Career By Design

As a topic moderator I received the honor to posting this years annual New Year's Resolutions post.
Is your resolution to read more books, complete a degree, gain a license, switch firms...?

Can you share what your 2022 New Years Resolution is?

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Daniel Bressler EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Brooklyn NY
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Past few years I made my New Years resolutions somewhat ambitious and long. I try to break them up into two categories; personal or professional. In the personal category are things like reading more books, cutting out alcohol, de-cluttering my house among others. As for professional, I'm hoping to learn a new computer program, work on my communication/presentation skills, and become better at managing my time for repetitive tasks. 
I find the key to is have some easy wins on your list to stay motivated for the one that may take more time or are year long goals. For the latter, steady improvements and you'll eventually reach your goal

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Christopher Dzidek P.E., M.ASCE
Project Engineer II
Boston MA
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I really enjoy reflecting on my values at the beginning of a new year and creating goals in the various arenas of my life, and this year has been no different! Professionally, I have my sights set on passing the PE in 2022 and registering for licensure in my state. Some of my other goals include reading two books on average per month, training for and running a marathon, and calling a different friend one night each week on my way home from work.

To piggy-back on Christopher's piece of advice, I've learned that one of the keys to achieving goals is focusing on the process. I focus on my processes by drilling down to the weekly to-do's that will set myself up for success in the long-term.

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Jimmy Canning EIT, ENV SP, A.M.ASCE
Civil Engineer
Chicago IL
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-05-2022 09:25 PM
From: Christopher Dzidek
Subject: 2022 New Year Resolutions

Past few years I made my New Years resolutions somewhat ambitious and long. I try to break them up into two categories; personal or professional. In the personal category are things like reading more books, cutting out alcohol, de-cluttering my house among others. As for professional, I'm hoping to learn a new computer program, work on my communication/presentation skills, and become better at managing my time for repetitive tasks.
I find the key to is have some easy wins on your list to stay motivated for the one that may take more time or are year long goals. For the latter, steady improvements and you'll eventually reach your goal

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Christopher Dzidek P.E., M.ASCE
Project Engineer II
Boston MA
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I think @Christopher Dzidek speaks to a great point that to achieve these grand-scale ideas we must break them into digestible pieces.

I personally always have a few short-term goals which vary month to month or even week to week. I also have several long-term ones (which I mentally update every month). 
My current mental list:

Short term:
Finish my current two projects at work
Post some more videos on YouTube
Post several threads on ASCE Collaborate

Long term:
Finish my Masters
Get my PE
​

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Daniel Bressler EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Brooklyn NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-07-2022 10:07 AM
From: James Canning
Subject: 2022 New Year Resolutions

I really enjoy reflecting on my values at the beginning of a new year and creating goals in the various arenas of my life, and this year has been no different! Professionally, I have my sights set on passing the PE in 2022 and registering for licensure in my state. Some of my other goals include reading two books on average per month, training for and running a marathon, and calling a different friend one night each week on my way home from work.

To piggy-back on Christopher's piece of advice, I've learned that one of the keys to achieving goals is focusing on the process. I focus on my processes by drilling down to the weekly to-do's that will set myself up for success in the long-term.

------------------------------
Jimmy Canning EIT, ENV SP, A.M.ASCE
Civil Engineer
Chicago IL
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-05-2022 09:25 PM
From: Christopher Dzidek
Subject: 2022 New Year Resolutions

Past few years I made my New Years resolutions somewhat ambitious and long. I try to break them up into two categories; personal or professional. In the personal category are things like reading more books, cutting out alcohol, de-cluttering my house among others. As for professional, I'm hoping to learn a new computer program, work on my communication/presentation skills, and become better at managing my time for repetitive tasks.
I find the key to is have some easy wins on your list to stay motivated for the one that may take more time or are year long goals. For the latter, steady improvements and you'll eventually reach your goal

------------------------------
Christopher Dzidek P.E., M.ASCE
Project Engineer II
Boston MA

In 2022, I am committing to writing down 3 positives from each work day in a small calendar. My hope is that by intentionally ending each day with a focus on what went right, no matter how small, I can minimize cycles of frustration or poor motivation.

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Heidi C. Wallace, P.E., M.ASCE
Tulsa, OK
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I've known for years that New Years Resolutions do not implicate any of the necessities of SMART goals and that this sketch summarizes why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhbpEH2jfHM

I tend to make new goals right after realizing the need for them, like applying for specific companies again and figuring out what to add next to my resumes. For more personal goals, I focus on what am I doing that is holding me back, like an enlarging supply of video content, or what I could be doing next across every week, like finding new club topics to evolve into.

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Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
Student
Bexley OH
granato.3@...
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I often struggled with New Year's resolutions. I listen to a productivity podcast on which one of them is an educational YouTubber. He talked a lot of setting a yearly theme rather than a resolution.

The video he made on it can be seen here: https://youtu.be/NVGuFdX5guE

So this year, my Theme is the "Year of Organization"

I've been hit and miss with office and personal organization and now that I am the Senior Engineer in a company rather than an entry-level, I feel the need to make sure what I do is organized and structured to juggle the different projects and also what work I do has to be easily found and understood by others.

For those who are like me and struggle with Resolutions, but do like to improve myself in the new year, I hope this helps.

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Craig Smallegan P.E., M.ASCE
Design Engineer
Leesburg IN
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So... How did everyone do?

My long-term goals have not been achieved...yet.
I am hopefully on track to gain my PE and Master's this year so that's I guess that will be this year's goal.

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Daniel Bressler EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Brooklyn NY
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I've kept up with mine and plan to do it again this whole year. 

I definitely think that it helped me, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a small habit to improve their outlook.

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Heidi C. Wallace, P.E., M.ASCE
Tulsa, OK
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 08:56 PM
From: Daniel Bressler
Subject: 2022 New Year Resolutions

So... How did everyone do?

My long-term goals have not been achieved...yet.
I am hopefully on track to gain my PE and Master's this year so that's I guess that will be this year's goal.

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Daniel Bressler EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Brooklyn NY
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