Miscellaneous Monday: Your best IMPACT this year and your plans for NEXT year!!

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The Penultimate Day of the YEAR! 🥂🍾

Good morning to all of you on the other side of the world!

It is now 8am at Atlassian's HQ in Sydney, and as people across those early time zones of the world, either begin their penultimate work day of the year with a coffee, or have the week off and are now nursing XMas hangovers, it is sure to be another busy week for all as the End Of The Gregorian Calendar takes place. 

New year... New You...??? HELL NO!

Those of you who are long suffering associates of The Fun Man know all too well how every year at the end of December I rant about my contempt for new year's resolutions and all that 'rhyming dry with the name of a month' shenanigans.

I just don't believe in it, because I am all about everyday being a new day, with new opportunities, and constantly trying to iterate on being a better me!

#agile #small-a

This week's Miscellaneous Monday: Retrospecting your Social Impact!

Therefore, I decided to put a FUN twist on the whole changing of the year business, by having all of us look at:

1. "what I achieved with my Social Impact this past year of 2024?", and;
2. "what I plan to achieve next year in 2025!?"

Do you work for an Atlassian Foundation customer, and what impact have you had and will have?

Are you heavily involved with a local charity and been busting weekends to help them out big time?

Whatever your Social Impact passion, let's get busy with a nice Retro!!! I'll let you all go first and then will be back myself on New Year's Eve, to post my own!

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ps: couldn't find a really nice GIF of "Social Impact" so bonus kudos to anyone who posts an epic one. In the meantime, here with my favourites "Donuts" GIF, which is very vaguely related to new year diet goals...

[Stuart Capel - London]

1. Not enough!

2. So much more! I've started volunteering for The National Deaf Children's Society and will be getting much more involved in 2025. I'm also going to start volunteering for London homeless charities as there's so much deprivation in such close proximity to all of the ridiculous wealth that exists in London. Luckily my new employer is awesome enough to allow paid leave for volunteering! 

[Jimmy Seddon]

Most people know that I'm always involved in Extra Life supporting the local Children's hospital.  I was very pleased with how things turned out this past year.

Next year, I plan to be even more involved with the local guild to try and make more events possible for people to participate in during the year.

[Andy Gladstone]

@Fun Man Andy I can proudly say that my wife and I have donated close to 20% of our income this year to charitable organizations. We have also volunteered over 100 hours to local community organizations that provide services to improve the lives of those inside the community.

I've ridden over 500 miles on a bike instead of in a car while commuting to my office, and walked over 100 miles roundtrip from my home to the train station, cutting out emissions and pollution.

We approach each day with a thought process centered around how we can make the lives of those around us better, and I can confidently say we have achieved our goal. 

No NEW commitments for 2025, just praying to remain healthy and blessed with the means to continue to help others with our time, money and efforts.

[Amanda Barber]

Great post, @Fun Man Andy! In past years, I've spent much more time and energy on volunteering but 2024 didn't really allow for that. Hoping to get back into that routine for 2025!

I did volunteer for the Milwaukee Walk to End Alzheimer's, was a coach for Girls on the Run, volunteered for our local United Way Techquity event, and helped put on a Longest Day fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association. 

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

New year, same old me having the same old struggles :)

I also think I had fewer contributions than I wanted to have. I joined a couple of events organized by the Appfire Town team (their office is very close to my home), so I was able to help with things like cleaning parts of the Sofia Zoo and helping a local children's hospital with their renovation work.

I hate people throwing garbage everywhere (not to mention how I feel about waste thrown in nature), so I gladly participate in activities related to cleaning parks and local areas. Hopefully, my example will affect more people and have a lasting impact on our neighborhood. 

[Matthias Gaiser _K15t_]

Nice prompt, @Fun Man Andy. Here's my answers:

1. I often worked in the background - doing lots of organizational work for my local YMCA so that all the young people can learn about Christian values and have some fun - and hopefully a better life with it. I've found it rewarding to see many families with lots of kids come together and connect with each other.
   In addition, I'm the voluntary "IT support department" for the work my sister is doing in the Middle East in running child programs for kids without much hope.
2. This year, our YMCA is turning 100 years - and thus will also need more organizational work this year: Preparing celebrations, further thinking about and shaping the future years - basically doing all the work I can so that young people in my town and beyond will have impactful activities through our YMCA.

I've found this gif - and actually think this is one reason I volunteer. I might not be able to change the world alone - but I can contribute a little part and together we can change the world.