A year ago, I came across a great post by Chris Brogan where he describes his annual exercise of coming up with three words for each new year that he uses as guidance for everything he does in that year. I decided to do my own words for 2009 and I will say that I was marginally successful at keeping my compass pointed at them throughout the year. I wrote them on a whiteboard and looked at them occasionally and they served as reminders rather than guiding principles.
As 2009 began to wind down and I reviewed my accomplishments as well as started to think about 2010, I decided I would do the three word exercise again. It took two attempts as I had what I thought they would be until I read the three words Chris chose for 2010. After I read his, I was prompted to rethink mine and came up with three words that I am determined will hold weight for me this year and will be a spectrum through which everything will pass through as I journey through 2010.
My three words are:
Deliver: I will deliver on my commitments to others and myself. These include the major and minor commitments. I include my own goals as commitments to myself which I have had the tendency to let slide in the past, not this year. My company’s latest ad campaign is built around the theme of Delivering so there is a natural reinforcement there.
Educate: I will educate coworkers and stakeholders on the value of the web and social media as a strategic business tool. I will take an active part in my kids education and spend time with them doing their homework so I know what they are learning.
Engage: I will engage in the overall web and social media community more than I did in 2009 where I just dipped my toe in the water. I will also engage co-workers and form partnerships where we are educating (notice the tie in with above) each other and get a better outcome. Last but certainly not least, I will engage with my wife, kids and friends.
Why I am sharing these with you? Simple, to keep me accountable. It is way too easy to not fulfill our goals when nobody else knows about them but ourselves. They somehow seem more real when others know about them and can ask you at any time how you are doing, especially when you least expect it. When that happens, there is nowhere to hide.
What about you? What is going to guide you in 2010?
Image by flickr user Leo Reynolds, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 license.
