Tag: resolutions

My 2011 Professional Resolutions

Yes, I’m doing a resolutions post. If for no other reason than to hold myself accountable.

Looking at last year’s professional goals, which were much more about staying afloat financially, I think this year, the theme is laying the foundation of sustainability to grow a business and opportunities at journalism and the like.

I broke them out more specifically by month, as I did for last year’s personal resolutions:

Continue reading My 2011 Professional Resolutions

Personal 2011 Resolutions

I have my resolutions ready.

Last year, I put together separate personal, homeowner and professional goals. That was too much, so I’m trimming those lists by one — with a professional list and this.

I may have overshot my goals for 2010 in those categories, so I hope to succeed on more actionable goals in 2011.

  1. JANUARY: Record my experiences — That means journaling privately at least once a month and returning to chasing this List of mine.
  2. FEBRUARY: Firmly plant my home — That means finally transferring my driver’s license, car insurance and any lingering documentation to my Fishtown home. It also means getting to know other people in my neighborhood.
  3. MARCH: New meals Monthly — Every month, I want to make a new meal and update my family cookbook.
  4. APRIL: Basement clean out — I have some dated technology, personal belongings and other clutter in my basement that I want to either throw out, make use of or donate. I want a direction for organizing and making the most use out of this part of my house.
  5. MAY: Organized Health — The Broad Street Run just might be my annual push to get fit, after doing in 2009 and 2010. This year, though, I have to beat my 94-minute top time (which isn’t particularly good anyway). But I also want to join an organized sports league of some kind to force some continued health.
  6. JUNE: Upstairs direction — To finish the first round of updates to my home’s second floor, I need to paint a hallway, figure out what to do with my bathroom, organize a linen closet, finish a book shelf and maybe slap up some crown molding. All of that gets done.
  7. JULY: International trip — I didn’t make it out of the country in 2010. That changes in 2011.
  8. AUGUST: Road trip — I want to continue my goal of taking at least one road trip every summer with a buddy.
  9. SEPTEMBER: Philly transportation basics — I haven’t yet ridden the Broad Street and Market-Frankford lines in their entirety, nor have I ridden the Girard and West Philly trolleys, nor have I ridden my bicycle across the Ben Franklin Bridge. I want to finish these all.
  10. OCTOBER: Stand-up Comedy — Yes, it’s something of a cliche and, yes, it was on my list last year, but this is something I want to say I’ve done.
  11. NOVEMBER: Take part in National Novel Writing Month — This is something I’ve talked about for a couple years now, so I want to put action to the talk and write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, with the help of some advice from a contact who just accomplished that feat.
  12. DECEMBER: Finish lingering scrapbooks — Lame to be sure, but on the advice of some elders, I started to put together a few collections of photos, receipts and the like for a couple trips of mine. I want these done and assembled by the year’s end. It’s perfect for when it gets cold.

I get the sense that a lot of these goals are about completed tasks that otherwise remain unfinished. Next year, I hope  I can move to focusing more on the List and taking on new goals, like returning to the guitar or French, or reading a new book each month or something of that nature.

2010 House Resolutions

Like my personal resolutions, I’m also setting up month-by-month priorities for my moving and developing my new worn house into a home.

  1. JANUARY: Finish my office and bedroom — spackle, patch and paint
  2. FEBRUARY: Finish the back bedroom for renting — spackle, patch, paint and fix closet
  3. MARCH: Massively overhaul kitchen — with help, total renovation
  4. APRIL: Move furniture and other extra materials from dad’s house to mine
  5. MAY: Update dining room — sand, spackle, patch, paint, new light fixture
  6. JUNE: Replace windows — with energy efficient models
  7. JULY: Siding, roof and gutters
  8. AUGUST: Living room — sand, spackle, patch, paint and decorate
  9. SEPTEMBER: Host a housewarming; Seal and clean front of house
  10. OCTOBER: Basement — organize, create workshop and laundry space, clean and partially finish
  11. NOVEMBER: Bathroom — complete renovation
  12. DECEMBER: Hardwood floors

Personal 2010 Resolutions

For the second year in a row, I aimed to both write and publish month-by-month resolutions. I find it’s a great way to create smaller goals that are easier to track, hold accountable and complete.

