2022 Retrospective

If 2022 was a colour I would think of tonal grey with intermittent yellows, hoping for more sunny skies ahead.

Here are my thoughts on what went great, what held me back and some ideas on how improvements could be made in 2022 after a quick retrospective using the tool Miro to capture my thoughts.

A traditional retrospective is a team meeting with the single goal of reflecting on how to improve ways of working within the team.

This is done by identifying what worked, what didn't, and why within a recent time period.

It works great in a work setting but it can also be eye-opening to sit down with your favourite beverage and do it with your own team... self.

Buckle up this is going to get good, grab the popcorn into self-referential egoism.

The GOOD

• Praising others for good work.
• Empathy for others.
• Asking for help.
• The discipline of time.
• Communicating.
• Writing things down.

The BAD

• Projecting onto others.
• Trying to change others.
• At times Hot-headed.
• Lack of trust.
• Laziness.

Praising others for good work.

Perhaps it is my millennial upbringing, but I think praise and recognition for others' work in relation to the merits they bring will only allow for greater trust within teams, life and relationships.

What is good praise? Good job? Nice?...

Praise: express warm approval or admiration of.

In my opinion for praise to be meaningful and warm, it needs to be unexpected, educated about what the praise is for, and limited.

Empathy for others.

Put yourself in others' shoes... right. I never really understood what this emotion was until I read Brene Brown's book Dare to Lead. I mixed up empathy with sympathy and was under the impression they were slightly different synonyms for each other. I was wrong.

Here is a great video explaining that part of the book:

Asking for help.

One of the hardest journies of my personal and professional career is knowing when you need to just ask for help. There are many more talented people than yourself at many different things. Don't try to do it all yourself or think you can.

That is ok. You are great too.

The discipline of time.

“Our greatest currency is our time and we cannot save it. Spend it wisely and never waste another's or your own.” ― Kyle Barger

So feel free to wrap it up here, I don't want to waste my time reading this so I can cringe in a few years when I re-read it and obviously don't want to waste any other time.

People like to hear themselves talk if you can come prepared, well-read and make both exchanges mutually beneficial. If you enjoy a good chin-wag, please ask for consent, because some people are just too darn nice.

Communicating.

• Listen to what you don't hear.
• Talk when spoken to.

Writing things down.

True leadership is written not spoken, many people will have opinions disguised as motives, within their own desires. A spoken word is heard today and gone tomorrow.

Write your thoughts, strategies, ideas, feelings down. Conjure up the courage to share those things with others, whether in a work setting, personal setting or creative expression setting. That is the hard part, to maintain your beliefs with the storm of perspective.

The BAD

• Projecting onto others.
• Trying to change others.
• At times Hot-headed.
• Lack of trust.
• Laziness.

Projecting onto others.

Sometimes things don't go as we planned

Trying to change others.

Sometimes people do things that are frustrating.

At times Hot-headed.

Driver. Drivers are very strong personalities. Typically they have a go-get-it-done or whatever-it-takes personality. They can seem very dominant and are quick to take action. The negative is they can sometimes come across as stubborn or arrogant.

Lack of trust.

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” ~Ernest Hemingway.

Laziness.

Being a creature of comfort can sneak up on you. With the constant brigade of hustle culture, a million and one ways to capture more leads and over night millionaires.

It can become easy to succumb to missing out on opportunities as they present.

I also said I would get this post out in 2021.