My Three Words

Every year since I have started blogging I have participated in the annual geneablogger resolutions. I would blog about what I wanted to do achieve the previous year, what I had done and didn't do, and what I would vow to do in the upcoming year. I would read about the resolutions of my colleagues and how well they did or didn't do the previous year, and how they would vow to make changes for the coming year.

Talk about guilt!

The way I see it, resolutions only set me up to fail. I come up with these great ideas on how I'm going to organize my genealogy life.  Then, real life comes crashing through the door and, by year's end I have only accomplished feeling guilty. Ugh! Enough of that.

Instead I am following this idea from Chris Brogan. Three words. Choose three words that will guide you this year. They aren't goals. However, these three words describe how I am going to do what I do this year.
For me those three words are:

Invest. Grow. Share.

Invest
I want to invest more time and energy into my family, and not just my immediate family but my extended family as well. If you are a cousin and I have lost contact with you, then please contact me. No, we don't have to IM, Facebook or email each other every week, but I would like to touch base with you once or twice a year and catch up.

Also, I want to invest a whole lot more into my career as a professional genealogist. The first way I plan to do that is by learning how to graciously say no. No more overextending myself or feeling like I'm the one who needs to fill that request or position. I have a plan brewing in the back of my brain. I know what I need to do. Yeah, I'm gonna kick it out this year!

Grow
I want to grow my business as a genealogist, and speaker. I'm looking at early spring to tackle this head on. As much as I would like to do this now, personal circumstances have me on a different course of action inaction for a few more weeks.
I want to grow my connections by reconnecting, networking and meeting other genealogists, family historians and geneabloggers.
I want to grow my knowledge by attending seminars and conferences. I would like to take some business courses at my local college.

Share
Finally, I want to share with you my experiences, ideas and thoughts.

There you have it. The three words that I will be using to guide myself in 2011.


Copyright by Kathryn Lake, 2011.