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2009 is upon us, take the time to Reflect and Plan

Greetings All & Happy Pre-New Year!

I try my best to only write blog posts when they are informative and add potential value, thus it has been a while since I've blogged. The flip-side I suppose is sometimes my blog posts resemble short articles but oh well...

With 2009 upon us I thought I would share a bit of insight I have applied for the last three years of my career that you may find quite helpful. At the beginning of every year I sit down for 2 hours and write up a document that reflects my own personal thoughts on where my career has been and where it is headed. If you look at companies, they start out using what is called a business plan and they then continue their operations year after year with plans and review of actuals vs planned (you smell a bit of BI in this content?:). So I figured why not apply the same basic principals to an individual? I mean, are you on a career path or are you just 'riding the waves'? I ask this very question because I was one of the 'wave riders' and did ok to be honest but with a bit of planning and ofcourse discipline throughout the year you can truly set professional goals, obtain them, and then note the results.

It should also be a given that usually the harder you work as an individual, the more successful you will be in life. 2008 was a very challenging and intense year for me but in review it was also probably the best single year professionally I've been fortunate enough to experience yet. I do not intend for this to be some arrogant post about my personal career growth so let's move on (i'm far from perfect).

There are 3 basic sections of the document I referenced that I create:

Where have you been (what did you accomplish) in the current year?

Where are you going (what do you wish to accomplish) in the new year?

Actions Items you believe will help you obtain the goals stated in #2

I hope this helps everyone as it has me quite a bit over the years!

Happy Holidays!

Derek Comingore

SQL Server MVP

TAGS: SQL
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