Before I jump into what I’d like to share today, permit me to welcome you to the month of December. December is my favourite month for many reasons, one of which is that it is my birthday month. Birthdays always feel like flipping a new page to me and by next week, I’d share my review of Chapter 33. It has been an exciting year indeed…all to the glory of God.
Now let me get into why I am writing this blog post. This is the time where tons of people will share their wins and what they have achieved in 2023. This is great especially for those who put in the work. But then there is the flip side – the goals that were not achieved. Not many people talk about that – the disappointments, the things that didn’t go as planned and the doors that were shut. I have come to realise that everything that happens to me is part of my story and my perspective towards the things that didn’t work out as planned is super important.
Allow me to share one of my favourite scriptures with you – All things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose. This scripture is in Romans 8:28 and it is a reminder to me that no matter what happens with my personal and professional goals, all things will work together for my good. Not only does this give me a sense of peace when I don’t attain certain things, but it also helps me to celebrate others when they share their achievements and it reminds me that I do not have to compare myself with anyone.
This wasn’t the initial intro that I had in mind but I sense that somebody reading this blog post needs these words! If that’s you, I pray you will remember the truth in those words.
So, how did I do with my professional goals in 2023?
One of my major goals for this year was to position myself a knowledgeable thought leader within the African Communications industry. I also wanted to share more training content to help Communications and Public Relations professionals to build the necessary competencies to succeed in their careers. My goals, therefore, centered around creating and putting out valuable content consistently, expanding my skills through learning and building industry thought leadership.
Let’s look at how I did with the different segments:
1. Sharing Valuable Content
There were three channels that I used to achieve this goal – my Blog, my YouTube channel and paid courses on Selar.
For the first half of the year, I set a goal to post at least one article on my blog every month, post two videos on my YouTube channel every month and then upload one paid course on Selar every two months.
While I did well with posting reguarly on my YouTube channel, I really struggled with staying consistent with posting on my Blog. For Selar, I started off well and released three paid courses but I shifted focus in the middle of the year.
After my sabbatical in June, I decided to release bite-sized Comms courses on YouTube. This was going to be in addition to my inital goal of two videos per month. I also decided to push myself to post at least three times on my Blog. Of course, this was dead on arrival. Lol. I posted twice in July and from there, it just fizzled out.
It took a lot to stay consistent with posting on my YouTube channel. Content creation is not for the faint-hearted! I had to outline the content for each video, create slides for some, actually record the videos (sometimes in conditions that were not perfect), edit the videos, create cover thumbnails and then upload and schedule them on YouTube. Oh, how can I forget that I also had to promote them on social media. It was a lot but I did it and I am proud of myself!
For my Blog and Selar, despite the fact that I did not meet my goals here, I am still happy with the knowledge that I shared on both channels. I’ll go again next year!
Expanding My Skills
I am a lifelong learner and so every year, I set goals that allow me to improve my skills and knowledge. This year, my goal was to read at least two new books each month. I didn’t do so well with this last year and so this was super important to me.
Right now, I have completed 23 books and I have just received 11 books which I intend to read over the holiday and in the new year. The books I read were in these categories: Communications/ Public Relations books, Business books, Faith-based books.
I won’t list out all the 23 books but I will share the ones that I found very valuable.
Communications/ Public Relations Books
- PR Technology, Data and Insights – Mark Weiner
- The Non-Profit Marketing Guide – Kivi Leroux Miller
Faith-based Books
- The Sending Church: The Church Must Leave the Building – Pat Hood
- The Prophetic Intercessor – James Goll
- The Scribe: Receiving and Retaining Revelation through Journaling – James Goll
Business Books
- The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company – Robert Iger
- Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise – Horst Schulze
One significant thing that happened to me this year was receiving the Ingressive4Good Masterclass.com Scholarship. I’ve loved the idea behind Masterclass since it was launched and I’ve always wanted to gain access to the platform.
Through the one year scholarship, I get to learn from business leaders, creatives and entrepreneurs. So far I have watched claases from Indra Nooyi, Sara Blakely, Rosalind Brewer, Bob Iger, Howard Schultz and several others. Thank you again to the team at Ingressive4Good!
The final thing for this goal was attending two super valuable paid training courses. The first was the NAPE Course on Strategic Communications, Crisis and Stakeholder Management and the Strategic Communications Course by Sola Abulu and Associates.
If there’s one professional advice I can give you for next year – please invest in your professional development. The free resources and webinars are a good start but please, pay for courses and buy books that will help you to deepen your industry/ sectoral knowledge. Do not limit this to the Communications and Public Relations industry.
Thought Leadership
Remember that one of my goals was to be positioned as one of the top thought leaders in the African Communications industry? Well, I didn’t really put a specific number to this goal but I was on the look out for opportunties to contribute my knowledge and participate in industry conferences. And of course, God opened doors because certain opportunties that came my way were not by my power and effort alone.
This year, I contributed to the first Africa PR and Communications Report and the Experiencing PR Magazine by Nigerian Women in PR. I co-facilitated a workshop on Strategic Communications at the African Public Relations Association conference. I also spoke at different in person and virtual events where I shared professional insights. For next year, I think it’s time to explore the global landscape!
Maybe I’ll share my professional goals for 2024 in another post but I’d like to end with the books I intend to dig into over the holidays.
Communications and Public Relations
- The IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer
- Planning and Managing Public Relations Campaigns: A Strategic Approach (PR In Practice)
- Internal Communications: A Manual for Practitioners (PR In Practice)
- Crisis, Issues and Reputation Management (PR In Practice)
- When in Doubt, Make Applesauce!: Core Habits of the Masterful Public Relations Professional
- Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
- Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
- The Global PR Revolution: How Thought Leaders Succeed in the Transformed World of PR
Data Analysis
- Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals
- Data Analytics, Data Visualization & Communicating Data
Business/ Finance
I think I did well with my goals this year. In the places I fell short, I’ll work towards doing better next year. There is still room to achieve more things. Remember, don’t focus on what you were not able to achieve or what did not go as planned. There’s still so much more for you not just in the new year but also in this month of December!
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