As we welcome in the New Year it is traditional to set some goals and some resolutions for the next year. Some have suggested that they no longer participate in this “corny” tradition and feel it is not worth their time. I feel very differently. The new year brings us a new start, it allows us to have finished a cycle of life and start a new cycle. I believe that in order to be successful you have to have goals.
For the first time ever my goals are more personal in nature than professional as I am very happy with what I have achieved professionally. Though we all have small frustrations I am happy, well taken care of, and I do feel appreciated at my job. So, what about my personal goals? Well, my personal happiness and well being is going to be at the forefront during this next year. So, without further ado here they are:
1. At least 5 days a week I will run a minimum of 3.0 miles. Once a week I will run 6. This is to make sure I never again end up in the hospital because of not taking care of myself.
2. Over the course of next year I am going to read one book for fun each month. This can be a classic or a new book. I need to do this because for the last few years all I have been reading have been technical or academic material. I used to love to read, this is not always the case recently.
3. I will make one blog entry each week on this site. This blog entry may contain thoughts about things in my personal life, accomplishments, plans, or thoughts about issues that have come up during the course of my work.
4. I will speak at a minimum of 3 conferences this next year. Two are already scheduled, one at FETC in January and the other at the HVACR Excellence Conference in April. Need to find one more.
5. I am going to sneak a combination of personal and professional goal in here. I will take the HVAC licensing exam here in Florida so that I can do HVACR work. This is important from a personal perspective because it is nice to always have a backup plan. This is my backup plan.
6. I am going to participate as much as humanly possible in NOTRA and LGRA racing this next year with my dogs. I will do it for them, because it is fun for them. When it stops being fun for them it will no longer happen.
7. I will begin to work on a book. It is time to take my dissertation research and change it into something that can be shared. I will probably publish in iBooks (or in some electronic format) but I will publish something.
Sort of an odd number, I guess I will find more over the course of the next few months but this is a great place to start. If I can do all of these than I think I will be able to look back at the end of this next year and be able to say I have had a very successful year.
Visit back and see how I am doing, and please everyone have a great and safe New Year!