So, last Christmas I reflected on the half-year since Mojovation Consulting had sprung into existence, and outlined some bold predictions for what 2023 had in store. Bearing in mind that those boasts included “a blog post a week”, and I actually managed nine posts (including this one!), you’ve probably gathered that things were… not quite what had been planned.

Yet there’s been plenty of excitement - with more to come in 2024, for sure this time! Let’s simultaneously look backwards and forwards…

2 major life events

At the start of the year, I certainly wasn’t anticipating a 2023 divorce, but here we are! Much of the year has been spent in a degree of upheaval, renting a flat while selling the previous family home, supporting my former partner in her property purchase, and finally completing one of my own. This was, obviously, a lot. I’m glad that I’d stated my hopes for 2023 to include “more mindfulness”, and that I’d already discovered the benefits of therapy and sleep meditation, as I needed all of the help that I could get at times this year.

As the year draws to a close, these areas of my life are finally approaching some semblance of stability. I’m getting the hang of co-parenting, and starting the exciting journey of putting a stamp on my new home, including finally returning to the position where I have an office which isn’t also my living room!

1 coaching qualification (almost) completed

Somehow I’ve neglected to mention Barefoot Coaching on this site before, but I’ve been working towards their Accredited Coach Training Programme since September. It’s an intense course spread over five months, with a subsequent option to pursue a postgraduate certificate, so this is likely to dominate my attention through much of 2024 too.

While my freelance coaching opportunities have largely been sidelined as I focus on both the Barefoot course and my full-time role, I’ve had many opportunities to practice and develop my coaching skills during my time with Barefoot Coaching, including participating in reflective practice and capturing a log of my coaching sessions, meaning that an International Coaching Federation (ICF) membership is on the horizon for 2024.

2 books written

About 33% of my blog output this year has been in support of the book which I published this year, Finding Mojovation (available via Amazon and Leanpub), which has now been out for long enough that I’ve started to receive royalty payments - a happy bonus, given how much fun I already had in putting the book together.

But it’s not the only book that I wrote this year! I also took part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) for the first time, writing a 53,000 word first draft of my YA fantasy title The Dreamlinkers. In early 2024, after some time away from it, I’m planning to revise and extend it to nearer 70,000 words, at which point I’m planning to self-publish via Amazon. I’m also planning to take part in NaNoWriMo again in 2024, with a sequel to The Dreamlinkers already in the works.

21 bucket list items completed

My goal for the year was to complete one-third of my “43 things to do before I’m 43” list. I went somewhat better, completing almost half of the list, and leaving only eight items to be completed by the time I turn 43 in September next year!

I completed most of the activities that I’d flagged for completion at the end of last year, plus plenty of others, with particular highlights include getting my first (but not last!) tattoo, seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland, and appearing as a featured extra in a film which is due for release in 2024!

My Mojovation resolutions for 2024

I’m wary of gazing too much into my crystal ball after the unpredictability of the year gone by, but in the interests of setting myself some targets, here’s what I’m aiming for:

• Gaining a coaching accreditation. As above, my course with Barefoot Coaching will unlock many potential opportunities. I’ll certainly pursue an ICF qualification, which will also include a significant number of coaching hours, and I’m undertaking some free sessions with volunteers in support of my coursework.
• Mojovation Office Hours. This was an aspect for the site which I’d planned when site version 2.0 launched: some weekly “first come, first served” time where anybody is welcome to drop in for chats about their careers, challenges, or miscellaneous Mojovational Q&A, possibly via Twitch. Once my new office is fully kitted-out in the new year, this will be one of the most noticeable changes on this site!
• Regular blog content. Maybe not weekly, but at least monthly - more than this year’s nine posts, at least 😁
• Finishing my 43 Before 43 list. This should be mostly a foregone conclusion; of the eight items remaining, I’ve already got firm dates when six of them will be done. There’s the small matter of reading War and Peace still to go, though, so I’d better start that soon…
• Publishing my first novel. This spring I’ll be paying another visit to the residential writing retreat which served me so well when I was writing Finding Mojovation, and I’ll be using the venue to put the finishing touches to The Dreamlinkers - coming to Amazon in 2024!

I hope you all have a restful end to the year, and I wish you all a joyful and prosperous 2024!