T-SQL Tuesday #38

This is my first bout with participating in T-SQL Tuesdays, and I couldn’t be more excited!  This week’s T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by Jason Brimhall (blog | Twitter), and the topic is: Resolution, Resolve, or Resolute.  It could be looking back on 2012 or looking forward to 2013.

I am choosing the latter:  Looking forward to 2013.  This is probably one of the most significant times of the year that I sit down and look back on what I did right, wrong or indifferent in the past 365 days.  I’d like to say I do this more often, but like most I get caught up in the day-to-day grind.  It’s a refreshing thought knowing that the slate is clean, and the annual counter has been reset to 0.  I had a great 2012, but I am biting at the bit for 2013.  And now it is here.

I am a firm believer that a year of life, work and everything in between is not a sprint.  But it’s also not a marathon.  It’s more like a 5k.  If you go out too fast then you’ll get winded…quickly.  But if you take it too easy then all of a sudden the race will be over and you’ll be regretting not taking on more pain/progress.  Tomorrow is a sprint, the decade is a marathon.  But a year is a 5k.

Back in the day, I used to run cross country in high school.  I would start the race the same way every time.  My teammates (and like most runners I imagine) would start out with a good pace and almost always negative split (essentially get faster as the race goes on).  It worked for them.  But it didn’t work for me.  I had endurance, but it is hard for me to set a world record on the last half mile.  So I was the runner that when the starting gun went off I hit it hard.  I ran so that after the first mile I was hurting.  But, it put me out in front of the pack and it gave me the challenge of maintaining that pace.  Yes, maintaining.  There is nothing wrong with maintaining a fast pace.  It’s not always about the delta.

So how does this have anything to do with my New Year and any resolution(s) I may have?  Well, I am going to do just that.  I’m going to get out of the gate quickly and start with a fast pace…and then maintain.  Some might call this getting in a good groove.  I will keep pace with my learning plan, with my time and task management (thanks in large part to Buck Woody), with my concentration on my family life (it turns out my 3 year-old daughter can’t teach herself how to ride a bicycle….who woulda thunk).

This week I will learn something new every day.  And come August when I might be getting a little tired, I’ll maintain that pace (or ideally get a little more kick).  If the bar is set high, then all of a sudden that personal lag will be one step behind, and motivation to stay ahead will be strong.  I will be aggressive with learning, working, and all other portions of life that require improvement and forward progress.

It’s about setting the routine and sticking to it.  When there is no semblance of a routine, it is hard to keep that wobbly week positive.  If every single day I wake up early and exercise before work, then go do my job to my fullest (and beyond), and finish up the day learning something completely new about SQL Server, data, or other passions in my life (note; that is a very abbreviated daily schedule), then all of a sudden 4 months down the road when I’d rather sleep in, it will be the routine and the desire to stay in it that will be enough to not just roll over in bed.

So, there it is.  This is the year.  The lucky 13.  I can’t wait.  I hope to look back and say “Wow, am I tired.  But what an amazing year”.  With SQL Server, and with life.