Saturday, December 27, 2008

New Year's Resolutions for Consultants...

I got to thinking as I typed away on my laptop in the middle of Christmas dinner (had to finish the year-end financials and collections, of course...): what should a true hard-core consultant resolve to do differently in 2009? Here are a few suggestions:

1) I will not cut in front of the blind guy at the TSA checkpoint (yes, we did see it).
2) I will not use up my entire per-diem to buy margaritas at the airport bar (even if they're on special)
3) I will stop snickering when the flight attendant demonstrates the seat belt buckle thing.
4) I will not get all angry and condescending when I call the IT helpdesk (yes, I know that my laptop must be turned on for it to work...)
5) I will eat more healthy food, even when traveling (just because the steak is organic, doesn't mean that a 24oz monster that's been cooked in butter is good for you)
6) I will not mutter under my breath at project status meetings
7) I will stop trying to send evil death rays from my eyeballs during project status meetings (except when it comes to the test team leader, she deserves it).
8) I will stop crying when I look at my company's stock price.
9) I will stop crying when I look at any company's stock price.
10) I will be nice to the sales people (ouch, that one hurt).

3 comments:

Andrus Purde said...

Haha! Resolutions 8 and 9 especially stroke a cord :)

Jokes aside, I am a big fan of making resolutions, small or big, throughout the year, not just on January 1st.

So much so that myself and two friends created Pledgehammer on our free time. It provides an easy way to write resolutions down with a deadline and share with whoever you want to share them with. It also has a charitable 'flipside' to it - if you can't stick to your resolution Pledgehammer asks you to donate money to charity. So whether you stick to your resolution or not, either way the world will be a little bit better.

Would this site work for consulting resolutions :) ?

Anonymous said...

I love #4. Angry and condescending. Not my natural personality as well, but so hard not to let that ball in your stomach tighten when you make that call...

BlackFerrari007 said...

i'd like to add a couple:
11) I will not roll my eyes when my client asks if we can re-schedule our meeting five minutes after our meeting was supposed to start.
12)I will try really hard this year to be kind to the chatty cathy sitting next to me on the plane, even though it is obvious to any person with a brain cell that i am not interested in conversing because i'm wearing ear plugs and reading a magazine.