Today I did something that I haven’t done in a quite awhile, I cleaned out my planner.

I always have such trouble keeping my planner in a condition which allows me to close the zipper. Most of the time it’s just bursting at the seams. Well not today.

My wife was kind enough to get me a Franklin Covey refill for my birthday, and it instructed me to put 2 months worth of the planning pages in it. Well that wasn’t going to happen in the condition the planner was in at the time. So a cleaning out was in order.

What goes? Well, old pictures of the kids, I have new ones now, coupons that have expired, membership cards to places that either I don’t go to, or that aren’t in business any more. Also, old receipts, old calendar pages, notes for things that have passed, and goals that I haven’t achieved.

Wait a second? Goals that I haven’t achieved?

Well, looking back a year, it seems that I went through my planner then as well, although you wouldn’t be able to tell if you saw how much stuff I tossed.

At that time, I noticed there were a lot of things that I had never finished. Well, this year is no different.

I will have to say that this year, I’ve really done well at keeping the important things in mind. My family and kids have been in the front of my mind.

Also, Art and I started a podcast over at Two Guys Tech, and that’s going really well, with 37 shows under our belt, we have somewhere around 75 regular listeners. If you haven’t checked it out, check out the feed.

So, back to those goals that I was talking about. You know, the ones I never achieved. Well, they get moved to this year’s goals. If I looked at them, and they are still pertinent, then it would be a shame to stop pursuing them just because they proved to be hard.

I hope you’re willing to do the same.

Here’s wishing you a terrific 2009!

Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more.

Edward H. Harriman

Posted in 1YearAgo, New Years, Productivity No Comments »

I started this blog back in July, and I really appreciate all of the people who have kept coming back to read it. I really feel lucky to have such a great group of readers.

Of course, the more prolific commenters are my fellow bloggers, I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts, as well as the conversations that we have. I know that I haven’t been really good about reading and commenting on your blogs the last couple of months, but I haven’t forgotten about you. So, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

So Happy New Year to Art, Pearl, Scott, Phil, Kellypea, Steven, Kevin, Ross, and anyone else that I forgot to mention. I hope you all have some good luck, good times, health and happiness in the upcoming year!

As for myself, every year, right after Christmas, even if I haven’t been thinking about it, I always start to feel the finality of the year. Of course, I also feel the hope that a New Year brings. I know that I’m not alone in this, since everyone starts making New Years resolutions. I generally avoid them, but this year is a little different. There are two reasons for this.

The first reason is that I recently had a little time to kill, and I had my planner with me. I realized that many of the goals I had set for myself, even written down, had never become more than words on paper. Sure writing your goals down is a great first step, but you should follow it through with more steps.

The second reason is that I realize the need to stop procrastinating. Every time I’ve slacked off on something, I always tell myself that I’ll pick it back up, "after the weekend", or some other handy future date. Of course, when that date comes, there’s always another one right over the horizon, and it sure is easier to put it off again than it is to adopt that behavior.

When I look back on 2007, I have to say that I didn’t really accomplish all that much. I haven’t read any of the books that I have wanted to read, I haven’t gotten back into shape, I haven’t stopped smoking. Trust me, I can go on and on.

I pledge to make this year better. To stop putting off the things I want to do. I also resolve to place the things that are important to me as the highest priorities.

I let too many days get consumed by fires, and too many evenings destroyed by the events of the day. Too many worthwhile goals are put off because I’m "too tired" or because "I don’t feel like it". Not anymore.

Here’s to 2008.

Bring it on!

Posted in New Years 9 Comments »