2023 is here, and so are the rewinds, year-end reviews, and the swarm of #2022wrapped on all over the social media platforms!
I, for one, was still in shock throughout the first few days of 2023. Because…

However, every year in itself is a journey. So, like the years prior, it’s time to shrug off the delusion of being hung up and put the 2022 year in review — on personal and professional levels.

“Asif Jamil in 2022, huh?”, I thought to myself before planning this content.
“What are my hits this year? What did I miss?”

I’ll tell you all about my year in review, and I expect to read about yours too! So, consider leaving comments below after reading this post.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

The Hits of Asif Jamil in 2022: Year in Review

Launched my personal website (finally)

For years, I’ve wanted a digital space for myself.
For years, I’ve wanted to do blogging.
For years, I’ve wanted to explore ideas and express my thoughts.

I finally got down to it in July 2022.

Behold, the personal website of M. Asif Jamil!

From start to finish, the whole thing took me around two and a half days.

I took it as a challenge that I’ll do everything on my own and won’t take help from anyone. And so I did! From graphic assets to building pages, I took care of everything on my own.

In this process, I got more comfortable with setting up web hosting, the intricacies of Wordpress for blogging and making simple websites, and making the most out of the design powerhouse called Canva, among many others!

This website, where you’re reading the post right now, is my personal digital space and I’m happy that 2022 gave me the opportunity to build it.

Tied the knot with the love of my life

The biggest milestone of 2022 for me!

The recently-gone year brought an end to years of anticipation and patience, I finally signed the lifetime MoU with this woman 👇 and successfully closed the deal! 😄

Getting married was my first step in settling down and moving life forward. 2022 helped me with that step and set the sail of my life.

Together, we shall achieve great things in 2023 (hopefully 🤞)!

Visited Darjeeling as an office retreat

The whole year at XpeedStudio was fun!
So many pleasant memories, the launch of our latest flagship GetGenie, outings, office banters, missed deadlines, and much more!

But one of the biggest highlights of the annual tour of 2022, which was held abroad for the first time.

The 5-day retreat to the Queen of Hills breathed fresh air into our regular lives inside the concrete jungle. We visited the Rock Garden, the Batasia Loop, Tingchuley, the Darjeeling Ropeway, and the Ghoom Monastery, among others.

I, along with the XpeedStudio team, thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

Being an avid fan of the works of both Anjan Dutta and Wes Anderson, I made a video with bits and pieces of the Darjeeling trip as a homage and also a piece of eternal reminiscence.
You can watch it below or alternatively, you can also watch it on Facebook.

Scored my dream band score in IELTS

Getting 8.0 in IELTS felt like a dream even the day before the test.
And after the test, I was sure I’d get 7-7.5 at best.

But to my surprise, this is what happened 👇

Yes, the unexpected happened — I got a band score of 8.0!

I had time management issues in the Writing section, so that score is quite understandable. But the scores for the listening and the reading sections caught me totally off guard!

This is the most pleasant outcome I got in 2022 and while I didn’t get much opportunity for preparation, I’m wholeheartedly satisfied with the result. Here’s a brief insight into my journey with IELTS:

Focused more on my LinkedIn activities

I had been meaning to actively and effectively use Linkedin for quite some time. And in 2022, I decided to act upon that wish.

The first step?
I uninstalled the Facebook app on my phone.

Then, I invested the time previously used in browsing Facebook into the LinkedIn app on the phone. My time on the move while commuting was mostly utilized on LinkedIn throughout 2022.

I’ve even written some pieces specifically for the platform. Another point to be noted here is that I’ve made a few meaningful connections there and I plan to take it to the next level in 2023.

And the outcome is amazing! It’s definitely a better platform for personal and professional growth. The thing I like the most is how distraction-free it is (or you can make it if you wish) compared to other social media platforms!

Here is a compilation of the results I found on LinkedIn this year:

For 2023, my aim is to create more content on LinkedIn, build relationships, and turn on the “creator mode” (which I’ve been meaning to do for a while).

You can connect with me on LinkedIn by clicking here:

Hosted my first WordPress Meetup session

Ever since I started working in the WordPress ecosystem under XpeedStudio, speaking at a WordPress event was something I was eagerly looking forward to.

I got the opportunity in the last month of 2022, at the December WordPress meetup arranged by WordPress Dhaka.

