Now in my third year of an annual tradition I have set goals (2010, 2011, 2012) and gone through retrospectives (2010, 2011).  So here goes a recap on the year that was 2012 and how I stacked up against my goals.

Year in Review

   Similar to 2011, 2012 was a big year for me.  In 2012 I proposed to my now fiancé Sarah (pictures), I completed my first year with Microsoft as a Premier Field Engineer, my middle brother got married, my oldest brother and his wife had a baby, Sarah’s sister and husband found out they were pregnant, my mom had a total hip surgery, I wrote two chapters for a new book (more details about this once it is closer to publishing), and I helped out with various conferences and projects.  As you may have noticed a number of these items are family related which has been a bigger focus for me this past year.

Professional Goals

• Blog – I set a goal to blog twice a month but did not meet that goal.  I only had 18 blog posts throughout 2012 but they were fairly well spaced out through the months.  It has been more difficult to keep up with blogging given my travel schedule with work, increased family commitment, book writing I was involved with, and other factors.  I still plan to continue blogging as long as I have content / ideas to write about.
• Speaking – I had a goal of speaking at 3 user groups and / or conferences in 2012.  I spoke at 4 events in 2012 (PowerShell Saturday Columbus, SharePoint Cincy, SharePoint Saturday Twin Cities, and SPTechCon Boston).  As intended I reduced the number of events I would speak at compared to 2011.  Due to frequently traveling for work it is difficult to spend a weekend or part of a week away when my time at home with friends and family is already limited.  Going forward my speaking commitments will greatly depend on family commitments and travel schedules.
• Open Source – I intended to work on two separate open source projects.  I did not complete any additional work on SavePSToSP for a variety of reasons but mostly because my time was better spent on other projects and goals.  I have worked on the SharePoint diagnostics project with my coworker Eric Harlan but have not gotten to publishing the project or blogging on it.  This may see the light of day in 2013 but we shall see.
• Volunteering – I assisted with planning Stir Trek again in 2012 as well as a new conference PowerShell Saturday which we held the first ever in Columbus.  I’ve also been involved in the local Buckeye SharePoint User Group (BuckeyeSPUG).

Personal Goals

• Stay Fit – My goal for 2012 was to lose 15 pounds.  I ended up losing a total of 16 pounds by November but with the holiday food fests ended the year 11 pounds lighter than I started the year.  With our upcoming wedding this year Sarah and I have continued goals to lose a few more pounds.
• Read Books – I set out to read at least 2 books.  With the Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones series for you TV-only folks) I read the first 4 books.  Additionally I read a couple marriage prep books.  I wish I had kept a list of when I read certain books as they are a blur looking back now.  I like what Todd Klindt did and post the books he read throughout the year.  I may do the same for next year.

Conclusion

   Overall I met (or came close to) many of my goals for 2012.  Aside from these goals I also set a midyear goal for improving my personal productivity which I blogged about.  So far I have seen an increase in my personal productivity mainly by how many things I have cut out of my life that are / were unnecessary.

   Despite reading some articles about not setting goals I still find the process very worthwhile and will continue into 2013.  I even found a series called 30 Days of Getting Results which very much builds on the idea of setting 3 attainable goals for the day / week / month / year and then doing a retrospective at the end of the respective time period.  I have not fully adopted this system but have incorporated a number of the concepts into my daily life.

   I hope 2012 was good to you (as it was to me) and you are refreshed coming into 2013 ready to tackle new challenges and continue growing.

      -Frog Out