Personal Goals for 2011

January 04, 2011

These aren’t all of my goals, to be sure, but I thought that it’d be a good idea to get some of them out in public and start sharing a bit more.

Be More Personal

I want to be more personal on this blog. Historically, I haven’t injected a lot of my personal details into my writing. I did it a few times last year when I talked about a bit of personal history and again when I talked about leaving the PASS Board of Directors. According to my blog, I’ve using the “goats” tag more than I’ve use the “personal” tag. Even when I do blog something personal, it’s almost entirely related to databases, presenting, or presenting about databases. I’m not going to start talking about my innermost secrets, desires, or even my home address. I will put a bit more of myself out there for people to see.

Contribute

I’ve taken a lot from the community over the years. It’s safe to say that we all have, it’s part of why community exists. I’d like to contribute in a more direct way and in a way that I love. Over the course of the year I’m going to contribute directly to open source projects where I can help out. Contributing to the open source world is about writing documentation, testing, and giving back. It’s something that we all do every day, but for me it’s about putting my money where my mouth is and actively supporting free and open software. Yes, I am aware that I work for a massive multi-national corporation that makes large profits through the sale of proprietary software. No, this isn’t a reaction. I will give back and help people build better software.

Write

You could say that I write here on this blog, and that might be true, but it’s not the same as actively practicing writing. I used to write a lot more. There were have been a few months where I know that I have averaged close to a blog post a week day. While I don’t know that I can always produce great content five days a week, I want to write more frequently. Writing is a craft. If you don’t practice it you get worse at it. I will set aside time every day for writing.