Visibility, Influence and Execution

I was just having a conversation with a friend of mine about my personal goals for 2009. I want everyone who reads my blog to understand a few things about me. I'm involved in a bunch of things...work...family....more work.....hobbies.....religion.....more family....and so on. As I looked at what I want to do that will drive the next stage in my "public" life, I came up with three areas that are top in my mind.

• Visibility
• Influence
• Execution

My business partners are already familiar with these things. The Microsoft in me is a firm believer in SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented, Time-bound).

Visibility:

I have four blog posts that I've written but not posted yet. They are sitting on my cell-phone, ready to be moved to my blog. Anyway, as a part of my visibility goals, I intend to publish more on my blog; Short posts, questions, writings, thoughts, as well as comment on more blogs from friends. I started commenting more and not lurking last year, but this year I intend to become a regular voice. I will also be doing more cross-posting, getting people from my blog to read other blogs as well. (I did that in December with the notice about Home-PDX from Pam's blog.)

I'm also upping my visibility on Facebook....connecting to friends.

I'm also upping my visibility at work. I'm a strategist, and it is important that my strategies be engulfed by the executives or my work will go nowhere.

Influence:

I often worry that I don't have any original thoughts. I read too much. I read things that people have written and often find myself saying, "That's exactly what I've thought for years, but I'm just not eloquent enough to pull that off." Well, apparently, I've been told that I DO have original thoughts. So, I intend to take my thoughts to the next level. I've had 4 people, close friends, say that they've been praying that I'll write more. Maybe I can help others drive original thoughts.

At work, if my strategies are accepted and honed, my influence will grow.

Execution:

Hard work pays off in the long run, but procrastination pays off IMMEDIATELY!!!

I have been a part of this "conversation" online for nearly 2 years, now. However, I have not let people in on the things I am doing to move the conversation out of the online world and into my daily activities. Talking about life and living life are two different things.

These are not resolutions. These are just my standard thinking. It's important to realize that I ALWAYS think things like this. This just happens to be coming at the beginning of the year.