It’s the last day of 2022! Woohoo! According to TripIt, I’ve taken ten trips to twenty-one cities in five different countries, traveling 39,149 miles. It felt like a lot, but compared to 2019 numbers (eighteen trips, thirty-nine cities, eleven countries), I can see I’m not back to pre-COVID travel numbers. Fortunately, while I both need and want to see clients and friends in person, I never want to return to those numbers. Welcome to resolution #1 for 2023.
Well, if the goal is to not travel like an international spy (a common guess regarding what it is I actually do for a living), then what am I planning for 2023? I have a list!
Clients and Value
I enjoy what I do for my clients, but in 2023, I want to find ways to do more. To provide something they hadn’t expected or considered but that noticeably helps them achieve their missions. Right now, I think that will look like doing more behind-the-scenes research and distilling the results for them, but it might also be doing a bit more to help with outreach on platforms they might be missing. This goal is something that will evolve during the year, as it’s not a “one and done” kind of thing.
Personal Branding
I would also like to focus on how I present myself, as that influences what kind of work I attract. That means more attention to what and how I post on LinkedIn and Mastodon, more attention to my website, and more consistency in my blog posts.
But wait, there’s more! I plan to submit more guest posts to media outlets like FastCompany, Mashable, and Wired. I’ve learned so much from my community of standards experts, digital identity nerds, and research & education heroes. I want to share that with a broader audience.
Applied Learning
I love helping build and facilitate communities. I love it so much that I want to build one from scratch. This is where The Writer’s Comfort Zone comes in.
TWCZ is a project inspired by people reaching out to me to tell me a few things. First, they want to write more often; second, they need someone to hold them accountable; and third, they enjoy my writing style. (insert glowing gratitude emoji here)
I’m building a community on a platform called Circle (because Facebook is, well, Facebook). I have no idea if people will want to join. More to the point, I don’t know if people will pay to support the platform. But whatever happens, I’m enjoying the process of putting this together and it offers a “something different’ type of resolution that helps me step out of my box. Go live, if you’re interested, is January 31, 2023.
Vacation – the Biggest Resolution
I’m putting this out there as one of my biggest, most overwhelming resolutions for 2023. I am going to TAKE A VACATION. No, really, like a serious vacation. I’m talking about traveling away from home for a few weeks and focusing on something that has absolutely nothing to do with modern technology. I’m not sure about the last time I took a vacation like this. 2010, maybe?
I’ve taken some extended weekends and “breaks” where I worked for hours early morning and late at night so that I could do something different during the day, but this will be different. This vacation is called the Wool and Whisky Tour, hosted by Rowan Tree Travel and Fiber, in September 2023, and I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. This tour is set to tick all my boxes: seeing Scotland, check! (Somehow, I’ve never been to Scotland. Not sure how that’s (not) happened.) Visiting (and sampling!) whisky distilleries, check! Geeking out over sheep and wool, check check check!
I’ve already started warning my clients that I will be MIA for most of September. So far, they’ve received that well. We’ll see how they react when it actually comes time for me to evaporate for a month.
2022 – It’s a Wrap!
This past year was good for me. I met my financial goals, worked with great people, and learned new things. If 2023 is as good, I will be happy. These resolutions will help me make it even better.
Thank you for reading my post! Please leave a comment if you found it useful. If you want to start your own blog or improve your writing, you might be interested in another effort I’m spinning up, The Writer’s Comfort Zone. Learn more here!
If you’d like to have me on a podcast or webinar, my media kit is available for your reference.
