One Guru’s Resolutions…

 One Gurus Resolutions...Happy New Year!

I thought I’d put to writing some general goals for myself in the coming year and share them.  We set so many goals on our sites and our projects, we may forget about our personal goals.  So, on the day of resolutions, here are some of mine…

  1. Expand my social network. Everything I know or do is amplified by being able to call upon the people in my network.  Therefore, what I know and do is only limited by my network of people.  I won’t limit network by rank, role, educational attainment, field of interest or other silly demographics.  Everyone has the potential to provide me with something I don’t know or to do something I couldn’t do by myself.
  2. Get to know people as individuals. Data is valuable, but it is no substitute for becoming part of the conversation.  When I get to know the people around me, I know how to resolve our differences and how to …. (No one’s perfect; I will forget about this one.  But I will use “Remember Ryan Ballas…” to remind myself.)
  3. Step out of my comfort zone. Anything really worth doing won’t be easy.  Looking back, most of my proudest moments were when I took on a challenge that made me second-guess myself.  Even the times I didn’t accomplish what I set out to do are valuable experiences.  (For more convincing, check out “11 Ways to Become Brilliant“.)
  4. Have fun! Sometimes the best way to pick up a new technology or work with new people is to do so in a low-stakes way.  Children learn through play; are we adults (or those of us merely masquerading as adults at our day jobs) any different?  (See “The Play Is the Thing“.)

What are some of your resolutions?

9 Responses to “One Guru’s Resolutions…”

  1. Says:

    Great idea. I think this is something each of us could do. Work goals are great, but personal goals are also really important.

  2. Says:

    To join the vibrant and intellectually stimulating community that is higher ed.

    Like in all other fields I’ve known, higher ed is filled with smart, talented pros (like those who read this site!). So one of my goals this year (which I actually got a head start on in November with my blog) is to communicate, in my own small way, what I’ve learned over the years working in the web world. I want to broadcast my ideas and, in turn, get ideas fed back to me from people with unique and interesting points of view. So I welcomeand all the new people and ideas I’ll encounter.

  3. Says:

    These are nice rules to live by, and to be honest I totally agree with you.

    I have seen alot of people, either A) don’t know how to use correct social media, or B) they are only using it for marketing and that is it.

    Alot of people go to these site and just start spamming and marketing their information, alot of people don’t want this type of information just shoved down their throat, they like to develop a personal relationship with you or their followers.

  4. Says:

    @Kyle: It would be great to hear what your goals are if you want to share them.

    @Mike: Welcome to the conversation! I took a peek at your blog and will add it to my feeds.

    @Shawn: It’s amazing how many people who are using social media to build networks end up burning bridges with anti-social behavior. I did a silly post about it on my other blog a while back, but I should have also added the spammers to the list. Perhaps I’ll go back and revisit it…

  5. Says:

    I think personal goals are more important than career. If we are not having any thing personal, what are we going to do fantastic career??

    I liked 2,3 and 4th points.
    To know the people as individual as what they are is very important.

    The third point was even interesting, if we are in our comfort zone than we won’t be able to do good work. Cause quality of the work is very important and we can’t achieve that in our comfort zone.

    The last point in the article is best. Its not that bad to HAVE FUN in life. Actually this is the most important point. Life becomes easy if we take it lite…

  6. Says:

    Developing in social networks is a good thing as we get knowledge and share the knowledge from different people..So we should maintain the work…

  7. Says:

    Wow - the Ryan Ballas link is really good. Thanks for this.

  8. Says:

    I am right there with you on pushing my comfort zone. I was talking with my wife this morning (being an older prof) about adjusting to the new hi tech, high touch generation …. I will not be at the forefront, but I can limp along fast .. and wish I could see where it takes us in education 50 years from now …..

  9. Says:

    Here,I would like to share a formula for success : Thinking -> Action -> Result -> Success.Behind every success “Thinking” play most important role.You have to think big.Imagine big.For success “Thinking” must convert into “Action”.If your action is right then you will get a “Result” and you achieved your goal(success)