Every year in December I like to take a full day and review how the previous year went. I was turned on to this by Chris Guillebeau and have been doing it for a couple years now. This year however, I’ve decided to start making it public. I decided to get back into the spirit of blogging and wanted to add a bit of transparency to this blog (and a lot more content coming up).
The process consists of looking at what I accomplished the previous year and what my shortcomings were. What did I do that was a big success, and what were my ultimate failures. I ignore outside influences – if something happened that I have no control over, I don’t let that impact my outcome, instead, I focus on what I control.
After I flush out what went well and what did not, I then turn to defining what I want to accomplish for the following year. I then revisit my progress every couple months to see how things are going. Some goals turn out to be irrelevant or non important, while other must-dos might creep up and take their place. It’s meant to be a framework and a guide, not carved in stone.
So, what went well for me this year?
I decided not to go back to school. Last August I was having one of those wtf months where I convinced myself I wanted to go back to school for Engineering. Although engineering does interest me, I’m not exactly sure why I wanted to do this. If I were to guess, it would be to put off defining what I was going to do with my life for another several years, or because I had a few back to back bad months as far as business went. Regardless, I’m glad I didn’t throw in the towel, instead, I hustled through it and am so glad I changed my mine.
Started a new business. I launched Bate Media in late September and have signed a couple big clients since. This has done wonders for my stress level and has even helped with my desire for continuous learning as well.
Spent Canada day in Ottawa. My girlfriend and I travelled to Ottawa for Canada day this year. We spent the lovely three day vacation with close friends and family. Being one of the few opportunities for travel this past year it was excellent to get to the Nation’s capital for its big day.
Got cash flow under control. Anyone who runs a small business or works for themselves can attest to the issue of cash flow. In 2011, I was finally able to get my businesses cash flows under control so that I no longer stress over it. This was mainly because of the new business and contracts signed in the Fall, but it has been a huge enabler as far as productivity and developing my side businesses go.
My relationship. Our new living arrangements and a more defined work schedule for me definitely spilled over into a better home life and relationship with my girl friend.
What did not go so well for me this year?
My health. This was the first thing I identified when reflecting on 2011 that was a huge issue during the year. I put on too much weight in 2011 and seemed to live quite a sedentary lifestyle this past year. I did not make exercise a priority and ate rather poorly overall this past year.
Didn’t save enough money. Granted I had a couple trips this past year, but I did not save as much money as I had hoped this year. While my income increased, my spending seemed to as well for the most part – and most of it was tossed away or eaten.
I didn’t make as many in-person connections as I had hoped. This was another big fail for me in 2011. I spent a ton of my time online. Even though I have connected with many influential bloggers and online business owners, and learned more this year than probably my 6 years of University combined, I lacked the same social interaction and connections in person. I am a very social person and it hurts me to notice that this was such a bad area for me this year.
It appears as though 2011 was the year of the business. I’ll admit that I am happy with the progress made in my online income and online businesses, however, reflecting on what sacrifices were made throughout the year to make that happen is eye-opening for sure. More balance is definitely needed going forward.
I’ll leave my goals for 2012 for another post next week, but I encourage you to take some time – even a few hours – to review how your year went. What went well for you? What could you have done much better? Leave a comment with a link to your review, I’d be happy to read it.
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