal resolve. This framework repositions career growth as an inside-out job, starting with your own mindset.
The synergy works like this:
Clarity: This is the starting point. It involves defining what you truly want from your career, your strengths, and your ambitions. It provides the 'what' and 'why'.
Confidence: With a clear direction, you can build genuine self-belief. This confidence allows you to project competence and advocate for yourself effectively.
Courage: Fueled by clarity and confidence, courage is the catalyst for action. It is the force that encourages you to apply for a promotion, start a new venture, or step outside your comfort zone.
Together, these three Cs form a roadmap for proactively managing your career path. The rest of the A-Z guide offers more tools to support this journey of self-actualization.
A leader fosters a dynamic culture by actively encouraging new ideas, celebrating experimentation, and breaking monotonous routines. It is about creating an environment where energy and intellectual curiosity are rewarded, which in turn fuels innovation and resilience. This approach transforms a passive team into an engaged and proactive one.
To build this culture, a leader can:
Introduce 'Challenge Hours': Dedicate time for the team to work on passion projects or solve non-critical but interesting business problems.
Rotate Responsibilities: Allow team members to temporarily take on different roles to gain new perspectives and skills.
Invite External Speakers: Bring in outside experts to inject fresh energy and thinking.
The expected outcomes are increased employee engagement, higher retention rates, and a greater capacity for creative problem-solving, especially when 'the going gets tough'. Explore the full upGrowth series to find more values that contribute to a vibrant team culture.
This structured approach breaks down the monumental task of self-improvement into manageable, daily actions. By focusing on a single value from the 26-part series each day, you can concentrate your efforts and achieve small, consistent wins, which prevents the overwhelm of a vague, all-encompassing goal. This methodology leverages the psychological power of incremental progress.
Instead of the daunting resolution to 'be a better leader,' the guide provides a concrete path: on day one, focus solely on Attitude; on day two, work on Balance and Bravery. This sequential process creates momentum and makes the journey feel achievable. Each day builds upon the last, creating a compounding effect that results in significant transformation over time without the initial psychological burden. The guide's structure is its key to making profound change accessible. Discover the full sequence to see how the journey unfolds.
Focusing on an internal value like Attitude provides a stable foundation from which to interpret and act on unpredictable external data. While market forecasts are essential, they are often wrong; a leader's attitude, however, is a constant they can control. It serves as the lens through which all opportunities and challenges are viewed, directly influencing strategic decisions.
A positive attitude, as defined by the upGrowth series, is not about ignoring negative realities but about maintaining the will to succeed even in chaos. It fosters creativity in problem-solving and resilience in the face of setbacks, qualities that data analysis alone cannot provide. In a volatile market, a team led with a constructive attitude is more likely to innovate and adapt, whereas one fixated only on grim forecasts may become paralyzed by fear. This value is the human element that turns data into decisive, successful action. The full series shows how this anchor strengthens a business.
Chandala Takalkar is a young content marketer and creative with experience in content, copy, corporate communications, and design. A digital native, she has the ability to craft content and copy that suits the medium and connects. Prior to Team upGrowth, she worked as an English trainer. Her experience includes all forms of copy and content writing, from Social Media communication to email marketing.
Growth Strategy and Planning
