My Plan of Action for the New Year
In my last post, Essential Housekeeping for the New Year, I wrote about how, for me, the dawn of a New Year is a time for reflection on the previous year and how it’s a fresh opportunity to look forward to the coming year and begin to formulate a plan of action that builds on the previous years successes, failures or short comings.
Looking back on 2007 I feel it’s been a very tough year for me particularly from a work perspective. My day job as a website designer and search engine optimisation specialist has been very tiring, physically, mentally and at times emotionally. There are many reasons for this and deep down I feel the root cause is due to failings in the company’s attitude towards workflow and their commitment/perceived understanding of the search engine optimisation product offering.
This situation is currently weighing very heavy on my mind and is beginning to affect all aspects of my life. If I’m honest, it’s affecting my happiness (and that of my wife), my outlook on life and my health due to the constant stress, fire fighting and exhausting workload. I’ve also found my motivation is rock bottom and my ‘get up and go’ has long since ‘got up and gone’. Not a good start for 2008.
With such as pessimistic outlook on life my key goals for the coming year are to get back on form, look back on my achievements of 2007 and move forward.
In 2007 I re-designed and re-launched the Creativecaravan website. Its primary aim was to provide a platform to showcase my website design portfolio and photographic prints. The addition of this blog was to be an experiment in seeing how adding fresh content on a regular basis would help build traffic and whether this traffic could lead to a means of developing an income.
To date the blog and photographic gallery have brought a regular stream of traffic to the website. While the numbers have been low it has given me an insight into how a websites content development can influence the type of traffic drawn into a website. At the back of my mind this has given me hope and the glimmer of an idea for the future.
So what are my resolutions for the coming year ahead?
Define my Career Path/Business Plan
Firstly, I feel it is paramount to get my motivation and self esteem back on track. To do this my employment situation has to be addressed. How this happens, only the next 6-12 months will tell.
Develop my Photographic Portfolio
My interest in photography was a key driving force behind this website. However, my commitments to work and family have left me with little or no time for myself, hence the photography has suffered. This year I intend to make a concerted effort to get outside into the fresh air and do a lot more photography.
Develop the website
In line with my resolution to develop my photographic portfolio I also intend to continue developing this website. I’d like to add an online purchasing facility to allow visitors the ability to purchase my photographic prints. I also intend to continue building this blog. My aim is to continue posting at least once a week and to improve the quality of the blog posts being published. Previously I’ve only published a handful of blog posts that I’ve really been happy with. It’s been these posts have drawn in the most traffic from the search engines. By improving my copywriting skills I hope to improve the user experience for visitors while at the same time increasing traffic and boosting my search engine optimisation skill set.
Relax, Chill Out and Make Time
Finally, I aim to try and relax more (which is easier said than done). I’m the sort of person whose brain is constantly ticking over and always thinking about the next thing, about how I can improve this, how I can improve that and trying to decide on the topic for the next blog post. For this reason it’s important that I switch off and make time for myself and my family.
Only the next 12 months will see how my plan of action for the coming year develops…. watch this space.
All the best for the New Year.
January 21st, 2008 at 11:30 pm
I just read your blog and felt the need to write.
We look after a number of villas here in France, one of which belongs to the Advertising Guru (the man who came up with ‘Thats Asda price’ slogan) Trevor Lorains, MD of BJL in Manchester. He died last week suddenly, aged only 56.
http://www.thedrum.co.uk/membersa/news_free.php?id=2702
Its really shocked me into thinking about whats important to me, about my family and how much of a role work plays in life….and THATS why you’ve got to like your job!!!
Don’t let it take your soul, take some risks and as Belinda Carlisle said, “Live your life, be free!”
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
It’s always a catch 22 situation. Your work life is needed to fund your family life but to be successful it can often (if left unchecked) quite easily take over. Getting the right balance is key.