New Year’s Resolutions

I am not normally one for New Year’s resolutions.  I find they are often intentions that are never fully realised as planned.  The classic ones are often health related, for example drinking less or doing more exercise.  We start the year with a great intention.  We may be resolute that this year will be different.  January sees us doing well. February though tends to see the death knell of most resolutions.  Apparently 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by the second week in February.

With this in mind I have thought carefully this year about New Year’s resolutions.  Firstly I will need some that are “quick fixes” that I can get done in January.  I then need to identify some that are realistic and that I am passionate about to keep going.  Like any goals in life there needs to be a balance between being aspirational and realistic.  Goals that are too easily attained do not leave us with that feeling of achievement.  However goals that are not realistically achievable leave us feeling deflated.  It is also important to get a mix of short term and medium to long term goals.

2021 New Year’s Resolutions

Wild / Cold Swimming

I started wild swimming here over the summer.  It became cold water swimming as autumn led into winter.  I have always been a water sports and sea enthusiast.  I used to swim 2km daily when I lived in Barcelona and I regularly go scuba diving (or rather used to).  With Covid however I am avoiding pools and diving is currently also off the table. I do however live in view of the sea (20 mins by car) on the British east coast so sea swimming is an obvious hobby.  Since September I have taken to going swimming in the sea a couple of times a week.

I am proud to say that I am not wearing a wetsuit and I am still in my bikini!  It is brutally cold but I am definitely seeing a health impact. Besides the physical health impact, mentally it is great too.  The feeling of achievement when you have swum a couple of laps, in a bikini, in water that is 6 degrees cold and an outside temperature of 1 degree, is huge.  The look on people’s faces as they see you stroll in is also priceless!  Plus being by the sea in such a stunning location always lifts the spirits too.

It therefore makes sense that as my first New Year’s resolution I should choose to continue sea swimming, in a bikini and on a regular basis, for the rest of the year.

Professional advancement

I decided to terminate my contract with my existing client at the end of last year.  One of the reasons was that I wanted to take some time to do some training.  Having spent the last year supporting a pharma company with its digital transformation I feel like I have lost touch with some of the latest and coolest innovations happening in the tech space.  For example I had no idea robots could dance!

I also want to take my professional offering to the next level and support that with training. I already started this last year using Linkedin learning.  So far it has been more a refresh – and actually made me realise that I do really know my stuff when it comes to digital marketing.  It has also though started to inspire me as to what I want to do next and what I could really achieve.  On a side note it is really interesting to see this evolution from Linkedin.  Recently I have been supporting clients in how to use Linkedin for promotion but I think there is also a huge opportunity to explore the Linkedin learning offering too, and how to supplement internal training with what already exists, for free, online.

So my second New Year’s resolution is to do a regular stream of online courses throughout the year.  I am also considering taking up Mandarin again … but not sure I want to commit to a New Year’s resolution on keeping that up all year!

Content

Leading on from this one of the things the Linkedin learning has nudged me to do is to think about is developing more content for this blog!  I would love to resolve to do a weekly post but I know I probably won’t always manage that.  Instead I want to set a minimum of 2 posts a month but try to aim for weekly whenever possible.  I would also like to share some other content rather than just posts – maybe a few videos or slide decks.  Given my interest in photography I feel like I should also share more of my photos too.

 

So my third New Year’s resolution is to develop more content!  To support this I will probably also add an offshoot to also read more and be more active on social media.

 

Quick Fix New Year’s Resolution

To support my second and third resolutions I have decided a fourth New Year’s resolution will be a “quick fix” resolution that I will aim to complete this month.  I plan on putting together a learning plan with key topics I want to refresh on (like blockchain) or get some qualifications in (like mentoring).  I then also want to develop a content plan for the year – which might make for a blog post when it is done!

There are other resolutions I would love to add but I want to be realistic.  I also need to take into account that until I am vaccinated I am limited in what I might be able to achieve.  Case in point is that I would love to achieve last year’s plan of getting my technical diving certification – but I would want to do that in Asia so it may have to wait.  I would also like to lose some of the weight I have put on but right now that is what is keeping me insulated when I go swimming so perhaps not on the agenda!

My final resolution would be to be kind and make an effort to stay in touch with my friends across the world.  I know some of them are really struggling as a result of lockdown and Covid.  However this should not be relegated to a New Year’s resolution.  This should be a life time resolution and something we should all try and do.

So let’s see how I do with my New Year’s resolutions … you can follow my progress by seeing if I manage to post more content on here!