Happy new year.

This is Stephanie Maas partner with Thinking Ahead, Executive Search, and welcome to The Talent Trade.

Oh my goodness, can you believe we are launching into 2024?

I don't know about y'all, but I know for me, 2023 went by like a blur.

There were ups, there were certainly downs and everything else, which I think is just kind of par for the course now, but it went by so incredibly.

Fast.

So here we are on the cusp of a new year.

I have mixed feelings about New Year's resolutions.

I think that the spirit of them is incredible, but sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves that we give up before we even get started.

But one of my favorite traditions is to really spend time thinking about what was I thankful for in the last year?

What did I learn from the last year and what do I hope for for the upcoming year?

I also like to think about in the spirit of what do I hope for?

What's my part?

What can or do I need to be doing to really make those hopes and dreams come true?

And I think about this personally as it relates to my family.

I think about it from a search perspective.

I'll share with you two things that I've done in the past that I love.

I saw this one online somewhere, so I don't know who to give proper credit to, but basically they said, start a gratitude jar and put it somewhere super visible, put a stack of not quite sticky notes, but little, you know, square pieces of paper.

And every time something good happens, write it on that note and put the date and put it in the jar.

Do it for the entire year.

And then on New Year's Eve, dump out the jar and read about all the amazing things that happened throughout the year.

We actually did this last year.

I knew it was going to be a challenging year for me and my family, so I wanted to do that.

And it was so much fun reading those on New Year's Eve.

It was amazing how much the kids had forgotten or how much they go, Oh my gosh, that was last year.

It seems like it was ages ago.

And it definitely sets the tone for trying to set up a proper next year at work.

Some of the cool things I've done.

Is you know, our firm is huge on stats and you know, we believe in managing the numbers and lead the people.

I started setting goals in terms of not necessarily all my stats, but things like who can I bring along?

How can I help develop X, Y or Z?

You know, how many clients can I serve this year?

or how many candidates can I help transition into a better situation and just started shifting how I thought about the job a little bit.

Again, we still have to manage the numbers.

They're still there, but I just did, I just did a little bit of a, of a mind shift and how I approached my work.

And it was amazing how I just went into the year so much more relaxed and like, Hey, I'm here to serve.

It's going to work out however it is.

My job is to wake up every day.

Get on the phone and try and find who I need to serve next.

So with that being said, we here at the talent trade are super thankful for 2023, the introduction of this podcast and anyone who's ever given us a listen, whether it be for a minute or the entire podcast or whatever the case may be.

So thank you for that.

And we also share a commitment to 2024.

And bringing you hopefully more hopeful content that makes you better at your desk and your craft and improves the executive search business as a whole.

Here's to more in 24 happy new year.