2020 Year in Review
2020, probably, has been the best year for me. I'm more learnt, better organised and friendlier. Yep, I swear I stopped biting.
I made many friends this year. And with some, the existing relationships deepened further.
Amidst some unsealed deals, few unsuccessful assignments and several ongoing projects, I survived through 2020.
So, listing my major wins (and few pending wins) of the year –
First, the wins…
Received a reference from a previous client for his friend’s project on the Day 1 itself. Couldn't seal that deal, but the year had just begun.
Picked up my book-reading habit, and this year I didn’t set any goal. I ended up reading 50+ books by November. Some were thick (~500 pages), while others had less than 100 pages.
In December, I took a break from reading. And wrote an article about the 20 best books about entrepreneurship, marketing and writing I read during the year.
Then, this was the year when I started locking myself out of LinkedIn. It was getting addictive. Later, during the year, I also locked Gmail, YouTube and Twitter for scheduled hours.
Now, I’ve removed the lock. Instead, moved the social media apps to the lesser viewed second home screen.
Apart from the app locking, I also had to use phone locking app. I was too distracted during the earlier weeks of 2020. But yeah, now I’ve stopped using these apps regularly. I don’t feel the need anymore.
During those days, I also used MyNoise nature sounds to further lower the distractions. I have listed them in the article about apps to improve concentration if you want to read.
Then, I created a content writing flowchart for fun.
In March, I got my first ambulance ride. It was because I fell and dislocated the bones in my knee. Yes, bones, plural!
What followed was a long bedrest with a plastered leg.
Resumed work after a week. And I had my best time afterwards. Yup, the credit to a productive 2020 goes to the bedrest.
Did my first video call with friends, got on multiple video calls with prospects and recorded the first-ever video for social media. Also appeared in a webinar as a guest. Yes, now I can be on videos (if required).
Apart from being active on LinkedIn and Twitter, I also made a profile on Reddit.
Then, wrote 8 articles on my blog and 4 on Medium.
I rarely write that much. But if you want to get the latest article to your inbox, subscribe to the Lazy Newsletter. Oh, I sent 12 newsletters too, in 2020.
2020 also was the year when I organised my work better. Moved up from my basic Google Sheets to Trello for freelance project management. And soon, I started using Trello to list my personal projects, create a database of writing resources and various other purposes.
You'll find all the free resources on my Buy Me a Coffee profile for bookmarking.
And I also took a few courses in 2020 –
- UX Writing mini course (UX Writing Hub)
- Sales Copy Writing short course (IttyBiz)
- DIY Messaging Playbook course (Damn Write)
- Graphic Design fundamentals course (Coursera)
- Content Marketing certification course (Hubspot)
- Content Strategy course (Hubspot)
- SEO basics course by Moz (Udemy)
Last, but not the least... Refrens published a short interview featuring me.
Now, the pending wins
Signed up on Thrive Global in February, haven't written any article yet. I tried once, but they rejected the submission.
Started writing a short horror story sometime around May, still working on it.
Began revamping my website; still, some work left.
Signed up to explore Hubspot CRM and their chatbot; have made little progress, though.
Thought about creating a content style guide for myself. No idea where to begin. So much to do that I’m feeling lost.
Wrapping it up
Yeah, 2020 has been productive. As for the pandemic… I didn’t feel a thing. Had been home-quarantined for 2 weeks, but then, I was already on bed rest.
And I’m still immobile. It's 10 months since the mishap, and I haven't been able to return to my normal schedule.
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