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Cyber Security Annual Planning Guide
How to get the best start in 2024
👋 Good morning!
Each week I provide an in-depth response to your questions about careers, building security teams, AI security, cloud security, and anything else you need support with. Send me your questions and I’ll do my best to provide actionable advice.
Let’s dive in!
This is your 2024 cyber security annual planning guide. The goal is simple, to help you make the most of your year.
Grab a coffee, or a drink of choice, and let’s get into it (it’ll be worth it).
1/ What do you want to be celebrating in the final weeks of December 2024?
“Nothing changes if nothing changes.”
I want you to set 3 primary goals for the year. So big it’ll make you laugh. So bold you feel embarrassed telling others (I don’t care if you don’t achieve all of them, you’ll go 10x further than you would have by setting conservative goals).
What skills, certifications, or experiences to you want?
Now, turn those ridiculous goals into smaller, more manageable steps.
Tactic:
Write 5-10 mini goals under your 3 major goals.
Review these goals monthly (set a calendar reminder).
You can adjust your mini goals along the way.
2/ Know your ‘why’
“Dopamine is not about the pursuit of happiness, it is about the happiness of pursuit.”
Why are you doing this work? It is important to remind ourselves of this throughout our year.
Weekly reflection is foundational in helping you achieve your mini goals. It also allows you to assess what’s working and what isn’t. How you’re working is just as important as the end result. Try to find joy in the process of getting there.
Tactic:
Maintain an accountability tracker on a weekly and monthly basis. Rate your week or month from 1-10. Both in terms of achieving your goals and your fulfilment in their pursuit.
If you’re below a 7, what can you do to improve it? Write out 2-3 ways.
By regularly assessing and adjusting how you approach your work, you can ensure that your approach aligns with your values and goals.
3/ What do you need to get better at?
Think about your experiences and challenges in 2023.
Where do you feel you struggled? Where could you have performed better?
Based on the goals you’ve written, make a list of what you need to improve in order to achieve them.
Maybe its:
Pass a security certification > so you need to build a study plan and find the best learning techniques you can apply.
Get a promotion to management level > so you need to get experiences with greater responsibility and accountability to prove you’re ready and operating at that level already.
Land a new role > so you need to build the skills and get the exposure needed to make you a suitable candidate.
Tactic:
Pick 1 main thing you want to learn in 2024.
Block around 30 minutes in your calendar every day for learning (this will compound over time).
4/ Set yourself up for success.
Time boxing is my preferred way to give myself the windows of opportunity to accomplish my goals.
Tactic:
Set up a new Google calendar (and download the app to your phone with notifications enabled).
Time box your day from waking up till sleep time. This should include time for learning and slots to work on your goals that are non-negotiable.
You can turn these calendar appointments red or green depending on whether you stuck with them.
5/ Build a network and join a community
A community is a tool that will open up doors of opportunity down the line.
The internet is your portal to connecting with other cyber security enthusiasts and professionals.
The best way to do this:
Spend 30 mins each day learning, reading, absorbing ‘useful’ content.
Spend 30 minutes writing content.
Spend 30 minutes replying and interacting with content, forming virtual connections.
If you commit to the tactics discussed here, good things WILL happen this year.
Happy 2024.
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That’s a wrap!