Ensight – Jeremy Wright

No, I’m not selling my, ahem, rocks.

But, Dana asks a great question: what are your big rocks (ie: goals) for 2005?

Not in a resolution sense. I hate resolutions. Almost as much as bios.

Here’s Dana’s:

1. Sustaining applied talent
2. Cross discipline innovation
3. Challenge the assumptions in everything

Okay, those aren’t actually “goals”. Maybe I was paraphrasing. However, I’m not really big on abstract concepts. Not that the things he’s working on aren’t important for his life. I prefer, personally, to tackle projects that I know will push me to new limits, teach me things and force me to change.

It’s almost the same thing as Dana… Except that I feel like my goals are “SMART” (simple, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely). I can see them through and then evaluate what I’ve actually learned and accomplished.

So, what are my 3 “big rocks”?

1. Write a book
2. Speak at at least 3 events (feel free to drop me a line if you know of any looking for speakers (ahem @ Gnomedex / BloggerCon!)
3. Teach my son to read and do basic math

Each of these is important to me for different reasons. The book is a massive project. It’ll be a huge undertaking which will, hopefully, pave the way for me to write more on a variety of subjects. It will, if nothing else, tell me if I like to write books – which is important knowledge to have.

It will also force me to confront, dream up and finish ideas. Bloggers, as a breed, are more likely to start ideas than to finish them – specifically in relation to writing. It’s my hope that the book will force me to not only finish ideas, but also ensure they are realistic as well as revolutionary. Or something.

The speaking is equally important. It’s been more than a year since I’ve spoke at an event. More than 18 months since I’ve spoken to a crowd of larger than 100, and nearly 2 years since I’ve spoke to a crowd larger than 2500.

That’s a problem for me because I love to speak. It’s also a problem because I never felt I was very good at speaking. I was good at entertaining. Okay at making a point and reasonably passable at coming off well. But I had (and probably still have) loads of bad habits. Habits I’d meant to work on.

And, now that I (apparently) have something to say, I want to ensure I can deal with those habits, get back into something I love (speaking) which will – hopefully – make writing the book easier. I find I learn more when I’m speaking. I tend to think out loud, and often I’ll have more notes after a great session than most attendees.

Yeah. Well, gotta run do some family stuff, so you’ll probably never (see Rock #1) know why I want to teach my son to read (besides the obvious).

Update: Guess this qualifies for Technorati’s 2005 Resolutions post.

I’m soft launching a new project. The design sucks. I’m still working out content. Wanna see? I figure I’ll open it up tomorrow sometime. Until then, you’ll either have to wait or bribe me