I am not the kind who really makes New Year resolutions, but I am the kind that asks myself a lot of questions. So I made up a word for it. "Questilutions" (pronounced kwes-che-lew-shens).

This is the process I go through to get myself moving into the new year. The questions start my thinking about what I need to start doing or stop doing. The questions are meant to lead to actions.

The problem with resolutions is that they are personal in nature. No two people will come up with the same resolution even if given the same circumstances. So if I wrote down my resolutions, it might be interesting to you. It might spur you on to make up some of your own. It may make you chuckle at my blue sky, wishful thinking. But you would not adopt them as your own. The determination of what you need to do is predicated on your specific environment. You would sit and think of your own and make up your resolutions that match your situation.

So what I have come up with is a series of questions that could be used to frame you resolutions. Here is the list: (in no particular order)

1. What three things would you like to add to your list of accomplishments for 2009?
2. If you had to define why your boss should give you a raise, how hard would you have to think about it?
3. What BIM software have you been dying to try out?  How are you going to get it?
4. When was the last time you had a conversation about what the senior managers in your firm want you to get done or improve?
5. What two things have you been putting off for more than 2 months?
6. Why have you not gotten invited to write or speak or teach outside your office?
7. When was the last time you volunteered to help some one or some group that needed help?
8. Who would list you as their "go to" person? How can you make the list longer?
9. What was the last book you read that really impacted your life? How long has it been since your read something like that?
10. What one thing do you most regret from 2008?  How are you going to make sure it is not on the regrets list for 2009?
11. What will move my career forward faster?  What will get me a BIM title sooner?

There are more on my CADD Manager site . You may come up with some yourself.

If you have a question or defined an action plan for yourself this year… share one via a comment to this post.

Happy New Year!