I have been thinking about my “one word” response in anticipation of the annual blogging challenge led by Julie Balen.   I have always enjoyed the contemplation and challenge of zeroing in on one element of focus for a year.  (continued below graphic)

My personal landscape has changed as I transitioned from a school board employee (CIO at WRDSB) to retiree (Oct. 31) to exploring independent work.  As I experience this transition,  consider options and contemplate what a new,  more flexible way of remaining active in the learning and ed-tech spaces, as well as looking at experiencing new things, many things jump out:  remaining active, rebalance, recognizing that my desire to continue in these spaces is alive and well,  flex time,  more music, new ways to be involved in community (local and online), new experiences,  what stays, what goes …. the mulling continues and I am sure it will continue for a while.

What I do know is that without understanding what exactly my future looks like, or how time is rebalanced, I want my time to matter, I want to make a difference.  I have landed on selecting “impactful” as my 2017 one word.  My personal journey will be to explore ways to be impactful within a new flexible and rebalanced context.

Let the journey begin!

~Mark