Hi 👋,
It's been a while, hasn't it? At the start of 2020, I started this newsletter to share with you the resources, tips and tricks that I had been collecting in abundance and had no idea what to do with! To say that 2020 hasn't been the year we had all envisioned does not do justice to the struggles, challenges and hardship that so many of us have faced, relentlessly.
For me, this year has been my hardest. Without a doubt. The uncharted circumstances and without the distraction of everyday routines, I have been forced to confront many personal challenges and have struggled to deal with the vast uncertainty and feeling of having no control yet, whilst it doesn't feel like it a lot of the time, I know that I have come out this year stronger than I could have ever imagined. I have reprioritised and focused on myself, and the things I needed to do to get through this year including being more in tune with how I'm feeling and finding ways to relax which will have unbound benefits going forward. One of my coping mechanisms has been less screen time - especially time spent on social media, and since starting a new job in February, a lot of my energy has been dedicated to developing professionally and gaining experience on new projects - all whilst adapting to working from home. As things have got busier with work, I have been increasingly in need of a break from side-projects and tutorials and have therefore been lacking content to share with you each month.
Going forward into 2021, I want to keep sending out regular updates, but they may not be as frequent as monthly, or they may be more frequent if I discover something I must share immediately! Thank you for subscribing this year, if we've not met yet and you feel like sharing, I'd love to hear more about you. Where are you from? What are your interests? How did you end up here?
Here's my final newsletter of 2020. Give it a like below or share with your friends if you found it useful!
🌠 2020 Roundup
In my first newsletter in January, I shared my 2020 goals. Whilst some of these have been put on hold either due to the pandemic or to change in priorities, I am most proud of the following:
Practice public speaking and becoming a better communicator: I have been especially focused on improving my communication skills this year and whilst this is not something easily measurable, we have all been forced into communicating in different ways. I've adopted a new approach of trying to be more open and honest with myself, within my relationships and also at work. I've gained confidence when talking publicly, presenting my work in meetings and have been working with a mentor - something I highly recommend! This is something I can continue to improve on but with the progress so far, I feel I've got a good foundation to build on.
Prioritise regular downtime to relax: This has been something that has become a necessity this year and I've got lost in books, discovered new music (how had I never seen NPR Tiny Desk concerts before?!), and in the last few weeks I've created a delicious, penguin-topped Christmas cake, sewed a gingerbread man, learnt to wrap gifts neatly, tie a ribbon around gifts and fold napkins into Christmas trees.
Publish 4 blog posts in 2020: I ticked off this goal fairly quickly in 2020! I do enjoy writing articles so if there are any topics you'd like to learn more about, please get in touch!
🔍Top resources
This month’s recommended resources from across the web and beyond!
Stats jokes & more: Are you looking for some stats jokes to bring you into the New Year... look no further, Chelsea Parlett-Pelleriti has bundles. Also check out her website for tutorials, courses and articles on stats, R and computer science.
Machine Learning Flashcards: I adore the bite-sized ML flashcards by Chris Albon. The full set is available to buy or you can check out the selection he shares on Twitter.
How do people across the world spend their time?: Our World in Data focus on large global problems and publish their research in accessible and understandable reports, with beautiful infographics. I found the report on time spent between Paid Work, Sleep, Personal Care, Eating & Drinking and Leisure split by countries fascinating! You can also download their data and take a look for yourself.
🚀Projects
Projects that have inspired me this month…
Magic Mirror: After seeing a homemade smart mirror on Twitter this month with a link to the MagicMirror2 project that they referenced, I've been feeling inspired to get out my (virtually untouched) Raspberry Pi!
📚My 2020 reading list
My goal for 2020 was to read 20 books. So far I've read 23, giving an average rating of 3.9/5.0 and totalling almost 7000 pages. My December reads are below and you can check out my full reading list here.
#023: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid ✭✭✭✭✩
#022: Wayward Son (Simon Snow #2) by Rainbow Rowell ✭✭✭✭✩
📘 Currently reading: Talking to My Daughter About the Economy by Yanis Varoufakis
Thank you for reading, take care and see you in 2021!
Kerry