It’s that time of year again, time to reflect on what the year has brought us and time to look forward and plan for the unknown future. Time to be grateful that we are still here to experience and enjoy life, time to carry out the Annual Review. In the Lean/Continuous Improvement world we carry out ‘Hansei’ which is Japanese (反射) for ‘Self-Reflection’. Hansei allows us to review goals (personal and professional) and reflect on how they went to see what worked so we can build on the successes and see what didn’t work so we can adjust and change direction.

I have been carrying out a ‘Hansei’ or Annual Review for many years now and find it hard to believe this is the 6th year I have published this review online. Time really does go very fast! See Annual Reviews from past years below,

Annual Review 2013  Annual Review 2014  Annual Review 2015  

Annual Review 2016  Annual Review 2017

2018 wasn’t a bad year but I did find it very challenging for many different reasons. In turn these challenges had a counterproductive impact on the goals I set in all areas of my life. I reached very few targets and 2018 was probably my least productive year in many years. In saying that I learned more lessons this year than many previous years and so it was more of a learning year than a productive year!  In his amazing book ‘The Power of Now’, Eckhart Tolle talks about cycles of low and high energy that we all go through. 2018 was for me definitely a year of low energy, which if I look on the bright side means 2019 will most certainly be a year of high energy!

In the Lean world when things don’t work out as planned (as they often don’t) we always evaluate why things didn’t work out, what lessons we can take and how we can do things better. I will keep this Lean philosophy very much in mind as i set goals for 2019.

But for now, here is my Annual Review for 2018 – as always Mike, my family and my friends are my reason for everything. and the source of much of my happiness. 

I continue to work for and enjoy my role with daa implementing Lean Strategy & Culture. As with my personal life, my professional life seemed to be about learning lots of lessons this year. The highlight of my year was traveling to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to train Riyadh Airport colleagues on the principles of Lean and Project Management. This was an incredible opportunity & trip thanks to my amazing friend Debbie Kearns. I loved every minute of my time in Riyadh and hold dear memories of the people I met, the food, the culture and the 42C heat!

In 2018 I became even more convinced of the power and necessity of Lean Culture in business. Respect for and development of people is truly the only way to grow and sustain  businesses to what they are capable of becoming. Lacking these people focused elements and treating people poorly will ensure your company is one that people cannot wait to leave and are in no hurry to join, leaving your company moral on a downward spiral with your profits following closely behind.

In terms of personal goals, 2018 was my second year using the principles and structures of Hoshin Kanri (Lean Strategy Deployment) to set, monitor, action and review personal goals and objectives. These systems and structure give me more visibility into progress of goals and in 2018 highlighted so many areas of my life that need focus, attention and/or change.

This blog is where I share thoughts, information and resources on Lean and Positive Change. One of my goals for 2018 was to write and publish a blog post a week (52 in total).  I didn’t reach this goal as I completely underestimated how much time it takes to create, edit and publish blog posts. I did manage to publish 24 blog posts which is the same number as last year and the most I have published in any year. Better luck next year!

I continued to work with the brilliant cartoonist Andy Kefford who creates the cartoons of ‘Pinky the Positive Pig’ who is the star of my 26 part blog post series ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’. You can view all of the published blog posts in this series here ‘The Complete A-Z Of Effective Change’. Andy, Pinky and I are currently working on a new writing project which will be launched early in 2019!

In terms of travel, Mike and I enjoyed weekends away around Ireland during the year and a fabulous week in Rome at the end of November. I dusted off my skiing skills and joined my mates Karin and Paula for a fun few days on the German slopes in February. In June my fabulous sister in law, Aoife turned 40 and we celebrated with a family holiday in Lanzarote. As mentioned above I travelled to Saudi Arabia with work and loved every minute of my trip. 

I’m way behind with editing images from trips in 2018 and 2017. This is another area that needs more focus in 2019. A little later than planned I published ‘The Top 5 Things To Do In Dubai’ following my trip to Dubal with my Mom in 2017.

 I enjoyed working with my gorgeous family and friends on photo shoots this year and have a few already booked in for 2019. It is always a joy to work with those you love.

