Professional Goal-Setting

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Donna Peplinskie

I’m Donna, and I’m a goal-setter. At the start of every year, I like to review my list of goals from the previous year to see just how much (or how little) I accomplished. My husband has never been a fan of this approach. He likes to say that it’s only going to make you feel badly when you look back at all that you failed to do in the last twelve months. While there is undoubtedly some truth to this, I’m of the opinion that those who never try, never achieve.

So, at the beginning of 2014, just as I’ve done for the past several years, I put together my lengthy list of goals. I know that it’s an aggressive list, and it’s highly unlikely that all of the items will be crossed off come December 31st, but I’m OK with that. And because I’m OK with that, it means that I’ll be able to dodge those negative feelings that my husband keeps talking about.

This year, I have a number of things that I would like to achieve professionally as a Web Developer. Here’s what that list looks like:

    • Contribute to existing open source projects.
    • Put my own open source projects on Github.
    • Build up my reputation on Stack Overflow (it’s currently at a pitiful 28).
    • Get involved in software development for women.
    • Attend WPGTA WordPress meetups.

All good things, right? Oddly enough, I realized that my list was lacking the most important item of all – setting up my own personal website. Up until now, I’d relied on LinkedIn to extol my virtues, but LinkedIn on its own is not enough. Given that I work full-time as a front-end Web Developer, I know that there are things that I learn that may be beneficial to others in the programming community, and having my own blog would enable me to share them. Last year, I also started dabbling with WordPress a bit more, and I needed to have a central place to host the documentation for some plugins that I’ve built.

It was a no-brainer to decide to finally launch my own website. I registered a domain name, selected a WordPress theme, made some slight modifications to it, installed a few essential plugins, set up Google Analytics, and within a few hours I had this website! Of course, it’s still a work-in-progress, but it’s a good starting point.

So, what can you expect from this blog? As I work primarily with front-end technologies, you can expect tips & tricks for languages such as Javascript, jQuery, HTML and CSS. I’m also a lover of all things WordPress, so there will likely be more than a few posts about it as well.

Please feel free to leave a comment or start a discussion on any post, even if it’s just to point out how wrong I am. Especially if it’s to point out how wrong I am!

Cheers.

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Comments

5 Responses to “Professional Goal-Setting”

  1. Lori Avatar
    Lori

    I love the optimism!

    How about breaking each goal down into a few tasks and set tingreasonable deadlines for each of those tasks. How else will you track progress?

    Reply
    1. Donna Peplinskie Avatar
      Donna Peplinskie

      Yes, I agree. Some tasks can stand on their own, other tasks could benefit from being broken down further and/or having some sort of measurement assigned to them. While I don’t like the idea of hard and fast deadlines (as it seems to throw up some sort of psychological block, as least for me), at the beginning of each week, I do compile a list of tasks taken from my main goals and try to get those finished by the end of that week. In this way, I’m always moving forward.

      Reply
  2. Bill Murphy Avatar
    Bill Murphy

    As the husband, I take offense to this info. I do have objectives and missions to complete, I just do not want a reminder of the ones I failed. I push and good comes out every year. Just a different approach. Now with my defence executed. LOL. I must say my wife inspires and has an approved system I could learn from. She never settles for what she feels is unacceptable, but does not linger on the little things. Some may call her impatient. Okay I call her that but as I think of it now it is because of her drive to get things done. Make a new years list or not, lets agree it is time to get things done. All the little and big things that we have in our minds that we want to create. Now I am excited. Like I said she is motivational and inspirational. All the best to everyone and their projects in 2014.

    Reply
    1. Donna Peplinskie Avatar
      Donna Peplinskie

      I suppose you just need to find a system that works for you. A mental list just doesn’t cut it IMO. Things get forgotten that way, and as Lori said, you can break goals down into smaller tasks so that a particularly big goal doesn’t feel insurmountable.

      Reply
  3. Bill Murphy Avatar
    Bill Murphy

    I do have lists, they are a great way to stay focused. I guess I’m just not a fan of new year resolutions. Whatever works for each person. Remember action creates motivation. Just starting something helps with the drive to complete it. Looking at it or thinking about it doesn’t move the project along. Motivation develops and grows by taking that first action.

    Reply

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