My 2020 Annual Review

The year of turning 41.

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

Time for my 2020 annu­al review.

In this post, I’ll do my best to answer these three ques­tions: 1This format is inspired by James Clear’s annu­al reviews.

What went well this year?
What did­n’t go so well this year?
What am I work­ing toward?

Here we go:

1. What went well this year?

52 blog posts. I wanted to give my blog some extra atten­tion this year, and I man­aged to pub­lish weekly blog posts.

I learned Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. I’ve always been com­fort­able with writ­ing, so devel­op­ing new visu­al skills has felt like explor­ing a new world of cre­at­ive expres­sion. I aim to reach a pro­fes­sion­al level as a web design­er and a photographer.

Married for 10 years. Besides cel­eb­rat­ing our 10th wed­ding anniversary this year, I have been a sup­port­ive hus­band. My wife’s career as a news anchor is demand­ing. I’ve taken on most of the respons­ib­il­it­ies at home — and by always pri­or­it­ising listen­ing, giv­ing advice, and encouraging.

My son star­ted school. Starting school is a sig­ni­fic­ant event in any per­son’s life. I think the trans­ition has worked out well, and I’m proud of my son for tak­ing on so many new chal­lenges with a pos­it­ive and curi­ous mind.

CEO for KIX Communications Index. Learn more here.

I learned my way around a kit­chen. My second year of learn­ing how to cook. I’ve been explor­ing taste com­bin­a­tions, food chem­istry, more advanced cook­ing tech­niques, mise en place, and knife skills. The aim is to express myself cre­at­ively using essen­tial food ingredients.

No alco­hol this year, either. Life without alco­hol is work­ing out per­fectly. Alcohol-free beers go great with cer­tain types of food, and I often replace red wine with 100% blue­berry juice, and I go for smooth­ies and elab­or­ate fruit juices instead of cock­tails. I quit drink­ing because I felt ter­rible for days after drink­ing, and I’m still pleased about this decision. The aim is nev­er again to con­sume alco­hol, ever.

I learned to solve mas­ter-level Sudoku puzzles. Learn more here.

2. What didn’t go so well this year?

Covid-19. From a pro­fes­sion­al per­spect­ive, I lost about half of my typ­ic­al work­load as a freel­an­cer. But whatever impact this impact has had on my career, the import­ant thing is that my friends and fam­ily come out of this pan­dem­ic with their health intact. That’s all that mat­ters — I can fix everything else.

Terrible sleep­ing habits. This whole sleep-for-five-or-six-hours-each-night has got to stop. I’m 41 now and can­’t get away with it anymore.

Not an Epic Year. I love to teach, and I love to write. Given the pan­dem­ic, I had the oppor­tun­ity to launch a PR course or write a PR book. Going into this year, even without know­ing about the pan­dem­ic, I had such ambi­tions — but I nev­er made it across the fin­ish line des­pite ser­i­ous attempts at both endeavours.

Better English. It dawned on me that I’ve been writ­ing weekly in English for a dec­ade now. While this is an accom­plish­ment, I should be a bet­ter English writer by now. I know my way around pro­fes­sion­al busi­ness English, but I aim to get my writ­ten English on par with my writ­ten Swedish.

3. What am I working toward?

Explore a more out­doorsy life­style. I know a bit about wil­der­ness sur­viv­al and bush­craft from mil­it­ary train­ing and sev­er­al books. Maybe 2021 is an excel­lent year to explore a more prac­tic­al approach. At least, I want to teach my son how to build a make­shift shel­ter and make a fire in a few dif­fer­ent ways.

Push my dead­lift from 160% to 200% of my body weight. The aim here is simple: I want to improve my strength.


Consider shar­ing my pub­lic rela­tions blog with oth­er com­mu­nic­a­tion and mar­ket­ing pro­fes­sion­als. If you have ques­tions (or want to retain my PR ser­vices), please con­tact me via jerry@​spinfactory.​com.

ANNOTATIONS
ANNOTATIONS
1 This format is inspired by James Clear’s annu­al reviews.
Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at Spin Factory and KIX Communication Index. Before that, he worked at Kaufmann, Whispr Group, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Cover Photo

The cover photo isn't related to public relations; it's just a photo of mine. Think of it as a 'decorative diversion', a subtle reminder that there is more to life than strategic communication.

The cover photo has

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