🥇 Badge of the Month: Goals/ January

Miša Hennin

Hello and happy new year!!

I hope you all had a fantastic break and are returning to work inspired, refreshed and ready to take on 2023! To help get your brains warmed up, here's the first Badge of the Month of the year. As part of our Rewards Program, Badge of the Month gives you an easy way of joining in and connecting with others, and a new badge! Your answers don't have to be Meister-related, we'd just like to hear from you 😃.

Want to know the rules? Check out this post.

Already know the rules? Read on to find out what we want this month is all about!

Badge of the Month: January 2023

January’s Badge of the Month is rather predictable, though important - This month, I wanted to ask you about your goals.

The start of the year presents a good opportunity to strive for new achievements — meaning plenty of people set goals and resolutions. So, what would you like to start doing in 2023? Do you have a particular professional goal? Is there something new you’d like to learn? Let me know below!

Best,

Miša

Joerg Koper

Hi @Miša and happy new year 👋😉

we have two wonderful projects in the pipeline for 2023. We have set up a new network for our clientele, which we are even including MeisterTask Boards in. The network is especially geared towards founders, freelancers, solopreneurs and small businesses.

We are also in the process of implementing a funding project for our clientele. The aim of this project is to give interested participants with a currently low budget the opportunity to make use of our counselling and coaching services and to participate in our seminars, workshops and programmes in Scotland without having to pay additional fees.

Our goals this year are therefore very social and client-oriented.

Best, Jörg

Andrew Lapidus

https://community.meister.co/discussion/comment/1678#Comment_1678

Sounds like some exciting developments, @Jörg Koper - your network sounds like a powerful implementation of community! 😀

We've got plenty of exciting goals for 2023 at Meister, many of which center around some long-awaited feature releases and new product developments. In the community team, we're focusing our goals not only around growing this community, but also on delivering concrete, measurable value to our community members — weather that's finding answers to questions, helping to shape our products through feedback and testing, or getting inspired with best practices from our expert partners. There are a lot of exciting initiatives coming up, so stay tuned! 😁

Personally, I have resolved this year to improve my organizational skills as a project manager. With so many initiatives planned for our community, the ability to manage large-scale projects which involve a large number of contributors and stakeholders has been an exciting challenge! After using MeisterTask to make huge strides in optimizing my personal workflow and resource management, I feel like I've only scratched the surface of its capabilities as a project management tool. I'm excited to see where my learnings will take me! 😀 (and I'm also looking forward to subtasks for this purpose 😍)

On a non-work-related note, I've recently gotten back into playing chess after a long hiatus. ♟️👑 I've set a goal of getting my rating back up to an acceptable level and then joining a local chess club here in Vienna😁

I wish everyone all the best for the new year! 🥳 🎉 🎊 

Best,

Andrew

Joerg Koper

https://community.meister.co/discussion/comment/1686#Comment_1686

You're absolutely right @Andrew Lapidus 👍️

I wanted a lean structure for my network without having to install and maintain a community software, but I also wanted to integrate some kind of meeting point. And then, while I've been active here in the community I had the right ideas for the solution.

If I keep to my agency's maritime storytelling, the network is something like a home port for our participants. And with MeisterTask we are now building the exclusive harbour lounge, so to speak 😎

I am absolutely thrilled by your description of personal improvement in the area of project management with MeisterTask by the way. Some how I feel the same way because MeisterTask is an adventure with so many "sometimes still hidden" secrets and possibilities.

Wishing you all the best too for 2023 Andrew 🙏

Rooster McNugget

Hi @Miša,

the new year startet already and the new projects are in the pipeline. And with Meister Suite I'm "ready for take off"!😁

One of my goals for this year is to work more efficient and to use MeisterNote (hope the app is coming out soon) and MindMeister more often. And I'm looking forward to learn more about the hole Meister Suite.

Wishing you all the best for 2023 and a lot of success!! Samuel

Admin BSF.company

TL;DR ➡ my goal for 2023 is to achieve a consistent average typing speed of at least 100 WPM.

Hey, I missed this one for some reason. Thanks for this thread @Miša!

In our case, the year started pretty well with several new projects/customers, so it's been pretty exciting already.

We are also in the process of implementing a funding project for our clientele. The aim of this project is to give interested participants with a currently low budget the opportunity to make use of our counselling and coaching services and to participate in our seminars, workshops and programmes in Scotland without having to pay additional fees.

☝ That indeed sounds like an interesting social experiment @Jörg Koper, are you planning to blog about it? I wish you great success in this enterprise, and please let me know in case I can subscribe somewhere to updates about this journey.

On a non-work-related note, I've recently gotten back into playing chess after a long hiatus.

☝ This sounds so cool @Andrew Lapidus. As a side note, I've been following this player in YT for a while, she has an interesting approach to the game as an influencer and the videos with her parents (Grand Masters both of them) are hilarious.

And I'm looking forward to learn more about the hole Meister Suite.

☝ I entirely agree with you @Rooster McNugget, using the whole Meister Suite is a powerful experience, and like @Jörg Koper said somewhere, there are plenty of little secrets awaiting to be discovered.

