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Each year you should take some time to conduct a review of your accomplishments in the past year. This should be a review of your successes. What did you do well? What did you accomplish? Here is my 2009 list. (You can see the 2008 version here)
MOST IMPORTANT
BABY
At the end of April we welcomed a healthy baby boy into the world. He continues to be healthy, happy, and big! 
He brings joy to our lives on a daily basis and certainly is the most important thing about 2009.
Travel
Unlike previous years, we stayed closer to home in 2009, but did travel significantly throughout North America:
- visited 12 States and 4 Canadian Provinces
- highlights include Old City Quebec & Johnson Space Center in Houston
Business
Continued to focus on both the Success Professor blog and on our Home Business Program where we help people to get healthy, go green, and earn extra money while they do it:
- had over 10,000 page views in one month
- again earned over $10,000 in our home business program
- helped three people reach the leadership levels in our home business program
Volunteer
- completed time on leadership of our church after over 4 years of service
- continued to oversee bookkeeping and finances for our church
Career/ Work
- successfully completed the GMAT, scoring in the 98 percentile!
- applied to PhD programs for fall of 2010
- once again taught my largest ever classes
Personal
- maintained my weight (after losing 14 lbs in 2008)
- established a full emergency fund (article on this coming soon!)
- saw the Broadway musicals: Jersey Boys, In The Heights, Chicago
- visited another Major League Ballpark (Milwaukee) to watch a game
Most Read Posts of 2010
1. How to Make a Good First Impression
2. The Importance of Keeping Consistent
3. How to Stay Consistent
4. What is Holding You Back?
5. 6 Steps to Defeating Self Doubt
6. 8 Ways to Pay Off Your Mortgage Quickly
7. Lou Holtz’s 5 Keys to Success
8. How to Work in Bursts
9. WIN NOW
10. What is Your 4 Minute Mile?
Thank you all for your support in 2009, and best wishes for 2010!
Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
Posted on January 5th, 2010 by The Success Professor | 9 Comments »
Photo by Slopjop
As we end 2008 and start 2009 it is natural that we should be taking time to set goals. Last week, I shared about the concept of setting shorter goals. In that article, I shared how you can improve your goal setting and achievement by setting goals for either three month or four month periods.
As a professor, the four month goal setting period works perfectly because of the natural flows of the school year. The first four months include a busy semester. This semester, I’m teaching an extra class than normal.
The second four month period is the summer months. During this time, I do not have classes to teach. Instead there is time for increased study, research and writing. My wife and I are also expecting our first child near the start of this four month period, so there will be many life changes to consider when setting goals for this time period.
The third four month period is again a teaching semester, with a different course load and different set of obligations. It is because of this natural life separation that I am setting goals for a four month period (rather than quarterly goals that are common in the corporate world).
I share my goals with you for several reasons:
- public accountability is always valuable when focusing on goals
- you can see the format I use, and the types of goals that I set
- you can hold me accountable to my goals
- you can get some ideas for goals of your own
- you can get to know me a little better
Be sure to share some of your goals in the comments below.
Here are some of my goals by category. I have been intentionally vague on a few numbers that are rather personal (particularly financial goals). I do have specific numbers for these set in my goals.
Teaching/ Professor
- finish academic article and submit to peer-reviewed journal
- develop PowerPoint presentations for Human Resource Management course
- integrate more illustrations/videos into Quantitative Methods course
Success Professor Blog
- publish 6 guest posts per month
- increase to a total of 1500 RSS subscribers (approximately double current)
- average 4000+ visitors per month during period
Home Business Affiliate Program
- accept 12 new affiliate partners to work with
- total growth of 50%
Financial Goals
- put as much as possible on to retirement plan by Feb. 28
- increase emergency fund
Fitness Goals
- get to target weight (approximately 10 lb. drop)
Personal Development
- read 6 books, including one on writing
Spiritual Growth Goals
Now that my goals are set, I incorporate them into my weekly planning process. I also review my goals frequently throughout the week, and I will have another goal setting time at the end of the four month period.
What are your goals? Share a couple of your goals below as a way of publicly declaring what you are going to work towards.
Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
Posted on January 6th, 2009 by The Success Professor | 2 Comments »
As we enter 2009, one important step is to review your successes of the previous year. My wife and I had a wonderful and full 2008 and are looking forward to more in 2009. Below is a list of some of my important accomplishments and goals that I achieved in 2008. I share this not to impress you, but rather to give you a picture of the types of things that you too can do! You can achieve more than you imagined in 2009.
