2009 New Years Resolutions

I actually do make New Year's resolutions and I actually follow through and do them. In past years I have had resolutions like

• To clean one storage area (closet, drawers) a week
• To have more fun (when I realized I didn't know what fun *was* anymore!)
• To improve my photography
• To learn to play the Uke
• To improve brand Clare.

That was my last year's resolution - to improve brand Clare. I feel like I have worked my whole life to improve someone else's brand, and done a pretty good job at it. So last year I decided I should put the same attention on my personal brand.

I thought the idea of a "personal brand" was pretty novel and ground-breaking. Well, It's not! Just Google "personal branding" and see take a look at the zillion hits you will get back. There is a ton out there, for sure.

So how did I do on improving Brand Clare? Not bad. If you Google my name, you will see that I am most of the hits for the first three pages. And there are no "bad" hits -- pages that I would rather not be associated with.

This year, I am going to take Brand Clare a little further and see If I can become associated with a particular message. One of the sites I reviewed on branding suggested that a clear message is essential. So what message do I want to be associated with? Clare Dygert is an expert at leading innovative, creative teams. I think I am good with teams, and that the mashup of methods I use are interesting and novel. I will use this blog as a way to refine my thinking and talking about them.

Other resolutions for 2009:

• Upgrade my resume using an online resume site called Visual CV. You should check this out - these people really have something going on here. It sor of reminds me of something from back in the pre-www days called Hyperstudio. Do you remember that? (You will see from the link that Hyperstudio is alive and well.) It will probaby take me a year to build the collaterals I need for a Visual CV, but I am excited about doing it.

• Learn how to use Adobe InDesign and Dreamweaver. This will be helpful developing collaterals for the virtual resume.

• Master enough ASL that I can start taking classes at RIT. I am working at RIT now and as part of my benefits package I can take courses. But I have to be a certian level of fluency with ASL by July 2010 to keep my job. i want to make significant progress this year, and have decided that until I do I will have to put off other classes.

• Finally get my home network setup the way I want. Last year we bough a HP Homeserver, and I have used it to do a few things-- manage our printing, backup our computers, store photos and music. But I haven't done what I wanted to do from the start: Use the server to broadcast music all over the house and to store and stream Netflix movies to our TV. I have a new Onkyo receiver now, and I think we are dangerously close to getting this set up.

And two maybe resolutions:

• Buy a mandolin and learn to play it. I am really attracted to the Gibson F series mandolins. Here's a link to one of them here.

• Buy an DSL camera. Right now I have a very nice point and shoot -- an Olympus 550uz. You can read a review of it here. It has a fantastic zoom, and shake control, and I have shot some really great pictures with it. But I want to do a little more than I can do with my Olympus.