It seems like every service is doing annual retrospectives these days. But whereas my “Spotify Wrapped” just tells me how much time my son has spent listening to nursery rhymes on my phone, and my “Peloton Cooldown” just seems to highlight the periods that I wasn’t keeping fit due to illness, I’m hoping that there’s a real business benefit to looking back at what has happened at Mojovation Consulting in 2022 - and hopefully you’ll enjoy the insight too!
1 company founded
Mojovation Consulting sprang into being at the start of July, while I was in the midst of a deliberate break in employment, and while I was trying to establish a new direction for my professional career. It was a thought process which eventually led to me starting a permanent coaching role within the technical team at Makers, and which ultimately meant that I’ve been less active on this website than my initial flurry of activity!
The concept of Mojovation is still very important to me, and having now passed my three-month probation with Makers, my workload is beginning to stabilise to a point where I can start to think about how I can start to build Mojovation Consulting into a sustainable business.
15 one-to-one coaching sessions hosted
This is a number which has remained static since I resumed permanent work, as I haven’t had the time to take on any new clients, or to investigate how to convert personal coaching into paid work. But that’s not to say I haven’t been doing any coaching; far from it, as I took a position with Makers primarily because it allows me to focus on coaching as my day job (albeit with a large slice of curriculum development on the side).
Coaching continues to be my all-consuming passion, to the extent that my coaching bookshelf is rapidly approaching the size of my testing bookshelf, and I’m exploring opportunities for certifications and qualifications, cementing coaching as the new driver in this phase of my career. If I pursue a certification with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), I’ll be required to undertake a large number of pro-bono / volunteer coaching sessions, so if you’ve been coached by me in the past (or you’d be interested in doing this in the future), keep your eyes peeled on this site as I’ll be putting out a Call for Participants during 2023.
46 articles posted
Again, this is a number which blossomed during the early months of the site’s existence, as I was able to construct a daily writing habit (considerably easier when your son is in nursery and you’re not working full-time). But, starting from this moment, I’m aiming to sustain one blog post a week, with the hope of maybe increasing that number again as time allows.
I was recently introduced to Ship 30 for 30, an accountability-based writing cohort which seeks to help people to gain (and keep) the writing habit. While I’ve had successes in the past under my own steam, I’m hoping to take this course at some point in the second half of 2023, to help support my growing coaching business.
[UNKNOWN] article views
This is potentially a weird one. From day one, I made the deliberate decision to not track (or even gather) any analytics on this site. I wanted to write for the sake of writing, and I didn’t want to be distracted by the numbers. For the most part, this has worked just how I’d intended (for instance, I’m much more pleased that I wrote a post for World Mental Health Day rather than obsessing over how many dozens or hundreds of people viewed it). However, as I look to grow my business, there are benefits in understanding what content is resonating with people, so who’s to say whether I’ll change this in 2023.
In general, I’ve always sought qualitative guidance for the content that I’ve been creating. Articles have often been inspired by conversations with clients and colleagues, and there’s no danger of running out of ideas in the near future - the Mojovation column on my Trello board is still burgeoning with writing prompts, for articles coming soon to this site.
I’ve swerved away from social media in general thus far (our impressive 14 LinkedIn followers is a testament to that), and having taken myself off Twitter in 2022, I’m waiting to see if a better platform emerges to fill the void next year. Regardless, my focus will remain on content rather than viewership - although I have a few other ideas for how my content will arrive in front of people’s eyes next year!
My Mojovation resolutions for 2023
What does 2023 have in store? If you’ve read this far, you’ll already know that it’s not going to be a quiet year, not by a long shot. But on the Mojovation Consulting side, there are some definites that you can expect to see:
- Regular blog content. While I certainly don’t have the time for daily blog posts, there’ll be at least one new article a week. If I’m able to increase and sustain this, a newsletter might follow, as I begin to explore other avenues for sharing content.
- Mojovation on the conference stage. I’ve already submitted a couple of conference proposals for 2023; it’s a new world for me, as I’ve previously limited myself to speaking at software testing conferences (as my profession of choice until recently). But with my wider remit of coaching and leadership, I’m targeting some first-time appearances at new events.
- A Mojovation book. As I openly stated on the About page, one of my personal motivations for generating content is to begin to gather ideas for a self-published book, on Leanpub or similar. I’ll be looking to start this in earnest in 2023, with a first draft beginning to emerge in the summer.
But I’m balancing this with the importance of self-care and pursuing my own personal goals outside of the business. These include:
- Beginning a private journalling habit. This was an idea which my therapist proposed - as a way of restoring my passion for writing, and breaking the association with it being “work”, why not write some content which nobody else will read? There are therapeutic and creative benefits to this, and while I’m not one for new year’s resolutions, I’m coincidentally planning to start this on January 1st.
- Starting a daily meditation habit. I’ve already been won over by the power of sleep meditation; while I don’t always go to bed as early as I should, I’m able to drift off to sleep much more easily than I used to, thanks to Peloton’s library of night-time meditation classes. I’m planning to also insert a morning meditation at the beginning of my working day, as a way of giving myself a “Minute to Arrive” before the chaos of my home life bleeds into the chaos of work.
- Continuing to complete my mini bucket-list. Just after my 38th birthday, I made myself a list of 40 things that I wanted to achieve before I turned 40. However, then a baby and a pandemic arrived, so I wasn’t able to make much headway into this. I’ve persevered and turned it into “43 before 43”; I’m one-third of the way through this list already, and I’m aiming to complete another third in 2023. Among the things I’ve already booked: reading War And Peace, attending the Snooker World Championship, taking part in a competitive 10K race, going glamping at a music festival, and undertaking the National Three Peaks Challenge.
Whatever the year has in store, I’ll be sure to share it with you here. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful 2023!