100 Things that made my year (2022)

Neera Personal Story

I am taking another leaf out of Austin Kleon, an author I admire a lot, and creating a list of 100 things that made my year. I think it’s a good way of keeping a tab on all that happened in the year.

Here is my list:

  1. Creating my negative manifesto where I listed the things I will NOT do in 2022. I did stick with them, to some extent.
  2. Creating an Author Business Plan for 2022 and setting ‘Growth’ as the theme of the year and “Make sure my creativity injects hope in this world,” as my guiding principle for the year.
  3. Creating an Author’s Planner and Bullet Journal and using it throughout the year to keep a tab on the projects, yearly and monthly goals, and daily To Do list.
  4. Developing the habit of going to the gym in the morning and attending group classes 5 days a week.
  5. Making two trips to Melbourne, the city I call home, to attend our friend’s son’s wedding.
  6. Spending two nights in Yarra Valley with friends.
  7. Attending Zoom meetings with other Substack writers in the pacific region.
  8. Having dinner with my writing group.
  9. Taking part in 30 Days LinkedIn sprint and publishing on LinkedIn for 30 days in a row, making hundreds of friends all over the world.
  10. Picnic in Weston Park to celebrate my sister-in-law’s 40th Anniversary.
  11. Learning that I am a rebel and I will always break rules.
  12. Doing a course on Amazon advertisements.
  13. Hiring an office space for a month to work on my next book, Productive Writer (Still not finished).
  14. Publishing my third book ‘Dare To Create,’ my story of ditching the competitive life to lead a creative life.
  15. Learning to tell stories with dots and lines from Oscar Alonsa of 72kilo and creating a story with 30 sketches.
  16. Starting a newsletter on LinkedIn which grew to 750+ subscribers in a matter of a few weeks.
  17. Devising the leggo block technique of writing 250 words in 25 minutes.
  18. Recording my intro on video and publishing it on LinkedIn.
  19. Joining the rhythm class at my gym and learning basic dance moves.
  20. Upgrading my computer and buying Mac Air.
  21. Developing a file structure based on PARA Method and organizing the digital clutter I have accumulated over two decades.
  22. Using Zero Inbox Strategy to get rid of 7000+ emails from my inbox.
  23. Going to the Blue Mountains, and visiting Eco point, Katoomba Falls, and Dinosaur Valley.
  24. Learning about the Four Zone of Competence.
  25. Announcing a book writing sprint on LinkedIn and had 16 people join in.
  26. Recording the course in two days flat.
  27. Running the three iterations of the ‘Write Your Book In 30 Days,’ course.
  28. Starting a testimonial page.
  29. Opening a Stripe business account.
  30. Watching Season 6 of Crown, and Seasons 1 and 2 of Succession on Netflix.
  31. Writing a cookbook for my daughters, and all those who what to learn north Indian cooking in an easy way.
  32. One week holiday with friends and family at Launceston and Hobart in Tasmania.
  33. Doing an exercise in slowing down and paying attention.
  34. Having all-day-writing days with my writing buddy Fiona.
  35. Making up for not being able to travel for the past two years and traveling to Ireland, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, and Spain.
  36. Starting travel diaries on Procreate.
  37. Doing a course on LinkedIn.
  38. Getting ten reviews on my book How To Write and Publish an eBook in One Week.
  39. Starting a new hobby, urban sketching.
  40. Starting using Obsidian as my notes-taking tool and devised a method to link notes.
  41. Writing a mini-guide on How To Create Your First Digital Product (in three hours) and making it available for FREE.
  42. Doing courses on Domestika (Tell Stories Through Recipes, The Art of Sketching, Draw Your Inner Universe, Urban Sketching, and Architectural Sketching with Watercolour and Ink).
  43. Updating my website and turning it into a repository of my published work.
  44. Learning a simple framework for non-fiction storytelling and using it to improve stories in my articles and books.
  45. Attending a wedding in India.
  46. Traveling to Ladakh, Chandigarh, Khajuraho, Sikkim, and Darjeeling and writing stories about them.
  47. Visiting the place of my birth, Amritsar, and meeting my childhood friends.
  48. Heartwarming comments on my articles, newsletters, and books.
  49. Shopping in India.
  50. Working on my novel and taking it to the next level.
  51. My younger daughter and son-in-law’s visit.
  52. My elder son-in-law’s surprise visit from UK.
  53. Doing a course ‘Speak Like A Leader’ and improving my skills to speak to a camera.
  54. Buying a ring light, tripod, and mike for making videos.
  55. Learning and using Notion for planning.
  56. Several catch-ups with friends and family.
  57. Reading Lynda Barry’s books.
  58. Walking in the afternoons and meditating on a bench in the park.
  59. Starting the paid version, Behind The Scenes, of my newsletter and writing 16 issues of it.
  60. Realizing I am a multipotentialite, which means I have many interests and creative pursuits and I want to pursue all of them.
  61. Starting My Commonplace Book, a new publication on Medium.
  62. Growing my subscriber numbers on Substack, Medium, and LinkedIn.
  63. Ilona Goanos writing a post about me.
  64. Reading Helen Garner’s diaries.
  65. Sketching with pens.
  66. Publishing my short stories on A Whimsical Writer.
  67. Making an income from my writing.
  68. Getting my ABN number as a writer for tax purposes.
  69. Adding another income stream, Gumroad to my portfolio.
  70. Winning NaNoWriMo and Writing a book in public. Published Adventures of An Online Writer, as I wrote it, one chapter at a time.
  71. Learning Dean Wesley Smith’s single draft and cyclic writing method.
  72. Going to Bateman’s Bay with my writing buddies and writing for the whole weekend.
  73. Writing and publishing the second book of the year, Writer’s Toolkit, and making it available for FREE.
  74. Playing cards till late at night with friends (with money and winning).
  75. Playing with my niece’s daughter.
  76. Designing my own book covers.
  77. Adopting Heinlein’s Six Rules of Writing.
  78. Sharing my friends’ courageous survival story on Women’s day, which also was her 85th Birthday.
  79. Sending food to this friend of mine every Monday (for the past 3 years).
  80. Attending two of my nephew’s daughters’ first birthdays.
  81. Celebrating my birthday in India.
  82. Reading 30+ books.
  83. Drawing 300+ sketches in my diary.
  84. Writing 98 Medium articles and 52 issues of A Whimsical Writer newsletter.
  85. Writing 300+ posts on LinkedIn and categorizing them in a Google Doc.
  86. Buying Tesla, our first EV car.
  87. Teaching. Helping five writers write their books.
  88. Joining Mindvalley and learning the Silva Method to work less and produce more.
  89. Getting rid of sugar addiction for ever using Silva 3 Scenes meditation technique.
  90. Learning Segment Intending exercise to get rid of stress and anxiety from my day.
  91. Starting noticing magic in my days.
  92. Using the 3 Questions technique to set real goals for next year.
  93. Joining Ship30for30.
  94. Finding my niche.
  95. Mending clothes.
  96. Cleaning cupboards and getting rid of junk.
  97. Working with another creator of a project to be launched next year.
  98. BBQ on Christmas day with friends and family.
  99. Writing 100 things that made my year.
  100. Creating the Author’s Planner and Bullet Journal for 2023.

It took me a long time to compile this list, but it was well worth it. If forgot everything I didn’t achieve this year and said Goodbye to 2022 with 100 things that put a smile on my face.

To make the exercise easy for next year, I have included them in the Author’s Planner and Bullet Journal. It is available for FREE at Gumroad. Download it here.

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