The topic of my talk was “Product Marketing Best Practices for the WordPress Ecosystem”. I absolutely loved taking the session!

As a first-timer, the amazing feedback and warmth I received from the participants and fellow WordPressians was simply overwhelming for me. I hope I’ll more opportunities like this one in 2023 as well.

Started to see the results of helpful content creation

The initial plan for blogging on this website was to publish 1 content every week. But then, life happened and irregularity hit after the first month.

Still, I focused more on quality than quantity. Google and Bing, our lords and saviors in blogging, noticed that and blessed me with —

• Almost 7000 impressions on Google
• 600+ impressions on Bing

This result came with only 10 posts.

While the CTR on Bing is above average, I’m still struggling with the CTR on Google. So, the 2023 resolution for blogging on this site would be —

1. Being more regular
2. Increasing the CTR on Google
3. Revamping the content strategy

Worked behind the scene for a generative AI

As mentioned above, XpeedStudio released GetGenie last year. It’s a generative AI that works as an assistant for Content & SEO in WordPress. From the developmental stage till now, I’ve been working behind the scene on this tool and I feel proud to be part of this project!

My work for GetGenie so far includes:

• Preparing test dataset
• Reviewing and editing test data
• Feature suggestion
• Market and product research
• Usability test and QA
• Marketing strategy and execution
• Competitor analysis
• Multilingual dataset preparation/review (6 languages)
• UX suggestions

It feels great to see how relentlessly GetGenie is performing among the other Gen AI tools in the market.

With 2000+ active installations within a short period of time, GetGenie is undoubtedly here to stay and has the potential to soar even higher in the coming months — consider the solid roadmap it currently has!

Took one step further toward a healthy life

I gained quite a bit of weight in 2021, thanks to my unhealthy post-pandemic lifestyle. Naturally, I aimed to lose some weight and be more active physically.

Now, although I haven’t started working out yet (which I actually planned to do), I’ve started two things in 2022 ⤵️

1. Walking 7-10 kilometers every day
2. Controlling daily calory intake, especially carb

And these two initiatives have brought amazing results in my life! I’ve actually lost around 5 KGs in 2022 with so minimal effort!

My resolution for 2023 is to start working out and doing free-hand exercises at least from the second half of the year. Also, I plan to further diversify and revitalize my diet with less intake of carbohydrates and sugar. As a sugar junkie, the latter will be tough for me but that’s one challenge I’m eagerly looking forward to 🙌

The Misses of 2022: Year in Review

You might’ve noticed already that I’m not a Disney prince.
So, no. My life is not all sunshine and rainbow!

In spite of all those hits, there are misses too. And as a mature human (who still may or may not want to be Batman someday), I’ve learned to move past my failures and on to the next challenge.

But, as a reference point, here are a few downers of the past year for me:

• Video content creation:
  Although I experimented a bit with short-form videos with TikTok and YT Shorts for like a month, it didn’t bode well. I even had to stop it due to the underwhelming outcome compared to the amount of time it required to be invested.
  I also had plans to start making long-form videos. That, too, didn’t see the light of day.
• Part-time teaching:
  For a brief spell, I joined eShikhon as a course instructor of their Digital Marketing course. I won’t go into much detail here, but due to my lack of time and some “bitter experiences”, I decided to quit.
  It was also a learning curve for me as I believe the decision to be timely and right. Sometimes, the best option is to leave and let go. That’s what I did there and I’m happy with it.
  Nonetheless, I’m adding it to the list of misses as it didn’t go as planned.
• Courses and training:
  I did plenty of online training and courses back in 2020 and 2021. But in the past year, that was not the case.
  Although I started a few courses but never got to finish them. I hope, in 2023, I will break out of this and concentrate more on learning.
• Reading books *sigh*:
  Like the year before, I made a pact to read a LOT of books and failed measurably. I read only 9.25 books in 2022, which is far less than my lowest-tier target of 12 books.
  This is a written promise that I will surpass the number this year. Hell, I’ll make sure to read at least 15 books (if not more) in 2023.

Last but not least…

2022 is already history, so my primary focus is on what I can do in 2023. And I think this is what you should do too.

What we could or could not achieve last year will become irrelevant if 2023 is not utilized properly, right?

Here’s to a productive and wholesome year ahead… ✌️