Travel:
Lived for 4 weeks in Istanbul, Turkey- Vacationed on Mediterranian in Turkey (article)
- Visited remains of ancient Ephesus & Heirapolis
- Vacationed in Prague, Czech Republic
- Visited Krakow, Poland
- Walked on the Great Wall of China
- Olympic games in Beijing (article)
- Vacationed at Wisconsin Dells with family
Business:
Volunteer:
- Served on leadership team of growing church
- Conducted full audit/update/ turn around church financial data
Work:
- Submitted, had accepted, and presented an academic paper at a professional conference
- Visited Bangladesh and set up student internship program
- Continued blog for my students
- Taught my two largest classes ever
- Grew my program to be the third largest at our school
Personal:
- Lost 14 pounds (article on how I did this coming soon!)
- Paid off 15% of mortgage (article on how I did this coming soon!)
- Paid off student loan
- Read 21 books (see my top 10 books)
- Entered a fishing contest and won 3 of 10 categories
- Saw the musicals: Wicked (article), Cats, and Hairspray
- Caught a Master Angler Carp (prize winning size fish)
Most Important!
- Expecting a baby for end of April!
Top Posts of 2008
10 Easy Steps to Get Started with Twitter
6 Steps to Plan Your Week For Success
Simplify Your Budget
Start Your Day with a Power Hour
You Must Fail – 6 Lessons from Michael Jordon
Thank you all for your support! Help us start the new year by Stumbling your favorite article, and recommending this blog to your friends!
Happy New Year!
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
Posted on January 3rd, 2009 by The Success Professor | 3 Comments »
Hello everyone,
I’m back from our vacation time and I’ll be posting regularly for the next couple of weeks before I leave for the Olympics.
One of the things that we did on our vacation was to take in the musical Wicked in Chicago. http://www.wickedthemusical.com/ The musical itself was phenomenal and I highly recommend it. Before the musical started there was a great illustration on the importance of customer service and taking initiative.
When we got to our seats my wife and I noticed that there was a railing obstructing our view. This was frustrating as we had paid for full-price tickets, not obstructed view seats.
I spotted an official looking attendant who was clearly supervising the ushers. I approached her with the situation. She immediately went into blame mode putting all of the responsibility on the box office. She explained that the box office determines the seats. She stated that she could not do anything for me and that I would have to go to the box office. With only a few minutes before the start of the show there was not time for this if I wanted to catch the opening scene. I went back to my seat even more frustrated.
A couple of minutes later I saw another official looking lady who was also clearly a supervisor. I approached her with the issue. Her reaction was the opposite to the first supervisor. She immediately checked out our seats and apologized for the blocked view. She not only sympathized with us, but agreed that the seats should not have been full priced seats. She left us for a moment as she looked for other alternatives. Quickly she returned with two alternative seating options, both lower and better spots. Finally at the intermission she came and checked to make sure we were happy with our new seats.
The difference in how the two supervisors handled the situation was amazing. The first one left us with now solution, and increased my frustration level by how dismissive of our concern. The second supervisor made us extra happy with our evening and with how she resolved the situation. The theater is lucky to have the second supervisor. I’ve been recommending the show to everyone, something I may not have done if we hadn’t had our seats changed.
How is your customer service? Do you go out of the way to take care of your customers? Do your employees? Employees need to be empowered. If you are employee, you can distinguish yourself and make yourself invaluable by providing great customer service.
Whatever your role, customer service needs to be your priority. Great customer service will create fantastic word of mouth for you and your business.
- The Success Professor
PS. To earn more income visit: http://dannyg.makemoreathome.com
Posted on July 19th, 2008 by The Success Professor | 5 Comments »
Seth Godin has a great post about the difference between trying to get ahead by beating the system and trying to get a head by working the system.
We see this all the time in the home business world. People start a new business and try to re-invent the wheel. They look for any shortcut to get to the tip. These people think that they know how to do things better than those already successful in the company.
The thing is, sometimes these people do get some quick success, however it is always short lived. Those who want do develop a long-term residual income will work within the system, following the path set forth by others. If and when you pass the people who at the top of the company then, and only then, have you earned the right to blaze a trail. Until then, work the system that exists and you will achieve the results that others have.
Here is Seth’s Post:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/05/the-spirit-of-t.html
Danny
Posted on May 27th, 2008 by The Success Professor | No Comments »
BABY
