I’ve never been a fan of New Years Resolutions. The ideas of self improvement and setting goals are great. But New Years Resolutions are for the most part, doomed for faliure. It’s as if people subconciously say, “I’m going to set a goal that’s slightly out of reach, then attempt it for a month, then by February even my spouse will forgotten that I was trying.”

Maybe it’s because the people that I know that are big fans of resolutions are not as serious about goals as I am. Or maybe it’s just a bad way to go about setting goals. I’m going to assume the latter.

Let’s just say a goal is worthy like say, losing 30 lbs. Why would you need to wait till New Years Day to begin achieving it? Should you really put your health on the shelf for a month or two? Absolutely not.

This is prarticulary nerdy, but I’ll admit that I used to post my goals, usually writing goals, on my refridgerator.

This is a little harder to do these days with a house full of women so I try to keep this list more mental these days. But it works a little like this.

Daily: Write every day for an hour.

Weekly: Write at least five days a week.

Six Months: (For larger goals) Finish rough draft

One Year: Finish first draft

18 Mos: Complete project

Then every six months the list is revised based on how well I met my goals and hopefully it reflects that I’m moved closer to completion of the project.

The point here isn’t that my system is any smarter than anyone else’s. It’s certainly no GTD system. The difference between my little lists and a New Years Resolution is that it isn’t based on any outside force of a static date or peer pressure. It is created because I put it there for my own, very personal reasons.

So, if you have developed a New Years Resolutions to lose 30 pounds, please go ahead and work towards your goal. What I’m suggesting is not to call it a “New Years Resolution.” Make it a personal goal that won’t be cast aside like last years Christmas tree when the season comes to an end. Set your goal and own it.

OK, so what are my personal goals?

Within 6 months: To run the ING Half-Marathon 15 minutes faster than I ran the Atlanta Half-Marathon on Thanksgiving day.

Within year: To complete a century mountain bike race. (I’ve registered for the Leadville lottery, will find out more in February)

6 months ago my goals were to run a half-marathon and post here twice a week. Check.

I’m just about over Flash forever. I once heard flash refered to as it as the “flashy gold chain of the internet.” I tend to agree – especially when it’s used for a site intro. But I am guilty of using it on sites in the past, some of which I would still defend.

I do have some caveats to my being over Flash statement. Flash video and banners are effective uses of media that’s not meant to be search able. It’s, served paid media after all. So if you’re browsing with a mobile browser, you shouldn’t be served it anyway. Also, some specific sites and applications inside a site that do not need to be searched and are not intended to be dynamic content are fine as long as it’s properly tagged and you have some other content to drive your SEO. But you just better be ready to live with the Flash content for awhile.

So where does this loathing of Flash come from?

Search engines still hate it.

It’s a pain in the ass to make changes.

It takes more time to execute most things in Flash which can be a real drag on making deadlines.

The biggest reason though is incompatibility with mobile. And mobile is more important than ever.

Some accounts have 1/3 of all internet usage on mobile devices. And mobile web usage is supposed to double in the next three years. So why the hell would you build a site that doesn’t work on mobile? Of course, you could just build two sites and have one served to mobile browsers. But why not just build one great site?

My 3 year old had a ballet recital this weekend. It was awesome. 20 little girls just throwing it all out there for the sheer joy of doing something they enjoy. Big smiles on their faces and having the time of their short lives.

Ballet is new to them and they’re finding great joy in it. However, the longer us adults do something the more inhibited we become. We’re afraid to show that we’re amateurs and end up paralyzed.

But the fact is, most of us are amateurs at social media. Even the media professionals are. They may spend the day working on old media but they too are fish out of water when it comes to blogging. And even though social media is part of my job, it’s constantly changing, putting me and any participant on a perpetually steep learning curve. A curve that I embrace – it keeps things interesting.

So why not loose your inhibitions a bit in this space? Reach out, engage and be creative. Be that three year old just doing it for the joy of it. How can you make a fool of yourself if we’re all still learning?

Tomorrow I’m running the Atlanta Half Marathon. Back in my early 20s I would have been much better prepared for this effort. I was a competitive cyclist and didn’t have the same job and family commitments I do today. In fact, the old me would probably say that present me is ill prepared.

So what the @#%^ am I thinking running a half marathon tomorrow?

Actually I’m not mad. I’m simply using some principals from social media.

I’ve listened. I’ve done my research. I know what’s expected to participate properly.

I understand the community. Sure, there will be some serious athletes there, but most will be weekend warriors just like me.

I’ve created a strategy for both success and failure. If I make it to the finish I have a ride home. If I don’t, I’ll have 20 bucks for a cab.

I’m getting in the mix. I’m engaging. I’ll have a chance to connect with other runners and have a great time. And that, not my time, will be the reward.

So I hope you have a great turkey day. I know I will.

Update: I finished the Atlanta Half Marathon in a not so respectable two and a half hours. But I was pleased that I did it. I learned that I was capable of doing it, even when I wasn’t completely prepared. And now I have a more clear idea what I need to do to be better prepared next year and have greater success. These are good things that far outweigh the unpleasant lactic acid build-up that’s already passed.

I’ve already posted on the 10,000 foot view, so I wanted to get at about what I actually learned BlogWell Atlanta.

Andy Sernovitz had some important points on ethics and disclosure. He outlined dangers to a brand of not having clear, legal agreements with vendors acting on a brand’s behalf and opined that the new FCC guidelines a positive development for the industry. His belief is that social media will be much better served by government policing than it would by being allowed to evolve on its own the way email did.

There were some compelling BtoB stories. Orange and SunGuard had showed how social media benefited their bottom line through providing helpful information to clients and potential clients.

Also there was a terrific UPS crisis management story. And I enjoyed hearing about Coca-Cola’s Expedition 206 campaign.

But what did I really learn there? That there’s a vibrant community of professionals trying to figure this social media thing out. That it lives beyond the blogs and tweets. That people are engaged, smart, and want to do the right thing. And frankly that’s damn refreshing place to be compared to discussions about direct mail, email marketing, or print advertising. People really are seeing a brighter horizon in this space while in traditional marketing the world is shrinking.

So even if Twitter does turn out to be a stupid fad, I think social media is a pretty great space to be in.

This was 7:30 AM. Just dropped off the girls and went for a short hike. Had nowhere to be for the rest of the day really. Taking a deep breath today. Hope you have a chance for one too. Have a great weekend.