Welcome 2019

I’ve said before that I’ve never been one for New Year’s Resolutions. I certainly get the point – starting the year with a clean slate, aiming toward improvement, making us better people…but I always went too big. I seemed to have a habit of setting up resolutions that I could never realistically achieve, which only ended up making me feel worse about not keeping them.  I know these will never count as “official” resolutions, but this list reflects more of how I want to act this year based on the lessons I learned in 2018.  So in the coming year I want to:

• Continue to Trust Myself – I thought this was a particular breakout year for me in that I finally consistently trusted myself, my experience and my instincts.  That assurance became invaluable as I handled the chaos and challenges around me.
• Build Allies – When faced with a fork in the road, the easy path is to just accept that things are the way they are. The challenge is taking the more difficult path in knowing what’s the right thing to do and finding those across campus that will be in my corner to push us forward. It’s never a sign of weakness to have someone by your side advocating.  Working in solo shop, that’s something not to lose sight of.
• Better Use Data  –  I spent a lot of time in 2018 thinking about how to better use data and how to provide meaningful metrics on how we’re progressing achieving our digital goals.  Data became key to boost my point, help people see why decisions were made, and show why things were a priority (or weren’t worth pursing).
• Learn New Things –  When things come at you at a number of directions, I find my commitment to personal development is the first thing to be sacrificed. Unfortunately, this is ironic because one of the things I take pride in is my desire to want to continue to learn and grow.  Whether it’s taking a class online or participating in any number of outstanding conferences, I want to always be stretching myself.
• Remember it’s not a failure, it’s an opportunity to grow – I still get frustrated when things don’t go the way I expected. Sometimes that’s something I could have controlled, other times, it’s beyond anything I could have done.   When mistakes happen, what is critical to success is owning up and moving on.  The rest of the time, it’s being mindful of what could have been handled differently or what is completely beyond my power.
• Be human – a new year is a great reminder that above anything I create, beyond any project I complete, the most important thing is to act with compassion and integrity. Looking at the world around us, we need that.

So thank you 2018. You brought unbelievable happiness, pain, stress and joy. May I carry into 2019 the lessons I’ve gained from the ride and always be willing to accept a new challenge.