A New Year’s Message of Gratitude

Thanking the ILLUMINATION community, plus the 2024 outlook…

Belated Happy New Year to all!

I wish everyone in the ILLUMINATION community all the best and much success in 2024. I learned a lot from the abundance of wonderful writers and editors here who shared such a diverse range of stories last year.

In fact, there were so many intriguing articles that, unfortunately, I struggled to keep up with everything. That’s due to professional and personal time constraints in striking the appropriate work-life balance, which I’ve found is often elusive (more on that below).

Appreciation for Readers and Writers

I want to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to every reader and writer who took the time to engage with my stories since I joined the family of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications in October 2023. I’m humbled and honored to be among the many talented writers for ILLUMINATION-Curators.

Prior to joining the ILLUMINATION community, I wrote for multiple publications from 2018 onward, when I became a member of the Medium Partner Program.

Now, I proudly dedicate nearly all of my time on Medium exclusively to ILLUMINATION.

In fact, I even upgraded my membership to become a Friend of Medium, following the excellent advice of ILLUMINATION Chief Editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz.

I suggest you likewise consider the benefits of becoming a Friend of Medium, as cogently articulated below by Dr. Yildiz.

In Case You Missed It

I also greatly appreciate all the important insights and constructive comments by readers. Below are several multi-part series I wrote last year in November and December (all of which can be found on my profile page) in case you missed it:

• Remembering President John F. Kennedy 60 years after his assassination on Nov. 22, 1963 — including five leadership lessons, as well as how JFK laid the groundwork for historic achievements in space exploration and civil rights (4-part series)
• Career Roadmap for Generation Z to land their dream jobs, per outlining my 10-Point Plan for Career Success, which helped me to land high-profile jobs in the White House and Congress (4-part series).
• Monster Managers at Work: including how to identify them, whether to engage or elude them, why they should be fired by CEOs due to their corrosive effects on company culture — not to mention how targeted employees are affected (5-part series).
• The Israel-Hamas war in general, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular — including the critical importance of fostering an online open dialogue with constructive discourse from all sides to reach a consensus for peace (5-part series, plus two follow-ups).

Thanking the Editorial Team

I also want to express my outpouring of appreciation to all of the exemplary editors for ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications, especially Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Aiden (Illumination Gaming), and Mike Broadly, DHSc for their hundreds of hours of tireless work and unparalleled dedication.

Ditto that for the entire ILLUMINATION editorial team, which selflessly volunteers their time to make the community a success.

In addition to their editing and writing prowess, the efforts of editors include providing community members with valuable daily highlights via lists of curated stories.

Editors also deserve accolades for sharing guidance on how to be a successful writer for ILLUMINATION, especially considering the periodic changes made by Medium, which impact the algorithm and stories chosen for the Boost Program (see article below by Dr. Yildiz).

The collective efforts of these incredible volunteer editors have proven instrumental in making ILLUMINATION one of the leading destinations for 100 million monthly readers of Medium (according to metrics by the Medium Staff).

I’m also pleased to serve as a volunteer consulting editor for ILLUMINATION, as part of giving something back to this amazing community.

Outlook and Challenges Ahead

I look forward to many more rewarding interactions with the ILLUMINATION community in 2024.

Some of my own writing challenges ahead, to which others may relate, include the following:

1. Continuing to write on a consistent basis — per writing every other day in November 2023 and three times per week in December, on average. Consistency is key for all writers to maintain and improve their craft.
2. Striking a work-life balance — per the time and effort made to write, read and engage with more community members. However, there just never seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything desired.
3. Balancing quantity versus quality — per Medium’s strategic approach of prioritizing quality writing over quantity, as outlined in a very helpful story by Dr. Yildiz (above). I would love to hear more about what you think on this topic. One question I have is whether quality versus quantity always has to be an either/or proposition?

Final Thoughts

I can’t over-emphasize my immense gratitude to everyone who takes the time to read and engage not only with my writing, but also the wide variety of stories by the ILLUMINATION community.

In closing, I would appreciate any comments you may have on the following questions for the year ahead:

• What personal writing challenges and/or goals do you have for 2024?
• How do you plan on balancing the quality versus quantity of your writing, per Medium’s updated editorial position? Must this be a zero-sum game, per se, where one metric must always supersede the other?
• How would you describe your overall experience last year as part of the collective community comprising ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications? Are there any changes you would recommend?

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on these questions in the comment section.

And, again, I wish everyone all the best and much success in the year ahead.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: You can learn more about me here.