I don’t do resolutions - they’re cliché, overdone, and rarely stick.  However, I’m a believer in setting goals and periodic progress points, and making goals public is proven to increase the chance of success.  I blogged a couple of months back that I was committed to sharpen my skills and increase my participation in the SQL Server community, and so far I’m doing fairly well at sticking with it.

There were a couple of items I didn’t address in my previous set of goals, so here goes:

-- Average twenty forum posts each week.  I’ve skimped on forum participation recently and need to get back in the groove here.
-- Have lunch or drinks with 12 new people.  By “new people”, I mean folks that I have either met this year, or people who I was already acquainted with but had not yet dined with.
-- Earn the MCITP certification in SQL Server Business Intelligence.

As an update, I’ve already booked one of the three speaking engagements on my November list – I’ll be presenting at SQL Saturday in Tampa in a couple of weeks.  I’m a little late on my article for SQL Server Central, but I’m ahead of schedule for my JumpstartTV videos – I’ve already submitted four of them.  I’ll continue to present progress updates.

Turning up the heat.  Take it up a notch.  Stepping up to the plate.  Less talk, more action.

However you choose to describe it, I’m upping the ante on my participation in the SQL Server community.  As I wrote in my previous post, I had allowed myself to get so busy with other things that I neglected my professional writing for months.  Well, to the enjoyment of both of my blog subscribers (thanks Mom and Dad), I’m now on a schedule that a drill sergeant would appreciate.

Thanks to inspiration by the blogging of others (Steve Jones and Andy Warren and their regular daily blogs) as well as some online articles including Scott Hanselman’s How To Be a Better Developer in Six Months (even though it’s been some 16 months since he wrote that…. I really have been slacking), I am taking it on myself to schedule regular contributions this site and the community as a whole.  I’m publishing said schedule for two reasons: 1) to remind myself of what I have committed to, and 2) I fully expect that my fellow community members will taunt me relentlessly if I start slacking.

So here goes:

• Twice weekly blogging (at a minimum) to be done on or before Tuesday and Friday of each week.  No blogging just for the sake of blogging (“Guess what I had for lunch today?”) – I see enough interesting/odd/inexplicable things every day to blog without forcing it.
• One article per month to be submitted to SQL Server Central, on or before the 1st of each month.  This will likely take several weeks to show up since they approve and schedule content well in advance.
• Two videos per month on JumpStartTV.com, to be submitted the Sunday before the 1st and the Sunday before the 15th of the month.  Same scheduling footnote as the above item .
• Book at least three speaking engagements in CY2009.
• Be involved in a book deal - either authoring, co-authoring, editing, or other notable accomplishment - by the end of CY2009.

To be fair, the last one is more of a long-term goal, but putting it out there will be a friendly reminder to me, and will serve as my announcement of my interest in same, in case anyone is in need of those services :)

I’ve set some other goals for myself that will not be as visible to the community but, in taking Hanselman’s advice, I’ll share them with you here as well:

• Spend the next 6 months polishing my skills in SQL Server Analysis Services by using it every day, if only for a few minutes.
• Spend the next 6 months developing a working knowledge of BizTalk Server by using it weekly – I even have a set of AppDev videos to help get me started on this one.
• Increase the amount of consulting business I do so that, by the end of CY2009, this makes up at least 15% of my net income.

So there it is.  It seems like a very short list considering the amount of time I’ve been working it out in my head, but it’s out there, it’s public, and I’m committed.  If I am spotted slacking in any of these goals, you all have my permission to call and harass me, or just leave snide comments on my blog.  For my part, I promise to report back on my progress of these less-visible goals.