Image by Pixabay (No, really)

I'm finished with focusing solely on goals.

At the beginning of every year I write a blog post about the goals I want to accomplish. Sadly most of those posts have been lost to time and the great WordPress corruption of 2016. For the most part I break things up into professional goals and personal goals. Then I explain what S.M.A.R.T. Goals are and when I plan on having a goal accomplished. It's not a terrible routine in the least, but I don't think it's as effective as it could be.

It seems that I, like the rest of those interested in the productivity space, have started to shift our thinking from just goals to goals with systems put in place around them. We can all thank James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, for this. He has a lovely saying in his book that sums up this way up thinking:

"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems."

To be upfront I began writing this back in January, it’s a beginning of the year kinda thing after all.

A lot happened after I started writing this, chief among them was losing my job. Which as far as I can tell is one of the best things that ever happened to me. How often do you hear that?

Another great thing that happened was bringing home my new kittens, Blizzard and Whiteout. As we speak Blizzard is trying to walk on my keyboard, he’s obsessed with watching things move on the screen.
We all know why bringing pets into the picture is a great thing, but what about losing my job?

I decided to take February off and work on myself and my home. I told a few people I was out of work but wasn’t concerned about job hunting right away. That’s when a friend of mine sent me a message out of the blue saying they had “the perfect job for me.” I was more than a little skeptical but I heard them out anyway.

Note to reader:
I wasn't concerned because I always pay myself 10% of any income I earn. That easily helped me build a six-month emergency fund without thinking about it. I suggest you do the same. Talk to HR/Payroll and have it sent to a high yield savings account when you get paid. Things will happen, you will lose your job.

They wanted me to consider working as a developer advocate at a company they were doing work for. I was stumped. I’d never done developer advocacy before. How the heck would I even start? I took the weekend to research the company and think about what I wanted. I was thinking about passing when I realized what this role could mean for me and my future. I'd been moving into a mentoring role over at Operation Code and Veterati. I'd also recently been accepted into the .Net Foundation which I'm particularly proud of.

I love solving problems but what I love even more is helping other developers learn and grow. That’s why I’ve been positioning myself to help other developers other than doing one-on-one mentoring. I thought maybe I could do something with my blog, record a few videos explaining how to do things, but, this is different. I’d be able to polish my skills in public speaking, writing, and educating in front of much larger audiences. I could not only show other developers how to save time and headaches with this company’s product but in my little way show people just how amazing .Net is.

So starting this month I’m going to be working as a developer advocate, not just for a specific company but for all the things I believe in. If there’s a tool, a method, or a framework I love using you’re going to hear about it. You’ll also be hearing about it twice a week. That’s right, beyond what I have to write for work I’ll be dedicating more time to sharing what I find interesting with you.

Wait, wasn’t this a blog post about goals and systems?

Well, it was, but I decided that telling you about the upcoming changes to the website and well, me, were more important.

If you want to hear about my goals and systems don’t worry, I’m writing that directly after this and scheduling it for Tuesday.

Stay safe and hydrate.