January approaches; time to figure out what we want to make happen in 2007. Here are my goals for the coming year:
- Get a book contract. That list of top technology books of 2006 really bummed me out. Where are the women? So maybe I can’t get a book published in 2007, but I bet I can score a book contract. Ideally about the new economics of attention-information-abundance-whatever but if that fails on the topic of web workerhood.
- Make RedNun rock. Without going too in depth into the arrangement I have with RedMonk, let’s just say I have tons of work to do to make my industry analyst work profitable both financially and psychologically. Time to start some loads of laundry.
- See Web Worker Daily Get 250,000 Page Views in One Month. With Jackson returned, Chris kicking butt, and Judi getting dugg twice in her first week, I have no doubts that we’ll achieve this. The cool thing is that we don’t write so much for page views as for what we’re interested in… the web worker life is rich with topics for discussion.
- Make a YouTube video. I already have my subject matter: my son Henry is playing the Canadian anthem on his trumpet at a Colorado Mammoth lacrosse game in February. Thass awwwwwwsummmmmm to use the favorite phrase of the Mammoth manager who invited him. It’ll make a great video. But how do I record a video that I can upload to YouTube? Call me clueless.
- Learn to play guitar. My long-term musical goal is to start a momband. We’ll sing the momband classic Eat Your Damn Spaghetti. Perhaps I’ll write an original composition called Shut the F*** Up! based on personal experience. My friend Zoe is up for keyboard. I’ll do guitar, how hard could it be? We still need drums and a lead singer.
- Meet my favorite XX bloggers in person. That includes Leisa Reichelt, Amy Bellinger, Brenda Michelson, Shelley Powers, Kathy Sierra, Sandy Kemsley, Liz Gannes, Judi Sohn, Elisa Camahort, Jeneane Sessum, Tara Hunt, Katie Fehrenbacher, and Emily Chang.
- Hire an au pair. I can’t take the friction between Rick and me that comes from his having a real paying job and me trying to get my career out of the swampy weeds. If I’m going to achieve these goals especially #2, I’ve got to get a better child care arrangement than me being the default for everything. We had a lovely and hard-working au pair from Thailand when we lived in Virginia and Hawaii… that was the best child care situation I’ve ever arranged, though it did require a serious investment of our time and attention to make it succeed.
- Travel to Boston, San Francisco, and Estes Park. Besides Denver, that’s where most of the people and things I want to see are. I’m going to Mashup Camp in Boston in January, so that’s covered. I’d like to get to San Francisco to see old friends and meet up with new virtual colleagues. Estes Park is my summer vacation spot–we’ll be there in July.
- Speak at a conference. It’s ridiculous for me to ask “where are the women” at technology conferences if I’m not willing to get out there myself. So get out there I will, barf bag in hand.
- Launch the Tech Tea Party. This is the podcast series Leisa and I are planning by and for women in technology. I’ve already got a couple great interviewees lined up and Leisa, being a usability expert, has tons of insight about making it really informative and delightful. If you’re interested in getting involved in any way–being on a podcast, helping set up the website, brainstorming ideas, publicizing it–get in touch! We launch in January.
- Help YOU achieve your goals. Sounds kind of cheesy, and I don’t have that much obvious juice anyway, but one of the most exciting things for me is to play a role in other people’s reaching their goals. I was pretty well saturated with trying to achieve my own goals in 2006–moving to Colorado from Hawaii, finally after five houses buying my dream home and getting the crabapples of my childhood planted in the front yard, returning to paid work, helping my kids find the friends and activities and school situations they needed–to do much about other people’s goals. But there were a couple times I saw other people achieve some dreams and I could honestly say it might not have happened but for my involvement. It’s half self-centered and half not, wanting to be a part of what matters to other people.
What are your goals for 2007? Post them on your blog or share them here.
19 Comments
Hi Anne - I was glad to see you joined RedMonk - hopefully we’ll get to meet soon. If you want help with the Tech Tea Party I’d be happy to help any way I can - brainstorming, podcasting, etc.
Thanks for the shout-out Anne, definitely hoping to meet you in 2007 too! Perhaps in Chicago?
I loved this list in general…mixing in the personal with the professional reminds us all that it’s good to have goals outside work. Becoming a vegan was my big goal this year, which I’m 90 days into. Next year? Don’t know yet, but you remind me to think about it!
Have a wonderful holiday season and Happy 2007!
PS-you should totally get out their and rock the podium, but I should add…recommending other women for speaking slots, as you have done, is also part of the solution, so don’t underestimate yourself
Thanks for giving me the call to action, Anne. I just found your blog recently and I’m stoked on it already.
Posted my ‘07 Goals HERE
As ever, Anne, you inspire me to great things. I hope these goals do the same for you, too. As someone who’s been learning to play guitar for almost 25 years, I can honestly tell you it’s very like learning to program. Your first, fleeting “Hello, World” on the fretboard will open your mind to endless possibilities of ways to coax meaning out of 6 strings. And like any good programming language (to say nothing of life itself), it reveals itself little by little, with each new discovery a joy. The learning itself is the fun bit.
Separately, with your passion for language and your subject matter expertise, you’d make a great speaker. Remember, most of the folks in the audience want to see speakers do well (no one enjoys watching a speaker squirm). I look forward to seeing you on many agendas to come. You’ll be great at it. So go for it!
Cheers!
