5 Ways to Include Inclusion in 2025

And some recommended resources

Author

Laura Paisley Beck
December 18, 2024

How are you preparing for the holiday season while wrapping up 2024? What reflections do you have about your 2024 goals and the year end reality? What emotions and themes are you bringing into 2025?

Table of Contents

We all want progress — moving forward, or upward.

We will not accomplish progress alone. Chances are we must work with people who wear different hats, grew up in different circumstances, developed different opinions, and hold different beliefs. So how do we progress with people who are different?

Here is a small collection of resources and personal tips to help you find common ground, belonging, understanding, and inclusion for a year of love, peace, and prosperity.

1 - Connect in Divisive Times

First of all, I recommend watching/rewatching the Birds Aren’t Real TED Talk. Some of you might be facing controversial or contentious conversations over the holidays. In this excellent TED Talk, Peter McIndoe makes us laugh, and then brings us to our knees for a serious ‘What if’ question worth asking.

2 - Learn How To Collaborate

My friend, Gregg Potter, is a collaboration coach who helps individuals and teams learn collaboration frameworks and skills. Perhaps one of his offerings will be just what you need for a smooth 2025.

The Lifecycle of collaboration, by Gregg Potter, and Collaborative Cohorts program.

3 - Gain Global Perspectives

Did you know you can help adults from around the world learn business English? My British friends living in Portugal told me about Cambly and how fun it is to meet people around the globe who want to practice their conversational English. It brings me so much joy to help sales and marketing professionals in Brazil, Turkey, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, China… with their pronunciation and grammar while they share what’s going on in their world. And it’s humbling. Try it!

Laura! You've really helped me a lot! Susan, you are doing so well! I love your presentation.

Hint: You don’t tutor on Cambly for the pay. I think of it as the students buying my coffee while we talk about business and practice tricky pronunciations. Bonus: learning other cultures.

4 - Understand Our Trans Colleagues

According to the Williams Institute, 1.3 million adults in the US identify as transgender. Better understanding our trans colleagues is essential so that we truly practice inclusion. Like one of my students (who is an HR professional for Microsoft) said, We cannot have diversity without inclusion. We must embrace inclusion in the workplace, first and foremost.

Here is my recommended reading for a 2025 year of understanding and inclusion:

Erin Reed’s Substack: Erin in the Morning

A.C. Fowlkes, Phd book, Transgender Inclusion

Erica Vogel’s book, Advice From Your Trans Aunty

5 - Understand Yourself. Love Yourself.

❝

Love yourself first, and everything else falls in line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.

Lucille Ball

Living and working with love starts from within. My advice?

  • Get yourself a nice new Leutchtturm1917 A5 journal with dot grid paper, or the Rhodia Goalbook, some fun pens in your favorite colors from your local art supply store, and journal every morning, first thing.

  • Write a full page of ways you are grateful for yourself.

  • Write another full page of wonderful accomplishments and proud moments.

  • Write a long list of all the people you’re grateful for. Leave space to note when you send them thoughtful, detailed gratitude.

  • Brain dump for pages and pages.

    • If you find yourself journaling out some trauma from your past, give yourself a lot of love after that session. Take a longer shower. Do some yoga and/or breathing exercises, hug yourself, go for a long walk, reach out to a good friend.

    • and when you are ready, it could be a different day, let yourself rewrite that story as to how you needed it to happen. Tell yourself you are loved and safe.

  • Meet me for coffee, creative writing prompts, brainstorming, connecting and cheerleading. You know I love you! 🤟

You will usually see me with my trusty water bottle (loaded with stickers), an A5 journal, trusty red readers, shark fountain pens, a good book (pictured here, Advice from your Trans Aunty, by Erica Vogel), and my AirPods Max. Oh! And those are spicy chickpea puffs that I absolutely adore!

Sending you love with all my heart,

Laura