On my side, I have a funny story about me thinking I was able to "type fast" using only the index fingers on each of my hands. My wife and I used to joke about it, saying that watching me type was like seeing a couple of chickens frantically eating from the floor 😆

That had been the case for most of my life.

However, at the end of 2020 I decided to kill definitely my bad habit of typing that way, and started to learn touch typing, for real!

Yes, You know what that means: back to 3 Words Per Minute (WPM)

Few experiences have been so excruciating like this one in my entire life.

The good news is: I've seen steady improvement since I started, with my average speed pumping 62 WPM presently 😎 ⌨

So, my goal for 2023 is to achieve a consistent average typing speed of at least 100 WPM.

Wish me luck 👍

Best regards.

Andrés D'Andrea

Joerg Koper

Hi @Andres D'Andrea,

It's impressing how fast you seem to learn to type that fast, so I'm not worried about reaching your goal...but anyway, it's better writing with a two finger system on a keyboard than playing piano that way 😉

The Funding-Project will start in February and I think, it will be a good opportunity for many founders and starting solopreneurs, like we've been many years ago without projects like that. I don't actively blog about it, but I do make occasional entries in the virtual "logbook" on our website. If you like, i will be happy to keep you updated.

I wish you all the best for 2023, especially health, love and of course many more exciting projects and customers 😎

Best, Jörg

Admin BSF.company

Hey @Jörg Koper thanks for the props mate. Touch typing is about practice, like playing a musical instrument.

I'm fond of creating healthy habits that produce marginal gains over time. Something I took from a book by James Clear called Atomic Habits.

The key is to find the proper tool (like we all did with Meister 😄), in this case, an open-source web app named monkeytype.com was the trick. Every occasion I've to kill time (FTP migrations, anyone), I enter that site and start typing short quotes. You can even "write" books instead of "reading" them, pretty cool, huh.

I'm sure your Funding Project will be a great help for the people that most need it, keep it up mate!

Best wishes, cheers 👍

Andrés

Joerg Koper

Buenos días a México @Andres D'Andrea,

wow...05:00 A.M. in Mexico...you're up early this morning my friend 😉

Atomic Habits is an absolutely interesting book. I have read it too.

To be honest, my style of typing with...let me count...four fingers, is fast...but...I always tend to write first letters big because of my little finger on the shift key that is too fast sometimes 😅

I think, I'll take a look at monkeytype too.

Have a great day and rest of the weekend mate

Jörg

Miša Hennin

Good afternoon!

I think it's finally time I get my own January badge 😀.

My goal is to spend more time learning this year. This means that I want to watch more documentaries, read more non-fiction books, and work on language learning! I've started on the right foot with my 20-day Duolingo Spanish streak (Hola, yo como manzanas 😆), and by reading articles in Russian to practice after neglecting the language since leaving university. I have also just started a book on the Vikings and I loved the introduction!

I hope my efforts will continue and I will have learned lots by the end of the year.

Thanks for sharing your own inspiring goals.

Joerg Koper

Hi @Miša 👋🙂

I'm impressed about your goals, especially of practicing the languages. The history of Vikings is awesome. When we take a closer look into the history of the UK Island, the likelihood of carrying the genes of Vikings is certainly given among some people of the united kingdom 😊

Keep up the love for what you're doing and want to learn 👍️

Best, Jörg

Olaf Roeb

Good evening to all of you,

and thank you for reminding me, Misha, this one was still on my agenda. Unintentionally you also just paved the way for me: I could almost copy and paste your first paragraph. Although I am quite sure I can not invest more time in learning than last year, learning still is the most important goal this year again, and by far. Like you I am deep in learning languages. In French, I hope to cross the C1 level in QuaterII this year, and from then on it's reading and free studying. Since Strasbourg is only 60 km away from my home, just beyond the Rhine river, I'll have lots of opportunities to apply and exercise by doing. In Spanish, this year I'll simply follow the textbook(platform), Busuu in my case, Spanish will make the top of my list next year.

Once I really understand how to transfer my own learning processes into Meister-Workflows, I still need to develop a working business model to specialize in offering assistance to learners and educators. So far Meister comes in extremely great, in half a year the Suite has more than just gradually exceeded my expectations, especially in terms of design and intrinsic motivation. And there are some features in the pipeline that may give another push. I am so keen to see more templates and ideas and take away as much as I can from the new 2B assembled and grown garden of board templates🌱🌿🌴.

There are years that start to make me deeply curious about what they will bring, and this is one very much so.

All the best. 👴👍️😍

Joerg Koper

https://community.meister.co/discussion/comment/2140#Comment_2140

Hi @Olaf Roeb,

In every sentence of your post I could read out your excitement for what you're doing. I like that and I am very impressed of that in this and all the postings of the others here too.

Best, Jörg

Admin BSF.company

Hey @Miša and @Olaf Roeb it's so cool to see you seeking to speak Spanish, it's a beautiful language with numerous nuances.

