Christopher S. Penn – Marketing AI Keynote Speaker

Almost Timely News, 26 December 2021: Annual Reviews, 12 Days of Data

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Christopher S Penn
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What’s On My Mind: Annual Reviews

Wherever you are, whatever your belief system, I hope that you have a chance to rest this holiday season, gather together with people you care about, and refresh yourself for the year ahead. This past year was a blur, while 2020 felt like a slog, but there are some days when I still think it’s March 657, 2020. Thank you for being here with me this year.

This week and next, the newsletter will be a little shorter. Actually, a lot shorter, because we all want to enjoy the holidays as best as we can. One interesting exercise I think worth considering is a non-work catalog of the year. We all do reviews of some kind, be it quarterly reviews, annual reviews, etc. and we have – or should have – a decent sense of where we are in our professional lives.

So… when was the last time you gave yourself a non-professional annual review?

Look at the things we ask on annual reviews, like the GOOD framework from Quantum Workplace:

  • Goals: What goals did you set out for the year? Did you achieve them?
  • Obstacles: What things stood in the way of your goals? Were you able to work around them?
  • Opportunities: What did you pursue for learning and professional development to increase your skills?
  • Decisions: What will you do more of next year? What will you do less of?

That framework is useful for the workplace, but also really useful for the rest of your life.

Where are you with your friendships and relationships? What goals, obstacles, opportunities, and decisions did you have this past year? For example, I’ve doubled down on Slack and Discord and participating in some creative communities that have really nurtured my soul, something essential during the last two years.

Where are you with your personal finances? What goals, obstacles, opportunities, and decisions did you have this past year? For example, I set some saving goals this year that I managed to hit.

Where are you with your spiritual life? What goals, obstacles, opportunities, and decisions did you have this past year? For example, I set a goal to do more meditation, and missed that goal.

Where are you with your health? What goals, obstacles, opportunities, and decisions did you have this past year? I set a goal this past year to run a 5K. Not only did I do that, I managed to improve my fitness so much that I basically run a 5K every weekend.

Where are you with your self-expression? What goals, obstacles, opportunities, and decisions did you have this past year? For example, I started doing more creative writing in 2020 and wanted to continue in 2021, and I managed to do quite a bit more, exceeding my goal.

Before we can talk about our goals and plans for the next year, we need to look at the year that was. We need to do our performance review for the non-work parts of our life – and if it turns out that we got a bad review, that’s okay. That’s the place we start for building a better plan for the next year, and unlike a job where a bad review just gets us fired, a bad review in our personal lives is the blueprint for what’s next for us.

Take the time if you can to do this review for yourself and see how 2021 went for you for everything outside your work.

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ICYMI: In Case You Missed it

If I had to suggest only one of these articles to read from this week, it would be the latest entries in our 12 Days of Data 2021 edition. I put this series together every year and it’s always an eye-opening delight to see the year in review from a data perspective. Let’s get caught up!

Skill Up With Free Classes

These are just a few of the free classes I have available over at the Trust Insights website that you can take.

Thank You Notes

These are the places you’ve interviewed me – on your podcast, on your blog, in your newsletter. Thank you!

How to Stay in Touch

Let’s make sure we’re connected in the places it suits you best. Here’s where you can find different content:

Required Disclosures

Events with links have purchased sponsorships in this newsletter and as a result, I receive direct financial compensation for promoting them.

Advertisements in this newsletter have paid to be promoted, and as a result, I receive direct financial compensation for promoting them.

My company, Trust Insights, maintains business partnerships with companies including, but not limited to, IBM, Cisco Systems, Amazon, Talkwalker, MarketingProfs, MarketMuse, Agorapulse, Hubspot, Informa, Demandbase, The Marketing AI Institute, and others. While links shared from partners are not explicit endorsements, nor do they directly financially benefit Trust Insights, a commercial relationship exists for which Trust Insights may receive indirect financial benefit, and thus I may receive indirect financial benefit from them as well.

Thank You!

Thanks for subscribing and reading this far. I appreciate it. As always, thank you for your support, your attention, and your kindness.

See you next week,

Christopher S. Penn

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