Goals – The end of one year, start of another

Just about a year ago, I talked about the importance of setting goals for yourself, both personally and professionally, making sure they’re lofty enough to challenge you, and making them public in order to hold yourself accountable.  It’s hard to believe a year has passed already, but here we are, and it’s time to see how I did.

Last year’s goals

If you’ll recall, I had three goals for this past year: to get my certification, present at a SQLSaturday, and to increase this blog’s readership.

Certification

My first goal, certification, didn’t go so well.  Even though I was on the fence regarding the value of certification, I started out strong; I would get up early each morning to study for an hour before work.  Having this blog also helped the learning process.  But then… it kind of petered out.  My other goals, projects, and life, started to take precedence, until I made the conscious decision back in January to shelve the idea for the rest of the year.  So I guess I get a big ol’ F on this one.

Present at a SQLSaturday

Now this goal went a lot better, even though I barely got it in under the wire.  Last month I presented in Chicago, and it was a fantastic experience.  Definitely something I’m looking forward to doing again.  Mission accomplished.

Increase this blog’s readership

Over the past 12 months, I’ve experimented with my writing style, I’ve tried to maintain a regular posting schedule, and I’ve also tried to keep the topics useful and varied.  Being syndicated on SQL Server Central has helped tremendously with gaining exposure.  Back when I made this goal, I was averaging 14 hits a day. Now, I know everyone says you shouldn’t get hung up on the numbers, but I really don’t know of any other way to quantify how I did here.  Anyway, that average has steadily increased each month, and this month I’ve averaged 172 visits per day.  Not too shabby.  Even more exciting for me is the increasing amount of feedback.  I love getting comments from readers, it tells me that what I wrote made an impact.  So I’m very happy with how I did on this goal, too.

So, what’s next?

Now that I’ve officially finished last year’s goals, what do I want to accomplish in the next 365 days?  I thought you’d never ask:

• Present at 6 SQLSaturdays – One’s not enough!  Must have more!
• Present for a virtual chapter – Y’know, once I figure out Live Meeting, that is.
• Submit a session for a larger event – Something like SQL Rally, Dev Connections, etc.

Are you sensing a theme here?  Yep, there’s going to be a heavier focus on presenting this year.  Fear not, I won’t forget about this blog.  In fact, I have some plans to expand it, add some pages with resources, slide-decks, etc.  And I’d like to try my hand at recording some video posts/demos.  So there’s plenty to look forward to here, I just didn’t have a specific, measurable “goal”, y’know?

3-year goal

In addition to my 1 year goals, I’m also setting a longer-term goal for myself.  In the next 3 years, I want to present at the PASS Summit.

Bring on the new year!

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