2023, I’m ready for you!
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I’ve been thinking a lot about the past year, what went well and what didn’t, and how I’d like the next 12 months to look. If you’re going through the same process, I hope my thoughts will inspire you.
My Word for 2023
I’m at an age where many of my friends, clients, and former co-workers are retiring, but I’m enjoying myself too much to do that any time soon! Instead, I’ve decided to:
Free up time for my personal pursuits simply by eliminating tasks that don’t really serve me or my business.
Instead of spending time creating content that just adds to the noise of social media, I’ll focus more on connecting with members of the groups I run and others where I’m active. As an introvert, I compare this to skipping the large networking mixers where you get lost in the crowd in favour of smaller events where it’s easier to build relationships because you see the same people all the time.
Feature more of my own photography on my blog posts in the coming months.
Connecting my hobby with my business in this way will reduce the time I spend searching for the perfect stock photo, make my content more unique, and provide inspiration for future photos, while bringing more joy to my life and hopefully to my readers.
Grow my network of service providers for connecting clients with people who can assist in areas outside my wheelhouse rather than expanding my service offerings or my team.
In case you didn’t guess, my word for 2023 is CONNECTING. I am confident that the above steps, and others that will likely come to me, will help me to keep my business going strong without putting in quite as many hours as I have in the past.
Year-End Review and Planning Resources
If you’re looking for help in this area, I invite you to read one or more of my posts from previous years:
- Your Business Year-End Review
- Set Your Compass to Reach Your Goals for the New Year
- Planning for Your Best Year Ever
- Happy New Year to You and Your Organizing Business! (about the “one word” strategy)
And for a more comprehensive guide, I highly recommend my friend Julie Bestry’s Organize Your Annual Review & Mindset Blueprint for 2023.
My 2022 in Review
I often wrap up the year by describing books I’ve read, my photography projects, and other things that have happened in my life. Rather than rehash what’s already been posted elsewhere, I invite you to check out My Year in Books and to check out my ratings and reviews. For my photography, follow my personal Instagram account.
After engaging in a number of fun “away from my desk” activities in 2019, I had high hopes for 2020, but we all know what happened then. I’ve been getting back into things very slowly, and it’s been amazing gathering in person after meeting online for over two years. I was especially excited to perform with Women of Song at our first concert in three years.
At work, I improved my customer service a number of ways:
- Completed the transition of all my clients to my new and improved Website Hosting & Care Plan
- Emailed important news and information to my clients every month
- Conducted a Personalized Website Review with most clients to identify potential improvements
I also became better at saying “no” to opportunities that aren’t a good fit for me and will create more stress than I need.
Back to you
I’m looking forward to connecting with YOU this year!
Let’s start now – please leave a comment and share your “one word” for 2023 or something about your own year-end review and planning process.
Photo © Janet Barclay
Janet Barclay
I eliminate stress for my clients by hosting, monitoring, and maintaining their WordPress sites so they don’t have to worry about security, downtime or performance issues. When I’m away from my desk, I enjoy reading, photography, cooking, watching movies, drinking tea, and spending time with my family.
Happy New Year, Janet! I love your word and your reason for selecting it. My word for 2023 is persevere. As you know Jonda Beattie and I joined forces in creating the company Release Repurpose Reorganize in 2020. We also created 3 new products, a clutter support group, as well as co-authored and published a best-selling book on hoarding tendencies. My reason for selecting my word, persevere, is that this year I will work to create better channels through which to market and sell our products. We know they are well-made products and that they fill a need. Now it’s time to truly get the word out. I’m chipping away at that task.
Ooh, that’s a good one – thank you for sharing it and your reason for choosing it. I wish you much success with your many ventures!
Wow! I am loving all of the resources you share. I am impressed by all of the books you have read. My first thought for a Word of the Year was Smooth and Easy but thats two words so I decided on Simplify. I can make things hard on myself but the more I think about something being easier the more that it is. Thank you Janet!
Simplify is an excellent choice and I think it encapsulates your thoughts very well. I’m sure you’re going to rock it!
