2018 highlight reel

31 December 2018

I enjoy taking stock of the year that has just passed as I make plans and set goals for the coming year. Sometimes, I’ll post a highlight reel blog post here. I see that it’s been three years since my last highlight reel. So I thought I’d take a few minutes to share one this year.

2018 was a good year for me and for my business, though there were a few stresses that I’m glad are behind me. Here are some of the highlights of the past year:

Getting to Good Enough. My friend and life coach, Shannon Wilkinson and I started a weekly podcast that debuted on June 15. We have had such a great time discussing overcoming perfectionism. The topics that fall under that broad umbrella have been fun to explore and we’ve been gratified at the response we’ve received. So far there have been over 30,000 downloads! (If you haven’t heard it yet, you can get it out at our website or wherever you go for podcasts.)

I hired my first employee! For years I’ve used wonderful independent contractors on my teams but I’ve been wanting to explore the opportunities that having employees might provide. In August, I managed to get through the paperwork and other technicalities in order to hire my first employee, Amy Hubbard, an experienced organizer. She’s been terrific. I’m still using independent contractors and am so grateful for all my team members.

I was named Volunteer of the Year by NAPO-St. Louis. I was a founding board member of the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO-STL) when it was chartered in 2006. I’ve been on the board all but three years since. This past May I was honored and humbled to be named the chapter’s Volunteer of the Year. I was given a lovely Tiffany key chain to commemorate the honor, so I’m reminded of it every day!

I was quoted in Secrets of Getting Organized magazine. I was interviewed for at least two issues of this magazine from Betters Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications. And I just finished answering questions for the next issue. It’s a thrill to be included along with some my industry’s superstars!

People continue to read my blogs. In 2018 both my websites (Peace of Mind Organizing and Organize Your Family History each garnered more than 140,000 page views, the highest year for either of them. As a bonus, Organize Your Family History, which I started in 2012, hit the milestone of 500,000 page views in 2018.

I was there for my family. My 88-year-old father won a distinguished service award from the Alumni Association of Whitman College, his alma mater and the college where he worked for almost 30 years. I was so glad to be able to travel to Walla Walla, Washington, to be there for his moment in the spotlight. And I was thrilled to pieces that two of my college buddies flew in from New York to be there too! I was also able to drop everything and go to Walla Walla at the end of March when my dad had a health crisis (which he has recovered from). And I took about three weeks off to spend time with my brother and niece when they visited from Australia at the end of this year. I am so grateful that my work allows me that kind of flexibility. (I have an amazing boss!)

I helped get out the vote. Through the extraordinary organization Postcards to Voters I hand-wrote and mailed over 1,000 postcards to voters around the country urging them to vote in the mid-term elections. I did it on my own time and on my own dime and it felt great to feel like I was making a difference. As a side benefit, I developed a new interest in improving my handwriting and learning hand lettering. (An example is the illustration for this post.) I’m always up for a new hobby!

Tagged with: accomplishments, goals, gratitude