New Year's um, er....goals
I thought I'd write up some goals that I have for this year:
- Continue using the Getting Things Done model. I got into this about mid-year last year (and somewhat half-hearted, I might add), then picked it up with diligence in the fall and I'm going strong.
- Continue working towards a healthier lifestyle. When I had my 30-something birthday in November, I took the opportunity to reflect on how non-optimal my diet and amount of exercise were. Since then, I've been eating healthier (more veggies, less meat, etc) and getting the concept of "portion control" into my wee little head. Now, that's not to say that I'm on a strict diet. Not at all. It's about making smart choices the majority of the time. I still enjoy food (oh, make no mistake). The second component of this is getting out of my chair and getting some physical excercise. I've been working from home for the last few months and I've gotten quite sedentary. I wake up in the morning and walk ten feet to my office (yes, a shower happens in this timeline); I then spend the next twelve or so hours (sans trips to the bathroom or the kitchen) with my *** parked in my Aeron chair. I need to stop that. Of course, it's all been great that I've got a good thing started with my diet while at home; the hard part will be keeping this up when I go back on the road shortly.
- Demonstrate thought leadership. How?
- Get published. Be it MSDN, CodeProject, or some other venue, I would like get at least one article published this year. My problem is that I don't think I have anything worthwhile to write. Some of my friends are correcting that perception (thanks, friends). Of course, I will also be publishing articles on my blog (i.e. not long blog post, but real articles), which brings me to...
- Continue participation in public forums. I started getting involved in the microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.compactframework and microsoft.public.pocketpc.developer newsgroups in the early fall last year. I need to maintain (and quite possibly increase a bit) my level of involvement.
- Speak. Enough said.
- Better leverage this site and this weblog. Part of that means making it a more presentable and useful place...
- Spend more time outside. Some days, I go out to get the mail and I have a "whoa, this is what the outside is like" moment. Quite sad. I think that this goal segues nicely with the second bullet point. I miss the outside. Even when it's cold.
- Read some non-fiction. I used to be a voracious reader. Now all I read is technical material.
- Have a life. Creating (and maintaining) a more solid boundary between work and home is a must for my sanity and my marriage. This gets real tough when you're on the road five (or more) days a week. For most of 2004 and the beginning of 2005 I did a very poor job of creating said boundary (and there were repurcussions). Although, I can't say I did a great of job maintaining that boundary while I've been working from home on this DE project. Overall, I think that this will be the hardest goal to achieve. As a consultant, it is imperative to stay sharp with my skills and to "push the envelope". Achieving such a high level of competency and meeting challenging customer demands can certainly conflict with "having a life". It comes down to being an adroit individual in balancing the demands placed upon me by myself and by others.
It's going to be a good year - I can feel it.
-Nino