Firstly, I’ve never been a big fan of the word “goals”.  I love and embrace the concept, just not the word — so I prefer to think of them as ‘challenges’.  …and New Year’s Resolutions always have that overhanging stigma of “it’s ok to break them, because everybody else does”.

Anyway, I’ve been pondering this for a long time now, but when I read Mitch’s post, I really liked his idea of ‘vision setting’.   I realise a lot can change in just 12 months, and having some visibility/reminders out there appeals to me.  So here is some insight to my challenges for 2007:

  • Personal, Family and Lifestyle
    • Read more novels, books and ‘regular’ news
    • Take a bike trip from Brisbane to ‘Cameron’s Corner‘
    • Listen to more music and more podcasts.
      • Given I spent a lot of time wearing a motor bike helmet, this is a challenge - but not impossible.
    • Have more Picnics, BBQs and ‘walks in parks’
    • Take more photos
    • Continue my self imposed ban on Live TV
      • Last year my Wife an I agreed to ‘ban’ Live TV in our house.  The results were amazing, so we are going to enthusiastically ‘ban’ it again this year
  • Community and Blogging
    • I’m going to keep my blogging style (I liked Franks post immensely, it was an affirmation that really hit home).  
      • I blog here to share my thoughts with others on Virtualization with Windows - not to tell them what to think
      • I will to continue to blog more about my findings, more speedlinking, and keep the noise:signal ratio acceptable  :)
    • Meet more people
      • Not everyone has a ‘thing’ for user groups, this doesn’t mean they are any less exciting - So I’m going to get out any meet more people.
      • Attend the MVP Summit this year,
      • Listen to Bill Gates speak in person — I have always had a burning desire (huge understatement) to hear Bill speak, now I get the opportunity at the MVP summit.
      • Attend at least (but more than) one ‘Wardy Community Dinner’ in Brisbane
    • Understand more about the perceptions of Virtualization out in the ‘field’
      • I’ve spent a lot of time with people who ‘want’ Virtualization 
      • I’d like to spend more time with those who want more from their current Virtualization solutions
      • …but most of all I really want to spend more time getting a solid understanding why some people don’t embrace Virtualization in any capacity
    • Keep the user group lovin’ alive and well with the Brisbane Infrastructure Group .
    • Get the wiki on WindowsVirtualization.com live with some useful content
  • Career Goals
    • Find customers who are using technology in exciting ways or using exciting technology  (both is a bonus)
      • Exciting doesn’t always mean emerging, but again it’s a bonus
    • Automate one defined business process that consumes too much of my time,
      • Last year it was the [kickass] automation of timesheet entry from Outlook into Jim2
      • This will give me more energy to focus on ‘finding balance’:
    • Find balance and align my career interests with my vision for long term direction
      • Some of the things that I do, I do incredibly well.  It’s just these things don’t interest me anymore.
      • I want to refine an appropriate level of balance (personal, family, community, career, etc) so I can take positive steps toward my own vision

I imagine this will change the flavour of my blog slightly and increase the number of posts I make.  Maybe I’ll revisit this post with updates?  Maybe not?.  We will see.

If you are here for the Virtualization content and don’t want all the other ‘noise’, you should consider subscribing to only to the Virtualization category (RSS).  If you have already done so, I guess you won’t be reading this :)

I’m looking forward to this year.  I believe it will be a great year full of opportunities and exciting times.  Time to breath deep, and press the ‘Post’ button.