For the past two years I have made goals for myself (2010, 2011) and I am once again making a public list of my goals for the upcoming year.  As I mentioned in my retrospective on 2011 last week I have had quite a few major changes over the past year.  Moving forward into 2012 I am taking these into consideration when looking at my goals.  Without further delay here are my goals for 2012.,

Professional Goals

• Blog – I will continue to keep up writing this blog at least 2 posts a month.  I continue to get satisfaction in writing posts when I have the time / inspiration.  I also enjoy answering questions and comments from readers, especially when readers mention how something I wrote about helped save them time and effort in their work.
• Speaking – With my new travel schedule it is much more difficult to attend / speak at user groups and conferences.  In addition, weekend conferences (which are what I typically speak at) take away from the limited time that I do have at home.  In light of this I intend to speak at 3 users groups or conferences this year.
• Open Source – I intend to revisit my side project on CodePlex called SavePSToSP and release at least 2 new builds for it.  There are some loose ends that I would like to clean up.  Also I plan to open source a project I’ve been working on with friend and fellow PFE Eric Harlan (blog).  At a high level the tool / script cleans up some issues in SharePoint 2010 Central Admin that I’ve run into a number of times.  More details when that’s closer to completion.
• Volunteering – I will continue to assist with planning of SharePoint Saturday Columbus and Stir Trek conferences as well as serving on the steering committee for Buckeye SPUG.  There is also another conference I’m helping plan that I’ll go into more depth very soon.

Personal Goals

• Stay Fit – I know, I know.  This sounds like everyone else’s goal for “lose X number of pounds this year.”  I do mean this one though.  Over the past 10 years or so I’ve put on some weight (especially with the new job and eating out too much).  I’ve got a “losing weight” partner and we’re keeping each other in check.  I plan to lose 15 pounds by the end of the year and maintain that weight.
• Read Books – I intend to read at least 1 book every two months.  I used to be the type that read maybe 2 books a year and all of that reading was smashed into a week or two while on vacation.  Now that I travel frequently and own a Kindle I’ve begun reading much more frequently.  I find it relaxing and a better use of time than games on a phone or surfing the web.

Conclusion

   I’m being a little more conservative with my goals this year to allow room for changes / additions as they may come up.  I thought about making 6 month goals and then doing a mid-year review but decided against that.  Aside from the above goals I have a number of job specific commitments that I will also be fulfilling this year so I didn’t want to overload things.  I have a feeling this is going to be another big year and I’m ready to rise to the challenges and opportunities it brings.

      -Frog Out