Looking Back at 2017!

‘Tis the season of new year resolutions!

Instead of having goals and resolutions, I prefer to set the intention for a new year because ultimately, defining only actions doesn’t take us far without an underlying intent that we truly believe in. That is why most resolutions fail, because they are commitments to action without commitment to the intent.

Sketchnote Project

I started the year with the intention to “Dwell in Possibilities” and looking back, it served me well. Generous sharing of my sketch notes with distilled insights on a wide range of business topics opened up newer possibilities for me. There were several high points when it comes to how these visual notes were used in different forums across the globe. Here are a few highlights of how sketch notes were used:

As you can see in the collage above, my sketchnotes decorated offices, were used in global conferences, magazines and working out loud events. That picture of a group of people holding my sketch note on Working Out Loud truly touched and humbled me. I never knew that a “labor of love” project would scale to touch and influence people across the globe.

This year, my sketch notes were also featured at forums like Harvard Business Review Ascend, Huffington Post and World Economic Forum.

Blog Recognitions

Apart from this, my work on this blog and elsewhere was also recognized and resulted in interesting milestones along this journey.

I was humbled to be recognized amongst Top 10 Indian HR Influencers on Social Media (2016) by Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM, India) for fourth consecutive year.

My post on Leading with Trust won the “Most Valuable Post of 2017” award by Human Resources Today. The score was determined by a mix of judges’ rankings, reader votes, and social media scores.

Finally, in the last week, this blog won “Indian Bloggers Award 2017” in Business blogs category. More than 4000 nominated blogs were judged by an independent jury of eminent personalities based on content, originality, interaction and usability of the blog.

My big lesson from all this?

When labor is driven by love and generosity (as opposed to external validation or rewards alone), it results in influence (often invisible), connections, relationships and possibilities. Rewards, even if they come, are only by-products of the pursuit.

And Other Stuff

I completed 40 years and one of my intentions in beginning of 2017 was to complete 40 in the best of my health. Along the year, I lost 12 kgs weight and it only elevated my overall well being physically, mentally and emotionally. I learned the value of discipline and that:

Our biggest wins are always over our own selves. All accomplishments in the outside world are secondary, and mostly, they are a result of winning over the self.

For 2018, I am going to continue my focus on a few themes:

• Consume Less, Create More
• Dwell in Possibility
• Simplify

And guided by these themes, the journey of creation, curation and contribution continues (and hopefully gets better).

I cannot conclude 2017 without thanking YOU – the reader of this blog, the subscribers, the followers of my Twitter stream and everyone who engages with QAspire and shares encouragement through emails, Facebook likes, Retweets, comments and social sharing. Without all your support, this journey is not possible!

On that note, I wish you a glorious 2018!