Regarding #9 (Speak at a conference): Jump in. You’ll like it. It’s well worth the personal satisfaction of accomplishment, too. I set a personal goal right about this time last year of doing some speaking. I prepared — quite literally — for years, but this was *the* year. It had to get done this year. No more preparing. No more planning. No more practicing. No more talking about doing it. Just do it. So, I did a series of small talks internally at Sun. Then I got involved in customer briefings both at Sun’s Executive Briefing Center in California as well as out on the road. Then I did some BOFs and panels at LinuxWorld in San Francisco and JavaOne in Tokyo. Then, after moving to Japan in July, I spoke at some bigger Japanese developer forums and at some OpenSolaris developer events in China. So, in the beginning I started out talking with just a few people behind Sun’s firewall, and I ended up on stage under the lights in front of hundreds in China. This was important to me because for many years — a couple of decades, actually — I stuttered so badly that I rarely spoke. I’m almost perfectly fluent now, so speaking in front of a group is no longer an element that can hold me back. Also, I discovered that I don’t suck. That I do actually have a style that is distinct. And that some people even liked what I had to say. What a relief. My goodness. And also quite humbling. I can’t tell you how hard I worked to overcome this. I don’t have to be a superstar performer or anything. Just putting this issue to rest is more than enough for me. Best of luck with your goals.
Thanks for the encouragement to do some speaking engagements. I’m actually looking forward to it. Jim, you are inspiring.
As are you Tim, about playing guitar. I’ve been wanting to do that for a really long time. 2007’s the year.
I’m excited to see your goals, Dave. You remind me of a couple more goals I have, including painting more. I took up acrylics this year but didn’t have much time for it. I love this time of year–it’s so energizing to think of doing new things (or continuing with the same stuff but with a renewed commitment).
Stormy, nice to “meet” you and thanks for commenting. I’ll be in touch about the Tech Tea Party.
Elisa - yes, maybe Chicago. That’s a great place for a conference.
Anne - I can wholeheartedly recommend Toastmasters as a great mutually supporting approach to more confidence in public speaking. its a structured program, and is a great way to increase skills and not feel like you need to puke. Neither Stephen nor cote took my advice to join - but i offer the same advice anyway. find a local chapter - you have nothing to lose but your fear.
My key business goal for next year- for RedMonk. to. kick. ass.
Came up with a #9 to my list. Play with the dog more!
Anne, ‘barfing’ is a highly-underrated approach to weight loss, so, you know, there’s that.
Hey, there’s a side business idea… public speaking barf bags with little positive motivational quotes printed on the outside like, “One day, you’ll look back on this and ask…”WTF was I thinking??!”
: )
Please talk to me offline about the book contract, too. For however I later failed to live up to it, Tim O’Reilly still claims my original Head First proposal belongs in the book proposal hall of fame. I’m pretty sure it was because I was clueless, and I’ll be happy to share my inadvertently useful tips.
Good luck and I hope you’re digging out from the blizzard this morning as I am.
I’m with James on Toastmasters, too. Basically, any opportunity you can get to stand up in front of a room and get constructive feedback on how you did is both rare and a Good Thing.
hey anne- me and duane are working on a book. so if you want to participate that would likely be cool - though of course i cant speak for duane. but perhaps you want to be The author, rather than An author…
of course learning from kathy would be a lot more fun, and you’d get a better deal, but other than that…
meanwhile 4 and 5 would like nicely. start a band and make a video!
Thanks for the toastmasters suggestion James and Tim–I had already found one that was convenient but forgot about it in all my recent busyness. That’s definitely a good idea. I’ll start in the new year.
James, you are writing a book with Duane? How cool. I certainly wouldn’t turn down an opportunity like that without hearing more…
Kathy, wow! Great! You are definitely going to be hearing from me.
I followed you “home” from WWD and I have to say, I found this list very inspiring. Among similarities we share on our lists–although I haven’t committed it to blog yet–is a desire to meet a lot of inspirational bloggers, including Tara Hunt, which actually seems very possible since she and Chris graciously offered their space at Citizen Agency for a future art exhibit for my organization. If we can hash out the details, it will be cool on so many levels. Hey–if you came, too, I could meet you both and we could both meet Tara
And given how my toddler is now trying to swing from the drapes, the au pair idea doesn’t sound bad, either!
Amie, that would be great to meet up!
I’m so glad you found this list inspiring. Even though I made an explicit decision to put more personal posts here since moving my web worker blogging to WWD and my tech blogging to redmonk, it still feels weird. This was a post I thought might be overly self-indulgent but I’m glad it resonates with people. Another cool thing about it is that by saying goals out loud, you get help with them–like Tim giving me tips on learning guitar and people giving me advice about speaking and writing opportunities.
Anne, I totally feel you on the overindulgent aspect of posting personal stuff. My blog is mostly personal and I don’t have a lot of readership yet, so not a lot of comments, which gets me thinking that maybe people could care less about the stuff I’m posting. However, getting someone to say that they appreciate what you’re saying is really uplifting, as much as reading something inspiring like this post of yours. So you keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll do the same and hopefully we’ll all flourish from here.
Anne, I’m looking forward to meeting in person. Of course tracking you down in Boston at Mashup Camp makes the most sense, but I’m actively trying to win a contract that would make that impossible. Gotta keep the dogs fed
Perhaps I can entice you to meet at a Tufte seminar? Here’s the schedule for the first half of 2007.
Brenda: I **love** Tufte… I got Beautiful Evidence for Christmas. I went to one of his seminars maybe ten years ago, would be good to have a refresher. Maybe Arlington, VA in May? or SF in July?
2 Trackbacks
[…] Anne 2.0 put out a call to action today on her blog. She posted all of her goals for the coming year and then told us to do the same and post a link in her comments. I’ve decided to follow her style because it’s well done and if I’m going to use my brain to formulate all my goals for next year, I can’t be wasting time formating text. Here goes… […]
Meeting Cool People
The best thing about conferences, as I have said, is meeting cool people. I was walking back into the Speed Geeking room after my previous post about Beansec, and I almost ran into a woman. I looked down at her name tag, and it said Anne.
Of course,