Failures and disappointments..
- I have tried for the last couple of years to really lose weight – I have failed dismally. After two years of trying – doing all the right things, tracking food, walking regularly – something in me snapped and I stopped exercising and did my bit for the junk food industry. As a result I am now the heaviest I have ever been. I have slowly started exercising again and I went to a naturopath for a more holistic approach. I have found that incredibly effective. I found doctors sucking in their breath and doing the “ooh, that’s not great” thing very unhelpful and demoralising – especially when my blood results were generally fine. I do not want to let my state of mind be dictated by a number on a scale any more.
- I am very proud of my 18 week Take the Lift course and when I went to offer it a second time to this list – I thought I would fill it again. I was wrong. That was very disappointing but that’s business for you.
- I had started with a new customer at the beginning of the year but it just didn’t work out. We had very different ways of working and I stupidly ignored some red flags at the beginning.
- I had planned to send out a newsletter every week – that failed too.
- I had to go on blood pressure medication – I know not everyone considers that a failure but I did…
- I am still struggling to get paid an invoice for work I sent in June – eventually – after threatening a solicitor’s letter – they said they would pay by the end of the year…we’ll see.
- I had planned to do more learning/experiments but again fell by the wayside..
What went well..
- At the beginning of this year I set myself a goal of passing a PowerBI exam – and I did first time. This was particularly important to me as the last time I had done a technical exam (not Microsoft) I had failed it three times. One of my goals for 2023 is to renew this.
- Work has really flowed to me this year – my first quarter for 2023 is nearly full.
- A couple of organisations ran Take the Lift for their staff and that went really well. If you would like to have a no obligation chat with me about it – book yourself in here –Book a 20 minute no obligation chat to see if my Excel training can help your staff
- My training ratings have been consistently excellent – 85% of respondents rated my training as excellent – very pleased with that.
- Have run Dashboard in a Day (Microsoft Power BI course) – again pleased with that. I ran it over 5 evenings – with my trainer hat on – there is a huge amount of content for one day
- I have stayed with virtual delivery all this year – again works very well – not for everyone but for the vast majority it makes learning flexible and can be fitted into the work day
- Published two books with BookBoon . Start to End: Use Excel to track your finances and Pivot Tables explained – Unleash this Excel Superpower and Convert your data to gold
- Started working with the amazing Jen Louden on my next book – which is all about making Excel your superpower.
- I got to spend time with friends and family in the UK this year. I got to visit Bath and saw the Grayson Perry exhibition in Salisbury cathedral.
- Got asked to write a blurb for one of my Excel hero’s books…Oz du Soleil’s Guerilla Data Analysis
- Son got a new apartment
- My cousin’s operation went well and she is on the slow road to recovery.
- I am so lucky that Zita Lewis does most of my admin – so that I know all the prep is done and she minds my customers like they were her own.
- I learned so much from being part of Sharon Gaskin’s Transformers group this year.
- Financially I am in good shape.
Lessons learned
- I am really going to have to use different metrics for my health than my weight. I really really tried and I failed.
- I love virtual delivery and that’s what I plan to stay with in 2023. I think it’s better for learners : bitesize, homework between (recorded) sessions, and a one stop shop with GiraffePad where you can have all the material in one place.
- I am going to think long and hard about offering public courses in 2023. That will be a theme for reflection for me over the rest of the year
- I am going to think about making these newsletter monthly rather than weekly…
- I really need to look at scheduling time for learning and experimentation.
Resources for reflecting on the year…..
https://chrisguillebeau.com/next-stop-annual-review
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ie/blog/how-do-life/201912/reviewing-your-2019