New Year’s resolutions are one of those constructs that annoy as much as they inspire. But I’ll do my best to craft a few for 2012.

Why they trouble me, I don’t know. Ask anyone I work with, and they’ll tell you that I am a resolute guy. But somehow that’s not quite the same thing. On this Change of Venue Friday, let’s explore some of those promises we make to ourselves.

Yesterday, I enjoyed reading some other peoples’ blog posts from this year and past, when they addressed the same issue. Some were pretty mundane—“Use the photocopier less” was less than a revelation. But a few others intrigued me.

One blogger opened with “Improve your writing skills,” so they had me at the get-go. And the two other resolutions from FindLaw’s “Strategist”—regarding technology and marketing—are also worth your bookmark.

Another blogger reminds lawyers that it really, really, really is time to learn something about social media. In fact, the author at Ms. JD promises to launch an entirely new blog dedicated to her journey into that world. Even if we don’t do the same, we might learn from her successes and stumbles.

(The Legal Watercooler had a cheekier take on the topic, calling its post “Learn How This Social Media Thingie Works.”)

But now it’s time for me to step up to the plate. Here are three resolutions that I anticipate will guide me through 2012 (with adjustments per quarter!):

  1. Write more, meeting less.

When I speak dismissively of meetings, I assure you I do not mean meeting with potential or current authors about their ongoing cool project. I don’t mean brainstorming sessions about the evolution of Arizona Attorney’s look and feel. No, I mean the raft of other meetings that the human flesh is heir to. And if I could replace those often nonsensical gatherings with a little more time to write, what a year it could be!

  1. Share more in the legal community.

This resolution will require more of those meetings I refer to in (1) above, meetings of the good variety. Currently, I often try to be away from my desk attending and covering legal events that may be of interest to our readers. In 2012, I aim for even more of that. I also would like to meet more with law firms and legal groups and organizations to discuss story ideas and remind lawyers about the role the magazine may play in achieving their own goals. (In fact, if you have an upcoming event I should attend or speak at, contact me at arizona.attorney@azbar.org.)

  1. Collaborate and ask for help.

This final resolution will be mandatory if I hope to achieve our goal of providing even more content in 2012—content in the magazine and online. To do that, we’ll need to identify great idea people whose ideas would shine in our media platforms. We’ll create partnerships with lawyers and nonlawyers who can speak to compelling issues in a changing industry. And we’ll locate even more Arizona lawyer-bloggers who enjoy having their fellows read and comment on their stuff.

OK, I’m done. What are your resolutions?

Happy New Year’s. I’ll be back on Tuesday (that’s right, I’m taking Monday off, another mini-resolution!).