Duolingo and Busuu are excellent platforms for practicing and learning new languages. I've tried them both and the social features they've imprinted in their UX are what I like the most.

Got an idea 💡

Think of chatting in Spanish when you need practicing your lessons. Considering you'll be improving your Spanish grammar and I'll be improving my touch typing speed, it's going to be a win+win situation 😉

Let me know in case you like that idea, then we can make arrangements 👍

Best regards.

Andrés D'Andrea

Olaf Roeb

Es una idea excelente, me encanta, @Andres D'Andrea .☺️ ¿Qué pensas tú, @Miša?

Miša Hennin

Good morning all!

@Jörg Koper you're right - I am 7% Scandinavian...which I hope means I have viking blood running in my veins 😆. It took a while to choose the right book but I think I've gone for a good one so I'm looking forward to getting further - now I just need to find the time!

@Olaf Roeb wow, you have a very strong approach to language learning and I wish you the best of luck with it! Please do share any interesting resources you come across for Spanish - it's always helpful to pass on tips 😊. Although I daresay you're much further in your learning than me...I'm still learning the basics and haven't spent time delving deeper just yet. Despite this, I understood your question above and I think it's a brilliant idea @Andres D'Andrea. As soon as I've learned a bit more I'll try to disperse some Spanish here and there - be ready! 😁

Joerg Koper

Cool @Miša,

Viking Genes mean, youre a very strong and straightforeward oriented person 💪😉

Best, Jörg

Richard Vitaris

Since I retired from my career, goalsetting is actually much harder than it used to be mainly because I don't have that many things that I absolutely must do. While working, there were always new projects, new initiatives, and plenty of ideas on how I might do things better. I don't need to worry about those sorts of things anymore because the only tasks outside of the home I need to worry about are the volunteer activities I have agreed to do.

That said, I have found that I am wasting more time than ever precisely because I have few tasks with deadlines. For example, I should be making far more progress reading the huge stack of unread books I have purchased over the years, but find myself procrastinating despite the fact that I now have time to read which I never had before.

So my goal is to develop a plan to make more efficient use of my free time in retirement. In effect, to adapt the productivity tools that helped me get through my career so effectively to making more effective use of my time in retirement. You see, when I retired I thought how wonderful it was that I no longer needed to really worry about deadlines, performance standards, and the like. My thinking was that I have left the workplace and the beauty of retirement was that I didn't have to work anymore. That, proved to be a mistake.

So my first step will be to think this through with a mind map. My mapping was my "go to tool" while working, as well your and I need to make better use of mind mapping now.

Miša Hennin

Hey @Rvitaris, thanks for sharing. Although I haven't retired I really understand what you mean! I feel the same way after studying. When I was studying, I had so much that I had to do, I ended up doing more even in my 'free time'. For example, I'd have lectures all day, then I'd do extra study in the library, then I'd do some sports, then I'd do some reading, then I'd socialise, then I'd go to bed. The pressure of studying made me a lot more disciplined. Now, I feel like at the end of the working day the time just sort of disappears! I find it much harder to set aside time for learning or reading or doing something productive outside of my professional life.

I'd love to hear how mind mapping works out for you with this goal - maybe I should try the same.

Best of luck!

Channing Kelly

Hi @Miša new here. 👋 My nudge word for the year is plan ahead. As a small business owner I frequently find myself scrambling at the last minute to get things done -- because there is so much to do! While it generally always gets done, it's not a fun way to operate so my goal is to plan ahead and be more prepared so I'm not always on deadline -- that crosses all aspects of my job including marketing, project management, financials, etc.

Miša Hennin

Hi @channing and welcome to the Community - it's a pleasure to have you here and I'm excited to check out the Feature Ideas you've posted 😁.

Great goal! As you can imagine, we're avid promoters of good planning 🤣 - I'm sure you'll find lots of inspiration and guidance about planning techniques here in the Community.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Miša

Martha camacho

I'm late to this party but I can't let January end without getting my badge of the month! For me, one of this year's goals is to do more of what makes me happy. Start swimming again, engaging in new activities to meet people, go to a Hawaiian dancing class.... anything goes!

The last couple of years I have been super focused on adapting to this lovely new country that I call home now (Austria ❤️) but I feel that I have forgotten to do things that bring me joy. So besides continuing learning German, my goal this year is to focus on being happy!

oh and @Miša , yo te ayudo con el español 😉

Joerg Koper

Hey @channing,

first of all a warm welcome to the community from my side too 👋🙂

Learning and practicing "self-management" is one of the most challenging tasks of all. Keep going and be patient with yourself 😉

Best, Jörg

Joerg Koper

Hi @Martha Camacho 👋🙂

I grew up with Spanish friends (stupidly, we never thought about me learning their language too) and I love the culture, the food and the joie de vivre.

I wish you all the more that you achieve your goal with exactly this joie de vivre. Life is so short, as the exciting book 4000 Weeks shows us. So, enjoy life, have fun and "muestra a los vieneses tu temperamento" 😎😊

Best, Jörg (or as the mother of my spanish friends calls me "Joorrkiee")