The Christmas lights are still twinkling, a beer is sat next to me and I am looking back through the achievements of 2018, professionally, personally and as a streamer.

Fortunately, despite some lows, there are plenty of positives to look back on over the year which is setting the tone for 2019 which is what we are going to focus on for this post and I will split it over a few sections to keep it organised.

Streaming

Despite taking a couple of large breaks throughout 2018 due to not being quite into it mentally and a few PC related issues, there were plenty of highs to outweigh the lows which was excellent! The two biggest highs that instantly comes to mind is the most recent event, Naughty or Nice which brought in record numbers over December and helped me to be more consistent in general. The second high that always sticks to my mind is the two occassions that MopGarden, a partnered Twitch streamer raided me which opened up a few new opportunities and new friends.

In that clip, it wasn’t until Mop said hi that I even knew how many people she had brought along! #coolAsACucumber
For 2019 my goals are going to be quite challenging but it will require me to step my game up and really work hard and here they are:
1) Stream a minimum of 12 days on average in a month (so around 3 streams a week). Stretch goal is 16 days on average in a month.
2) Push for an increase of viewers month on month / maintain a minimum of a 5.0 average as set for December. Stretch goal is to reach 8.0 average month.
3) Aim for 500 followers by the end of 2019, with a stretch goal of 750.

I decided to keep it to three goals as this will be a lot of work, especially mentally, so I feel that they will be challenging enough to keep me going and to show improvement year on year!

Professionally

From the tail end of 2017, through to June 2018, I found myself in a secondment at work which allowed me to work in my company’s supply chain team instead of my usual retail work, to develop a new system from scratch that was going to benefit the company massively. Whilst it was only fixed term, it was still disappointing that I was unable to continue the role after the 9 months of a better work/life balance and so many benefits that made my job feel blissful whilst still being challenging.
Due to this, I have been bitten by the “proper” job bug and I am aiming to look at new opportunities outside of retail work that will make my life better, reduce my stress (partially from customers, partially from useless Line Managers) and increase my happiness overall.
My goal on this side is to look for new opportunities and apply a JFDI mentality and put myself out there. Worst case scenario, I get rejected and I start again, best case scenario, I end up in a better role, with better hours which will make life so much better overall!

Personally

A lot has gone on in my personal world this past year, much of which I wish to leave behind me. Brief, to the point and as vague as I can write it eh 😉

My aim in 2019 is to balance everything better so that I do not let Clare feel neglected but at the same time, I get to learn and enjoy as much of my spare time as I can!

I have so many side projects in my head that I want to work on, some of which I will stream like the Bot development tasks for G4G, a Destiny 2 clan that me and Clare are both a part of. Also there is the API for Twitch Streamers and communities that I have been working on over the past 12 months.

As you can see, 2019 should be a busy but hopefully positive year for me and I hope that is the same for you! There are several people who have made this year as great as it is, all of you will know who you are but some of the real stand out people who helped a lot in some way this year, in no particular order are:

– Synxiec
– Clare
– Mopgarden
– Diddy