Why My Word of the Year is Balance

Here’s what you can expect from this issue:

• My 2023 Word of the Year
• Benefits of Vision Boards
• Content Spotlight
• How Heather Helps
• Calls to Action??

My 2023 Word of the Year

Last year, I started an annual tradition of choosing a Word of the?Year (WoY).

This practice is not unique, but other creators have inspired me to adopt it. I enjoy the idea of using one word to guide my actions in addition to more specific intentions, which I also set.?

This year, my WoY is Balance. To me, balance is many things.?

I need balance in my life to ensure I have a good mix of physical activity, self-care, time with family/friends, and more.

I need balance to keep myself focused as opposed to trying to do a million things at once and spreading myself too thin. I have experienced what happens when I am stretched so thin I cannot do anything but sit still. Earlier this year, I had to put down a lot of things I took on, just so I could survive and take care of my full-time role.?

Balance is also at the center of my 2023 mission to prevent another cycle of burnout from encroaching on my life. I experienced burnout in 2020, 2021, and 2022, and I refuse to let that happen again. My mental health is more important than anything else.?

To accomplish this, I hired Sumana Jeddy, MPH , a workplace wellness coach, as much of my burnout has stemmed from a mixture of the workload from my day job, combined with taking on more than I could handle outside of work. So far, this consists of daily check-ins and assessments, which will soon be followed by a virtual one-on-one session with Sumana herself. To me, Sumana is better than a therapist. She is what I deeply needed to invest in myself this year.?

Do you have a WoY? Let me know in the comments.

Benefits of Vision Boards?

I kept Balance in mind when I hosted a Vision Board party earlier this month. This is also the second year I made a Vision Board, which I have found to be really beneficial to visualize my intentions. Check out my 2022 Vision Board post here .

For me, putting a Vision Board together in the company of friends is more fun than doing it alone, hence a party! At the end of our session, each participant shared their board with the group. We shared our aspirations, dreams and plans for the year ahead. Vision Boards have taught me to believe in the power of manifestation. It doesn’t mean that everything will come to fruition exactly as you hope, but it gives you a guiding light to work toward.?

In addition, a Vision Board can be created in whatever way works for you. I enjoy cutting out pictures and words from magazines to create collages by theme, but it can also be a journal entry, a Pinterest board, a PowerPoint deck or a painting.?

In the end, a Vision Board is anything that you consider to be a representation of your wishes or goals and is intended to serve as inspiration or motivation.

Content Spotlight

This month I experienced a job scam due to a "recruiter" reaching out to me via LinkedIn DM. I detailed the red flags in this post .

The Strategy

Giving for the sake of giving.

Why it Works

This post was inspired by a personal experience of mine and was very in line with my personal hashtag, #HeatherHelps (if you haven’t followed my hashtag yet, join the 28 others who have done so here) . I believe the combination of a strong hook, my use of red flag ??emojis, and my objective for the post, which was to do nothing but help my network, resulted in my largest number of impressions yet on a single post.

Additional Considerations?

I wanted to get this message out quickly, but if I had more time I think a carousel post would have amplified my message even further. Something like a giant red stop sign with text that reads “job seekers beware!” to catch your attention with a greater sense of urgency.?

What the Numbers Say

Peakaboo, LLC , a LinkedIn analytics tool co-founded by?D A N I E L H A L L ?and?Nancy Debra Barrows M.S. CCC-SLP , helps you visualize all comments, mentions, hashtags and engaged attendees from any LinkedIn post, consolidated into an easy-to-use Excel spreadsheet. The tool also shows how much time users are spending on your content, which can really add up over time. The best part is that the only thing you need to get the data is the post URL.

Thank you to the Peakaboo team for this wonderful tool!

This post from Jan. 13 had 36 comments according to Peakaboo, and LinkedIn users spent more than an hour engaging with this one piece of content that I posted. The post received 12,162 impressions as of the writing of this newsletter, with four reposts and 45 reactions (34 likes, 9 light bulbs, 1 heart, 1 support).

Gold Standard Content Creators

In each newsletter,?I feature three people in my network who from my perspective are putting out the gold standard for content on LinkedIn.

1. Jon Youshaei

I only connected with Jon on LinkedIn recently, but I have been following his content on Clubhouse, Twitter and LinkedIn for much longer. Jon recently launched a community for creators to share feedback, discuss various topics and support one another. Joining this community was a no-brainer for me, and I have already gotten a ton of value out of it, such as figuring out the best audio equipment to purchase for a personal project I'm working on. Jon also has a new podcast, Created with Jon Youshaei, check the launch post with links here!

2. Saphera Peters

Saphera is a talented illustrator who I first met on Twitter in the Web3 space. At the time she was the Community Director of 90s Babes NFT, one of my favorite NFT communities which I am also on the Hype Squad for. In the second half of last year, Saphera left that role to take her art full-time, and she is now focused on her Etsy Shop, working with brands, and her new YouTube channel that just launched . I definitely encourage my network to check her out, I mean look at these amazing stickers she designed!

3. Brian Fanzo

I met Brian, who goes by Fanzo on Clubhouse and Twitter, on Clubhouse in early 2021. He is a digital futurist whose content focuses on Web3, ADHD, and public speaking. Brian has done many amazing things, including dedicating last year to buying a different NFT every day and sharing his journey on his NFT 365 podcast . He also has an AI art collection called Shades of ADHD. Check out one of his recent posts here about creating AI art using MidJourney.

Part of what makes Brian an amazing creator is he understands how to lift other creators up. In one of his recent Twitter Spaces I shared my thoughts about AI, and he pulled a clip from the conversation, tagged me in a recap, and included the audio. Check out the tweet and clip below:

How Heather Helps

Here are five ways I can help; feel free to send me a direct message with your ask:

1. Resume review
2. Introduction to someone in my network
3. Referral to my employer, for a specific role you are interested in?https://www.honda.com/careers
4. Open Conversation/ Career Reflection Brainstorm
5. Feedback on Optimizing Your LinkedIn profile/ content strategy ideas

Calls to Action

? Don’t forget to?subscribe here !

??Follow?#HeatherHelps ?to see more of my content!

??Share this newsletter?with two connections you think would gain insight from it.

??Engage with Me! Comment below with questions you have about content strategy.?

??DM me! See a piece of content on LinkedIn you think is awesome? Send it to me via LinkedIn messenger so I can take a look!

??Follow me?on other social channels including?Twitter ,?Instagram ,?Post ?and?Clubhouse !

Stay Golden?