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To give myself some perspective, I tend to list a few of the things I did in 2022. If I don't write what I did on a regular basis, I tend to get the idea I cruise along career-wise, which makes me increase my efforts to a rate I can not sustain. The funny thing is, in hindsight, I always see and think I did get many things done.
This is something I have done in some capacity for a few years now.
You might ask, why did I start keeping track of accomplishments in a review-type exercise? There has been a stage in my career where I was looking at what seemed a burnout, it turned out to be a boreout instead. The effect on your well-being is similar, but the remedy is the opposite. Instead of taking a step back and making sure you get the rest and relaxation you need, with a boreout you need to step back and figure out what you need to change to actually keep yourself stimulated and excited enough.
One piece of advice I have to give. When learned I was not doing so great, I immediately sought professional help. I am glad I did. And the conclusion was a boreout. So instead of taking enough time off, I needed to amp my excitement for my day-to-day work by changing what I was doing. It did not help I was dealing with a manager who was keen on pushing me into a direction I did not want to develop careerwise. At the same time, the technical work I was doing was not too challenging. Fortunately, this is now years behind me. I did set out on a journey of discovery of what I needed from a job to make sure it would not make me go crazy or bore my brains out. 😅
A nice part of this journey is my current note-taking process. You might not know this, maybe if you read my book. I firmly believe in taking notes and, on top of that, storing your knowledge externally. That is, not in your brain but in some format that works for you.
Part of this note-taking is also a periodic review of where I am at. As a person, a professional, and whatever lens I want to use when assessing myself. An important part of this periodic review process is looking back over longer periods of time. What changed in my general work, what new things did I do, and what did I achieve? I specifically mention periodic, not annually. I might do this once a year, sometimes after 6 months, sometimes much more often. It depends on what I need at that time. And as it turns out, this holiday period I felt it was time again for a review.
So here is just a quick overview of some of the things I did publically. There is more, a lot more, but that's part of my private/personal life. Think things about my family, our finances, and our family goals. All important stuff, more important than all the public things even. But part of my private life. Things I only share with my wife and perhaps a close friend. If I even need to share some of those things at all.
Lesson to take away from all of the above. My advice for you for 2023 is to get into the habit of creating and growing your personal knowledge center, an external brain. Search for things like Personal Knowledge Management (PKM). Let me know. A year from now, let me know how it worked for you.
