Ticking off

Today I can officially announce that I've reached the end of another working year. Tomorrow is a paid work day but it's the end of year celebration event to mark the closing out of the year so not really a "work day" per se.

We have a breakfast, some awards and a very cool video montage of this year's greatest hits has been made which I'm told is fucken hilarious...it's snippets of footage of all the dumb or funny things the organisation's personnel have done over the year; not to be missed I'm told. There'll be awards at breakfast, serious and funny/joke ones, speeches and then we're all being transported to a "secret location" for the rest of the day to spend a fuck load of the organisations revenue.

There's various elements within the organisation and mine opted not to do a secret Santa gift exchange between us because...well, we're not a bunch of fucken babies who need gifts. I was happy with that but, as often happens some people bring gifts and hand them out; it's nice to give stuff to others right?

I don't really enjoy receiving gifts though, I feel awkward about it. I'm not ungrateful, exactly the opposite in fact, but I always feel awkward receiving gifts and today was no different.

I received two bottles of Shiraz, a bottle of (legit) gin, a case of low sugar/carbohydrate beer, a bottle of merlot, one bottle of Scotch whisky...there's an alcoholic theme here right? I also got a cool Yeti mug (totally legit), a few Cuban cigars, a coffee cup that says, "fuck nugget" on it (something I say a lot), a .308 rifle round with my name engraved on it (there's a back story to that gift) and some smart-ass got me some men's facial moisturiser - there's also a back story to that one - which means I'll go back to work next year looking twenty years younger.

Each time, a hand shake occurred and some genuine gratitude was shown...I issued a few hugs and kisses to the female personnel and there was a lot of genuine good feelings all round...but it all felt so awkward because receiving gifts feels odd to me.

As part of the leadership team, I've been partly responsible for my operators receiving some cool stuff (tailored to each of their personal likes) and that felt good - they deserve it - and the end of year day/event paid for by the organisation will be a pretty amazing day for all, a good way to round out the year; one in which the organisation hit some incredible milestones (and targets) *because of the personnel that operates there.

I've had a challenging but rewarding working year overall with a massive shift, some may call it a course correction, in the middle of it which has worked out really well. My core skills are being well-utilised by a legit organisation who values what I do and I've been able to find ways to contribute to and improve and develop their already great systems, processes and operations towards greater efficiency, effectiveness and revenue. A good year? Yes, a very good working year. I'm ready for tomorrow's day-long end of year festivities and to ticking off my working year.

Looking back on your own working year, whether you work for yourself or as an employee, would you say your year has been productive? Have you made a positive difference, helped your team progress personally and professionally, driven additional revenue into the coffers or have you simply had an enjoyable working year? Feel free to comment and, of course, if you've had a shit working year you can talk about that also.