Earlier this year as I thought about what I wanted to try in Orlando related to the SQL community and thought about the time commitment, I realized it was also “time” to think about what comes next for me. I came up with this:
- I want fewer ongoing commitments so I can spent that time in other ways
- I’d much rather do “day of” volunteering or take on a one time task
- I think it’s important to grow the next generation of leaders and that means giving them a chance to drive
- I want to do what I can to set them up for success, but not lock them into doing it the way I’ve done it
- I want to hand it off to someone who will care as much about as I do about making it work
- The hand off may not work and in the worst case things go on hiatus for a while
- Letting go is a little bit hard
A lot of that relates to the ideas I’m trying; doing less in some areas (a big quarterly meetup vs monthly), trying lunches as a way to focus more on relationships, getting the money into a non profit account, and more. It’s gotta be lightweight to sustain OR we have to have a larger pool of active volunteers.
Deadlines drive behavior, so I arbitrarily set the goal of 2 more years. In December 2020 I’ll be stepping way back. I might continue to serve on the SQLOrlando Board, I’ll gladly show up to help out on game day for SQLSaturday and I’ll continue to present and share ideas in Orlando (and elsewhere), but the mantle of making it all happen will be on someone else in 2021. The deadline makes me a little restless, but that’s a good thing. A lot to do in the time remaining.
Volunteering is a good thing, but it doesn’t have to be a permanent commitment. I looked back to see what else I had written on the topic and found this and this and this. Maybe worth reading if you’re thinking about whether to do more or to do less.
