We Did It! 2020 Year in Review

Fuel Your Curiosity Newsletters
Written By michele ronsen

How are you celebrating the end of 2020?

Most of us don’t celebrate (or even recognize) our accomplishments as much as we should. We're taught to be modest. Praising ourselves is unnatural and awkward (especially in UX!)

While humility is key to being a strong team player and researcher, being humble, however, does not mean having a poor opinion of yourself! (Why so many researchers have low self esteem is sad! I want to help :)

I interpret humility, and lecture about it, as accepting yourself and your many positive qualities, as well as your limitations, while recognizing that others have good qualities and are incredibly valuable too!

This is where you, your beautiful mind, and unique perspective come in. This is where #UXisateamsport comes in. This is why stakeholder involvement is paramount.

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To celebrate ourselves, ease any awkwardness, and dare I say “have some celebratory fun,” a colleague and I made a pinky promise that we would get together and take stock of our own “wins” each and every year. And we pledged to hold each other accountable. No excuses or humble pie! So glad we did this! I learned a ton!

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Try it! It doesn’t take long and it makes you feel like a rockstar (which we all know you are!) More importantly, it will help you focus your intentions for the upcoming year.

Tip One: Take Stock

Here’s how to get started:

  1. Find a friend/cheerleader to work with either IRL or over Zoom.

  2. Do a brain dump of the kudos you’ve received, projects completed, things you’ve learned and how you’ve grown. If you need a memory jog, check sent and received emails, your social media feeds, and your calendar. Ask your colleagues, clients and others. All ideas are worthy!

  3. Then make a 2020 monthly chart (see example below).

  4. Populate your chart with at least one thing that you created, accomplished, learned or were recognized for each month. If you don’t know where to put something, add it at the bottom! If you get stuck, put down a silly or aspirational place holder and come back to it later.

  5. Edit, save and/or share your list.

BONUS: Review your list when you need a boost!

Tip Two: Set Intentions Instead of Goals

A University of Scranton study found that a paltry 8% of us actually keep our New Year’s resolutions. That’s right. 92% report never meeting the goals they set. People have more success by visualizing where they would like to be or what they’d like to achieve, validating that these intentions are ambitious, yet achievable.

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Tip Three: Say Thank You!

Starting your day with gratitude is a known motivator. Whether you list things you are thankful for, write a quick note or send a text, start your day by giving thanks. I do it with my daughter now and it's so powerful!

Launching Curiosity Tank, during a pandemic, has been difficult. With the additional stressors of homeschooling, a massive construction project and tons of other distractions, I definitely didn’t do it alone! Many people and organizations supported me and helped make lemons out of lemonade!

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Giant thanks to:

  • The Research and Analytics team at Slack (oh so grateful!)

  • General Assembly (whoa 300+ user research classes globally!)

  • Dozens of students (you keep me on my feet, keep in touch, and keep it real!)

  • And of course, my rocks (you know who you are!)

Show & Tell!

Since it’s my goal to lift you up, and inspire you to ask better questions, I challenge you to do this celebratory activity too. Here, the “ask” starts from within YOU.

Below is the template that we used, with some of my professional “wins” on the left and room for you to fill in your own accolades on the right. You'll need more room. This is just to set the context. In case you missed, or want to revisit anything I mention below, I’ve added links.

Michele/Curiosity Tank YOU!
January
  • Announced the Curiosity Tank name, brand and intent to teach people how to ask better questions and upskill their user research expertise. (Yep, one year ago!)
  • Guest on UserResearch.com's Awkward Silences Podcast "7 Reasons NOT to Conduct User Research"
  • 2779 LinkedIn Connections
February
 Note: We created UX Lex because we’d all benefit from a shared vocabulary and our teammates and clients would reap the benefits as well. In February 2021 we’ll share an update at the QRCA conference.
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November NOTE: LinkedIn honors 10 people (globally) in 10 categories for their contributions to the LinkedIn community based on thought leadership in regards to timely topics, reach and engagement.The fact that they chose me, and placed me in the “technology” category, is a huge accolade professionally, but also an outstanding recognition to our growing industry. Yea!
December
Notes & Other Professional Milestones Inspired, informed and expanded reach with:

Now it’s YOUR turn.

Celebrate your wins and share your intentions.

You deserve it! Celebrate all that you accomplished this year. DO IT. It feels great and sets the stage for 2021.

When I put something out there and take the time to actually write it down, it becomes more concrete. So hit “reply” and celebrate yourself by writing back to me with one win, or career or research intention for the new year.

Or, just drop a note to say “hello”, tell me where you are from (I am amazed and humbled that people from 117 countries have visited CuriosityTank.com!) What is your biggest research challenge? How can I help?

Speak up, get involved, share the love.

Let’s stay curious. Let’s support one another. And spread CALM together.

- Michele


michele ronsen
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