Studies have shown that written goals have a higher chance of being met.  I have found this to be true and am being more deliberate about setting them for 2010.  I like the idea of setting goals better than I like the idea of “New Year’s resolutions.” Goals sound more serious to me and I think of as something written down versus casually resolving to do something in the new year.

I keep a sporadic written journal on paper.  I love using composition books (the ones from high school science classes) for this purpose because they are sturdy and durable and slightly smaller in size than a regular notebook.  Over the years I’ve gone back and forth between paper and computer, but for the past 7 years or so it’s been all paper.

I keep the first two pages blank and write my goals on the first page, with the second as a spare for easily accessible notes.  I don’t write my goals down every year, but the years I have it’s amazing how many get done.  The year I was most successful was the year I reviewed the goals page every week or two.   This was a casual review to remain focused, not a compulsive “I have to meet my goals or it is the end of the world.”

I don’t create incredibly long lists, usually seven or eight items that I add to periodically throughout the year.

Some of my 2010 goals:

  1. Weigh 170 lbs by December 31, 2010–approximately 10 pounds less than now
  2. Play 365 games of chess–that’s one game per day or more if I skip a day or two.  I play timed, 20 minute games on Yahoo.  Ping me on IRC if you want to meet up and play.
  3. Provide organization and leadership to closing the outstanding Fedora Board topics about Fedora’s strategic direction–do all I can to resolve these topics by the end of my board term.
  4. Provide clear and consistent reminders to Fedora development about upcoming Fedora 13 milestones each week or as applicable
  5. Help create 25 new Release Engineering SOPs.  Our current goal is to create one each week so that we have links to an SOP for each Release Engineering Ticket.  Let me know if you want to help out too.
  6. Post 52 times to this blog in 2010–at least one time each week.  Also setting a stretch goal of 104 times which would mean one extra post per week.

Words for 2010:

Chris Brogan’s idea of selecting three words to represent things you want to pursue in the coming year is a nice a nice compliment to setting goals for the year.

  1. Focus–spending more time on fewer things to make more time for 10,000 hours.
  2. Passion–identifying and cultivating my core passion(s).
  3. Consistent–internally consistent with the things I stand for, think, and do.

What are your “goals” and “words” for 2010?  Link back here or add to the comments.

Image by: Obi-Akperee