  1. JANUARY: Sustainable income
  2. FEBRUARY: Get a housemate
  3. MARCH: Get over my bicycle being stolen and prepare another, flat-tired and dirty bicycle for riding.
  4. APRIL: Move furniture and other extra materials from dad’s house to mine
  5. MAY: Host yard sale
  6. JUNE: Finish cross country journal
  7. JULY: Get family history online
  8. AUGUST: Go on a trip
  9. SEPTEMBER: Host a housewarming
  10. OCTOBER: Stand-up comedy open-mic
  11. NOVEMBER: Take stock of sports cards
  12. DECEMBER: Reflect and prioritize goals for 2011

My best clips of 2009

Happy 2010.

But first: yesterday I shared my best read posts of 2009. Because ultimately I’m a freelancer, I thought I ought to share my best clips of the year, if only to satisfy my concern that 2009 was all for naught.

See my portfolio here.

Meaning they must have met a good portion of the four reasons a freelancer would write a story, below I list the best one or two clips from each calendar month of 2009:

Continue reading My best clips of 2009

Professional Resolutions for 2010

Update: Today, Dec. 19, 2010, I’ve gone back and looked at my goals. It’s interesting to see a split and failure to finish most of these. Three of these resolutions I succeeded in meeting definitively and met in spirit a fourth; I outright failed at three, and two became un-applicable as the year wore on.

I also created personal resolutions and goals to manage on my new home in 2010, but with a new year, I want to set goals for my professional self in 2010.

After all, 2009 was a brutal year, so 2010 should be plenty better.

  1. Stabilize my income — Update: I did that in January 2010 in an unexpected way. It’s varied wildly throughout 2009. One way or another, I want to focus it.
  2. A new, solid pitch at least once a week — Update: Did that until I got the above mentioned job. (to buttress other work and those fed to me)
  3. Contact a new client at least once a month — Update: Did that until I got the above mentioned job. In writing, editing, multimedia or other
  4. 100 RSS subscribers for this site, up from 60 today — Update: Nope.
  5. 1,500 Twitter followers, from the 960 today (I hope a plurality of them can offer value in connecting to sources, ideas and content) — Update: nope, though, at nearly 1400, I got closer.
  6. Distribute remaining 600 business cards — Update: Nope. I still have more than 400.
  7. Bring Technically Philly to profitability — Update: By way of its parent company, we did do that, as I’ve come on full-time.
  8. Earn grant funding for real journalism — Update: Yes, for both NEast and Technically Philly.
  9. Write regularly on this site — Update: check! It’s a place to improve my web writing and connect with audiences. I want to perhaps write a little less but make the product more meaningful.

2009 New Year’s Resolutions

I’ve decided to do my New Year’s Resolutions by month this year for two reasons. For one, I can accomplish more with more specific, better timed goals. I also can look back at more concrete accomplishments than broad year-long hopes.

They are simpler but better appreciated, I think. I also intend to start them in the signified month, but, if they carry-over, to continue them throughout the year.

Below, see what I’m hoping to do, month by month.

Professional Resolutions for 2009

It’s a new year, so it’s time for resolutions. Here are my professional ideas, as I shared some more specific personal ones here.

Here are a few I’ve been thinking about:

  • Write: I want to write more here, journal more, more establish my freelancing career, get pieces into big newspapers and magazines and be part of meaningful journalism. Most important, I want to think I am a better writer, reporter and journalist a year from now than I am now.
  • Technology: I need to toe more into the obvious steps of tech, multimedia and web design. I want to invest time in using my point and click camera, editing video and audio and move this website maybe to a self-hosted version without the wordpress.com.
  • I want to make $30,000: Making that pre-tax total would mean I made more than I did as a post-graduate intern and allow me to save a little bit of money. I could do this freelancing, but I also might look for some writing and journalism jobs.
  • Make a book out of WDSTL: I created a lot of content with the cheap travel video podcast while backpacking in Europe, so I’d like to do something more with it.
  • I want to say ‘I don’t know’ more: All of us get trapped into making educated guesses and generally trying to answer questions or offer opinions for matters we don’t know. I want to stop that. If I don’t know something, I want to
  • Frame clips and diploma: I have some great newspaper clips and that diploma I paid so much for, so I’d like to display them to show them off a bit and be reminded of how hard I worked for them.
  • Update portfolio: I have a print portfolio that I’d like to update.

Those are my clearest objectives for 2009. What are yours?