2011: Year In Review

Last year I started what I think will be a yearly tradition for me — taking a moment to both review the past year’s accomplishments and to also set goals for the year ahead.

My notable achievements for last year:

• Kept my commitment to write a blog post every week, writing 51 new blog entries. (I only missed a couple last January — obviously I have trouble being on time in the first weeks of the year… for example, this post is two days late. Apologies.)
• Pitched my book to a number of big, traditional publishers including Harper Collins, McGraw-Hill, Simon and Schuster, Random House, Farrar-Straus-Giroux, Harvard, Berrett-Koehler, Hyperion & Penguin. (If you’re curious, they all “passed.” I still view this as an achievement, however, as it’s not all that easy to get an agent who can get one’s work in front of all these folks.)
• Performed in 12 more Group productions: 9 in January & 3 in June.
• Celebrated the Chinese New Year in Chinatown, LA. (A truly fun, amazing experience!)
• Attended the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards.
• Spoke @ ICF-Los Angeles, Career Synergy, ASTD-Westside, ASTD-Los Angeles, Mount St. Mary’s College Leadership Institute, Circle of Change Leadership Conference, ISPI, and the La Cañada Flintridge Kiwanis Chapter. (At 8 events, this isn’t too far off of my goal of averaging one per month.)
• Renamed my blog “The Work Revolution.” (I’ve searched for a long time to find a title which encapsulates everything I write about here.)
• Contributed to the MIX Hackathon “Communities Of Passion” report (check out the 3 categories I suggested on Page 10 and “Build A Strengths-Based Culture” on page 25).
• Joined the Young Entrepreneur Council.
• Turned 30. (Holy s#*t, how did that happen?)
• Went to Disneyland 6 times. (Not bad since we just got our passes in June!)
• Visited Charleston, South Carolina. (I had never been to that part of the country before.)
• Upgraded my phone from an iPhone 3G to an iPhone 4S. (May sound trite, but this is essentially like trading in one’s horse and buggy for the Starship frickin’ Enterprise.)
• Became the 3rd (or 2nd, depending on how you look at it) Strengthscope USA Business Development Partner.
• Met a whole bunch of crazy-awesome people. (I’d start listing them here, but this post would become far too long.)

My goals for 2012:

1. Publish and release my book.
2. Travel outside of the US at least once.
3. Increase Strengths Doctors revenues and client list.
4. Speak more targeted gigs (corporations, conferences, leadership institutes, etc.) and get paid regularly for them.
5. Do yoga Get some form of physical activity/exercise and floss every day (hey, I like my teeth). (UPDATED 4/10/12 — apparently I’m just not ready for every-day yoga yet! Baby steps.)