I love how intentional you are, Janet. The word CONNECT is a powerful one. In fact, the small groups at our church are nicknamed “CONNECT groups,” so I love this whole thought! I agree that there is a lot of content out there, and I too am thinking about how to spend less time spinning wheels on things that don’t pay big rewards (which may include less frequent blog posts this year).
When it comes to photography, I hope you get a kick out of my photos for GO Month this year. Definitely not stock photos LOL!
Happy New Year, and I look forward to connecting more.
Wow, thank you – I hadn’t thought of myself as intentional. 🙂 I hope if you blog less often, you’ll continue to share your posts (older and newer) in Blogging Organizers, because I love CONNECTING with you there!
I look forward to seeing your GO Month photos.
I love the word Connect for the year! Great pick. My word of the year is ‘abundance.’ This doesn’t mean income only. Abundance means fulfillment, mindfulness, completion, sharing, and connecting with others. Happy New Year!
Abundance is fabulous – it really does encompass everything.
Ever since we “connected” at least 15+ years ago (I’ve lost track), you’ve been a delight in my professional and personal life, so I love that you’re sharing these things with us. I’m perusing your Goodreads list and seeing where we’ve read books in common (and where I’m intrigued by titles new to me).
Thank you so much for mentioning my blog post. You have always been a superb connector, and I’m delighted to be in your realm.
And over these past three years, I’ve felt so cheated by all the things I expected, planned, or wanted that didn’t come to pass through little-to-no fault of my own, so my word for 2023 is FULFILLED. I’m going to focus on the ways that I am whole and at peace just the way I am, and will do things that fulfill me in the moment rather than feeling that everything has to be building up to something (possibly) unattainable.
It’s more than 20 years now, Julie! Hard to believe, isn’t it?
I love your word choice and am sure you will be able to fulfill it.
Connecting is such a great word and such a wonderful goal all the time. It’s such a great focus for 2023 and I wish you all the best.
Thank you, Janet!
I think a good word for me to keep in mind this year would be ACCEPTANCE, as it pertains to personal and professional aspects of my life. Since this is a “professional” site, I’ll just say: acceptance that not every project idea I undertake will bear fruit, that not all published books will get the attention they deserve, that changing a work routine can be like hitting “refresh” for a time, and then another change might be called for without it meaning the first change was a failure. And as I’ve known for a long time but often need to remind myself of nonetheless: acceptance of the fact that the best part of being in a creative profession is in the act of creation. Janet, you know me well enough to know what’s on the “personal” side of opting for ACCEPTANCE. 🙂
Ooh, Kathy, “changing a work routine can be like hitting “refresh” for a time” is brilliant. ACCEPTANCE is a great word choice!
What a wonderful word, Janet! Even though you describe yourself as an introvert, you have always been a natural connector. Just look at how you’ve grown the Blogging community and the many ways you support and encourage us to connect.
My 2023 word is “nourish.” It’s about feeding the heart, mind, and body so they can feel nurtured and supported to thrive. I am focusing on nourishing myself and others.
Nourish is a great word. It’s very similar to “nurture” which was my word last year.
CONNECT is a great word Janet especially post-pandemic.
My word for this year is ENERGY. I like the idea of ENERGY as one thing (food, sun, wind, fire, water) being transformed into something else – something beneficial.
☀️ Energy: the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity.
☀️ Energy is power derived from the utilization of physical or chemical resources, especially to provide light and heat or to work machines.
☀️ I even like all the similar words: vitality, vigor, life, liveliness, animation, vivacity, spirit, spiritedness, fire, passion, ardor, zeal, verve, enthusiasm, zest, vibrancy, spark, sparkle, effervescence, exuberance, buoyancy, perkiness, sprightliness, strength, stamina, forcefulness, power, might, potency, dynamism, drive, push, zip, zing, pep, pizzazz, punch, bounce, fizz, oomph, go, get-up-and-go, vim-n-vigor, feistiness.
Ooh, that’s a very powerful word! And I see quite a few synonyms there that really resonate with me. Thanks for sharing!
Love your plan and word for the year! After what I felt was an overwhelming 2022 my word for 2023 is simplicity.
That is an excellent word!