Goals and Themeword for 2010

Well looks like another chain-post, this time started by none other than the SQLRockstar Tom Larock (@SQLRockstar on Twitter). He poses the question “What are your goals and themeword for 2010?“. From there I actually got tagged by not only Colin Stasiuk but also Jeremiah Peschka so I guess I’d better reply!

After reading everyone’s posts I thought long and hard about what my theme word would be for this year I decided on (drum roll please):

Organization

As my wife and co-workers will gladly attest to, I battle with A.D.D. (self-diagnoses folks, no official meds/doctors were involved). As I become more involved with the SQL community and finding more things I’d like to do I find I really need to find a system that works and stick with it. Earlier this year I bought David Allen’s ‘Getting Things Done‘ book as I’ve heard great things about the methodology and how it has helped folks. Unfortunately I got a quarter of the way in and let my boss borrow it and haven’t gotten it back yet. Fortunately I follow some great folks on Twitter like Brent Ozar (@brento) who write posts about GTD such as How to Use GTD 50,000 Ft Goals which allow me to get the general idea without having to read the book (but I will dammit, I will).

Any who, I’ve already taken some steps to try and get myself organized but this year I’m going to try focusing even more. One of things I’ve done so far is download Appigo’s Todo on my iPhone as well as Notebook. I still need to organize consistent lists but so far I’ve done half-decent job of adding tasks as I get them and assign them in the few lists I have so far. What I’ve failed to do thus far and will start doing this year is weekly review of goals and tasks. Apparently this is a key part of the whole process and I’ve been slacking on it. D’oh! Well no more, I say! Another thing I’m going to try to do is little things to help myself get more organized like actually plan out my day rather than just show up to work, do morning checks and wing it the rest of the day. I need something more concrete otherwise my mind wanders all over and all hope is lost.

As far as direct goals I have one glaring goal that is most definitely my number one:

ATTEND THE PASS SUMMIT CONFERENCE!

• Yup, that’s right it’s THAT important. I missed out this past year and while it was cool feeling like I was part of the action via Twitter it’s most definitely not the same. There are so many people in the community I’d like to meet and so much good content at that conference that I cannot let another year go by and miss out on the action. I’ll probably get shot down but I’m going to attempt to ask my boss next week if there’s a chance in hell they’ll register me and get the early bird discount of $995 (good until January 15th). Push comes to shove there’s going to be some bank robbing in my future, just sayin’.

• Other non-felony related goals include me finishing what I started and getting the last two certifications knocked out so I can be a full-fledged MCITP:Database Administrator. My first and only certification is in 2005 so if I’m feeling froggy this year I’ll not only knock out MCITP but I’ll take the upgrade exam as well to make it a 2008 one. Also in the distant horizon I was considering doing the database developer track as well. We’ll see how that goes.

• I’m in mid process now but I’ll add it here too: writing first book. Right now I’m currently co-authoring Pro Policy-Based Management with Ken Simmons and Colin Stasiuk. We’re all very excited about this book and hope to have it published in March/April time frame I believe. This has been a very interesting challenge so far and hopefully the next book I get to write won’t be so tough based off this learning process.

• In the last couple of weeks myself and some coworkers have started dabbling in application development using VB.NET which has got me excited to all sorts of new opportunities. I’m hoping to learn more about application development and pick up some C# as well and start creating some truly helpful in-house applications to help support our staff at work.

• Continue speaking/presenting/blogging. This year I’m planning on submitting presentation to PASS and see where that leads. Maybe company will pony up the cash if I’m a speaker at the conference! Honestly I just really enjoy presenting and teaching so even if I don’t get to present at a major conference I’ll continue doing rounds in Florida user groups and any other group that will have me (via LiveMeeting).

• Compete in a major fitness event (i.e. triathlon or marathon). Seeing Tom talk about him running a marathon and seeing others go out and do similar feats I figure “why not me?”. My wife and I are also fans of the The Biggest Loser on NBC so watching them run a marathon especially after everything they’ve gone through I think I should be able to do the same. This year I downloaded the Couch to 5k app on my iPhone and I’ve stopped/started program a few times. I need to see it all the way through and keep pushing from there. Hopefully by year’s end I can say I’m a marathoner. We’ll see how that develops.

• [Late addition] I’d like to blog more technical articles. I started this blog not really knowing how or what I’d be blogging on or about but I’d really like to add more technical content to my..err content. I’m going to aim for doing at least 4 submissions to one of the major sites like SQLServerCentral this year.

Well that’s all I can think of for now but at least this gives me something I can refer back to later and see where I’m at. Now time to tag a few folks:

Ron Dameron (Blog – Twitter)

Jonathan Gardner (Blog – Twitter)

Tim & Lori Edwards (Blog – His Twitter – Her Twitter)

and just for kicks lets get out of the SQL circle and have my wife try one out:

Jessica Segarra (Blog – Twitter)