One Last Word about 2022

I wish I had done this ages ago. Who knows what I've forgotten over the years.

It's only been in the past 5 or 6 years that I've taken goal setting seriously. And this year, I had another realization. At 3 AM of al times.

I have been spending all my time looking at metrics, but I wasn't spending time looking at other areas of change, growth or improvement. Areas that didn't include metrics or numbers. DUH!

And as an entrepreneur, it hit me that I need to start thinking about not just my business changes, but also my personal changes because they are so often tied together. And, that led me to the “Oh darn (insert stronger word here)! What else have I not been paying attention to?"

Two weeks ago, I sat quietly and reviewed the last couple of years.?

How have I changed? What have I learned? What have I accomplished? And I thought about the who; who has been part of my journey? What has been their impact?

Then, I looked at my business. How has that changed? What has been accomplished. What programs and services did I implement or discontinue? Who did I associate with?

So, I made a list. And, it was illuminating.

First off, I’ve accomplished a lot, both professionally and as I saw on my list personally.

Secondly, I hadn’t been tracking this anywhere! No journals. Nothing in my computer, and nothing online.

DUH! So that meant little to none of it is on my LinkedIn profile, or my Facebook, or my speaking one-sheet, or my website, or anywhere else.?Here I work with people all the time on their LinkedIn profiles, pulling out their successes and their journey and I had nothing for myself!

I imagine the same might be said for you.

So, here is my list of 5 things you might consider updating on your LinkedIn profile and other sites:

New Skills: ?This is one area that we don’t really think about. Unless you’ve taken a specific class in something, skills develop over time. For example, if last year, you started being a guest on podcasts, you probably have become a better speaker or storyteller. If you started a LinkedIn newsletter, you are now a writer. See how that works?

Add to the Featured Section: ??Confession time! This one is like a slap in the face for me! DUH! If you have created a video, a PowerPoint for a talk you’ve given, created a .pdf or written articles you can add them to your profile in the Featured section. I create these all the time for my talks. Why aren’t they on my profile? (**As I was getting ready to post this, my Featured Section disappeared. The good news is came back within a few hours and LinkedIn has added this newsletter link to it for me. So if you publish a LinkedIn newsletter, it will probably pop onto your Featured section soon.)

BONUS TIP:?Did you receive a written recommendation or testimonial in 2022? Create a graphic or .pdf and add it here. Thanks Lindsey Dix, PHR, SHRM-CP for the reminder on this one!

Job Titles:?We often think of job titles as the wording on our business cards. Oh, my! They are so much more. If you added a service, or became a speaker, or a podcast guest add it to your job title.

Organizations: Did you join or leave any organizations in 2022 or even 2021? ?Generally speaking, unless we take on some sort of leadership role, we often forget that we belong. This is probably the easiest update of all.

Industry: Even if you didn’t change industries, take a look at this on your profile. Over the years, LinkedIn has added a lot of options and you may find one that is better suited for what you are doing today.

BONUS TIP:?Job seekers or people who have recently changed companies, this is a MUST check item on your profile.

None of these things are rocket science suggestions or hard to update. That’s why they’re listed here. Because we forget about them.

I know, I’ve got some updating to do now. ?This list has me thinking about updates I can/will do on my other social sites too.

What about you? What can you add to your LinkedIn?

#linkedinsuccess #linkedinprofile #branding #personalbranding #success

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