3 Words

Social media blogger Chris Brogan has created a simple activity to help him create a strategic focus for the New Year. He calls it "3 Words for 2010." I have been attempting to set my personal and professional goals for this year, and I found this activity to be very helpful. My 3 Words are

1. Inspect
2. Connect
3. Effect

Here's what those words mean to me in terms of where I want to place my focus for 2010:

Inspect

• Have vision. Have focus. See what I am called to do.
• Watch my daughter. Be present and take notice of her as she grows this year.
• Improve my photography.
• Read. See as many words as possible.
• Improve my productivity by better documenting my work flow, the mistakes I make, and the corrections I create to fix my mistakes.

Connect

• Connect with God.
• Spend lots of good quality time with my wife.
  
• Strengthen my relationships, particularly with my family.
• Be plugged in to the Disciples of Christ community (the denomination of the church we attend) and the social justice community in Northern VA.
• Be a switchboard for connecting others.

Effect

• As in "fire for effect".
• Requires "walking" shots on target first.
• Have an impact in the lives of those I meet.
• Have an impact in my community.
• Have an impact at work.
• Embody effectiveness (in the "Seven Habits" sense of being proactive, etc.).

(Back story on "fire for effect": In most modern militaries, it is customary to have a forward observer, the FO, calling in artillery fire over the radio. The FO will give the battery a set of coordinates to aim for and the artillery will fire a round. Depending on the wind and other conditions, the round usually does not hit the target on the first shot. The FO will radio what adjustment the battery should make and another "sounding shot" is fired. This is repeated until the sounding shot lands close enough to the target to score a hit. Now, the FO radios and says, "Fire for effect", and the battery will unleash a barrage using the adjusted targeting info, usually destroying the target. To me, the idea of firing for effect will remind me to keep taking shots at my goals and when I get close enough to my goals to have the intended effect, I'll unload with all I have to bring those goals to reality.)

I can post my three words in places where I will see them a lot, like on my cork board at work, embedded in the background image on my laptop, on the bathroom mirror in dry erase pen. These postings will give me gentle reminders of my 3 words and the meanings behind them. The meanings map to specific goals I have for the year, such as "Call my parents at least 3 times per month", and "Complete a 30 day period of making one Flickr worthy photo per day".