If you are new to my Travel Photography work you can view my  images here on my website ‘www.siodanphoto.com’ and read my Travel Photography blog posts on my blog ‘The Photographer’s Guide To Travel’.

Like most things in life, the more I learn about social media and online marketing the more I realise I don’t know. Social media changes each and every day and so there is always much to learn. 

As mentioned above I published 24 blog posts this year which helped moved my social media metrics in the right direction. I’m not a professional writer nor do I have any formal training as a writer. What i have learned over the past couple of years is that not only do you need to build skills to write content but you also need to find the time to think, write, edit, publish and market content. Finding the time to write, edit , publish and market is where I struggled last year and is a real focus area for me in 2019.

Throughout most of 2018 I continued to post daily inspirational quotes to various social media platforms which helped me learn more about posting, scheduling and outsourcing on social media. 

Social media and online tools are constantly changing and it is a job in itself to keep up with these changes. It’s as challenging as it is fascinating and I look forward to learning and sharing more in 2019. 

I take both my physical and mental health very seriously as I firmly believe the popular Irish saying ‘your health is your wealth’. Knowing what nurtures or challenges my physical & mental health allows me to make decisions to protect both.

I try to eat healthy and exercise regularly but I find I need to work much harder as the years go by. We all know that eating healthy and exercising is all we need to do to be fit and  healthy – if it were as simple as this I’d be size 8 with abs of steel! This has always been a work in progress area for me and will continue to be a focus for 2019.

To keep my mind/spirit active and healthy I read as much as I can. My goal was to read a new book every 2 weeks this year (26 in total) but I didn’t get near this goal reading just 13 new books. I did however read some books many times. Ironically my favourite book this year was ‘Black Box Thinking’ by Matthew Syed. This book highlights the inevitability of failure and subsequent learnings from failure on the path to success. Matthew’s writing is genius as he explores learning from failure that ultimately leads to success in the Aviation, Healthcare and Criminal Justice worlds. 

In 2018 even though I didn’t reach many of my personal goals in this area I am much more aware of what actions are required to reach these goals and the discipline needed to consistently take this action.

Every year my goals include understanding more about personal & business finance.  In this quest every year I re-read Tony Robbins book ‘Money Master the Game – 7 Simple Steps To Financial Freedom’.  Tony is a master when it comes to finance and in this book he not only shares his own wisdom but also leverages the wisdom of many of the world’s finest financial advisors to share their advice, insights and experience. Tony’s book is written in an easy to understand format for all levels of wealth which is why I like it so much.

This year I monitored income, spending and savings much more closely than I have done in previous years. Like many people I am not what you would call ‘good with money’ and I need to work much harder on this than I had previously anticipated.

 

It’s nice to give back. I have been supporting various charities for many years and year on year I try to give more to each charity whether this is monetary support or volunteering my time. This is something I will continue with and build on in 2019.

That’s it, 2018 in review. When I look back on 2018 I do so with gratitude. Gratitude for all the amazing people in my life and gratitude for the lessons 2018 has taught me no matter how hard some of these lessons were to learn. I look forward to ringing in the New Year and seeing what 2019 has in store!

Thank you to everyone who shares this journey with me, each and every one of you have a had a positive impact on my life. A special and heartfelt thank you to my boyfriend Mike, my family and my friends for everything – you are the reason for it all.

 Here’s to a super 2019 – may the New Year bring you health, happiness and prosperity.

Thanks for reading, with love,

Siobhain

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Note: The system I use for my annual review is still a work in progress and evolves year on year as my own life evolves. When I first carried out my annual review I started with a template shared and used by Chris Guillebeau. If you are interested in starting your own annual review, here is Chris Guillebeau’s How To Conduct your own Annual Review. This is a great read and highlights how powerful planning and reviewing can be.

Chris’s updated annual review template can be found here – Annual Review Template, I used this initially then changed and modified it over the years.  Chris is a very inspirational guy which is why I follow him on social media and I travelled all the way to Oslo a few years ago to attend his celebration of visiting every country in the world.