One thing I have learned in my life is that when I publish something, and publicize it, I have to follow through... let's try it with the least likely to follow through of all events...
New Year's Resolutions
I just have a couple... in order to make it likely that I will succeed. I can add a few extras for padding if I have to...
- I will walk several times per week. A few years ago, Gail and I trained for and participated in a marathon (at Walt Disney World, on the American Stroke Association team). We were walking 3-5 times a week, and worked up to 5 miles for most of the walks, and as much as 20 miles on the weekend. While I don't know that I want to walk 20 miles on a Saturday, I would like to get to 5 miles, three times a week. I would also like for the time to be about one hour for the 5 miles. (Anyone that wants to join me on the walks, feel free to let me know)
- I will explore technology to make my business more efficient. One of the things I spend too much time doing is typing blogs... I'm not fast, and likely won't be. If I am going to spend several hours a week walking, I will need to multi-task that time in order to not take it away from my family. I will need to explore options like Jott, as well as getting phone calls done and some strategic planning.
- I will lose weight. That is the biggie... it's on everyone's list. I need to lose 30 pounds... and then re-evaluate and decide to lose 10 more... I hate diets... So, I will be working on burning off the garbage I eat. I'll leave the garbage eating to another year.
- I will increase my business. This is a no-brainer. My production last year sucked. If I can't beat the hooey out of last year, I have no business in this business...
- I will produce more content to separate my blogs and my website. I want to have more varied content on my blogs (here and "outside") as well as my website. Most of the content is shared right now. I want each to have their own content streams, so there is less sharing.
I also have a few Goals for 2008 that I will have to strive for... since I'm telling you.
- 6 transactions by the end of June. That would be 6 transaction sides averaging $200k before the end of June. I know that about 28,000 agents here just giggled (but, 13,000 laughed because they are shooting for that many transactions before Valentine's Day... the rest don't think they'll pull this off this whole year.
- 18 transactions by the end of the year. So, if I can build the momentum to close one side a month for the first half of the year, why not two sides a month for the second half of the year? (Now only 9,000 agents are laughing because they'll pull off 18 sides by Memorial Day... the others aren't laughing as hard).
- 20 pounds. At my weight, I will burn about 135 calories in a mile. It takes about 3500 calories to equal a pound of fat. That means that a marathon is about what I need to lose a pound of fat. It would take 518 miles to lose my goal in fat. So, I need to walk ten miles a week... burning only fat... in order to reach my goal. I will also be ramping up some other exercise.
- Convert my website to a magazine format and produce a new "issue" each month... starting by March. I make a lot of content, and I want to make it more compelling to read. I also want to boost my reach by making the content and delivery more viral. I switched to the Joomla platform for that site specifically for this purpose.
- Sharpen the focus of both my website and my blogs to rank better with Google. Shocker.
Here are my padding Resolutions...
- I won't start to smoke. If I'm smoking, I better be on fire.
- I will be the best father I can be for my sons. Almost broke that one right there... We have a new boy on the way... due March 5th, but I'm betting February 29th... and I originally wrote son. We will continue to do "Guy Lunch" and "Just Guys Day" as well as new traditions.
- I will be a good friend.
- I will work hard to make Mud 4 Blood bigger than last year. If you are anywhere near Atlanta around May 10th, join a few hundred off-road enthusiasts at our blood drive. This year we are trying to get national exposure from the enthusiast media. (just a note, as I write this there is only a placeholder for the M4B website... it'll be up soon).
There is my list. I will keep everyone updated on how I'm doing... especially when people start bugging me about it while I'm try to change the subject (hint, hint).
