New Year's achievements and goals
So it's New Year's Eve already and I'm searching forward to ultimate the door on 2009 in many, many methods. It's funny, my earnings took a hit at the start of the year and had I been instructed about it earlier I would have concept it unsurvivable. Survive I did and that loss of income made me smarter, quicker and more innovative. 2009 had me reaching into places I never thought I'd get to by myself. What a yr! My head nonetheless reels from quite a few it. I owe a big quantity of what I executed in 2009 to this weblog and to all of you who examine my rantings. So thank you.
Every year, I take stock of the year we're about to leave and I spend some time setting goals for the year to follow. New Year's resolutions are too vague and unmeasurable so I dispense with them all together in favor of writing down a list of achievable, measurable goals. Before I write down my targets for the new year though, I write down my achievements from the year that's ending. It's always interesting to compare my achievement list to the goal list from the previous year. Interesting to me anyhow.
Telling myself through a decision that I will make more money in 2010 is not precise enough, there is no yardstick. I find it plenty more useful to write down down, "I will growth my earnings by using 30%." That leaves me with something to measure and it makes me responsible for my own overall performance.
Ordinarily, I hold my lists personal, however this year I'm going to share a few highlights from it to maintain me responsible. Indulge me:
2009 Achievements
- I survived the longest dry spell in my career.
- I flew to Google for a meeting with the SketchUp team.
- I increased my blog readership by over 1000% (I checked that math repeatedly and I still can't wrap my head around it).
- I won a cooking contest in the test kitchens of GE Monogram.
- I sat in the front row of a major runway show at Fashion Week in New York.
- I interviewed Sarah Susanka.
- I interviewed Sara Baldwin.
- I took on my first virtual design clients.
- I had paid and unpaid writing gigs show up all over the internet.
- I did the best design work of my career.
- I held my first great niece.
2010 Goals
- I will increase my income by 30%.
- I will double my web traffic by the end of the year.
- I will go back to Rome in June.
- I will go to the gym and lift weights for 45 minutes twice a week, every week.
- I will end the year at the same weight I am right now.
- I will write three feature stories for print publications.
- I will formalize a fee schedule and business plan for my social media consultations by February.
- I will re-tool and re-launch Kitchen and Residential Design by May.
- I will pay cash for everything.
- I will pay off the last of my consumer debt by December '10.
And that my friends are the highlights from my listing. What approximately you men? Anybody else want to list some desires and be responsible right here?