Today is Groundhog Day! (Well, this is being published on 2 Feb, parts of it were written last week, the rest, yesterday)

The formatting of this series of posts will evolve, but for now I am going to start with a review of how well I did at achieving my First Period Goals, then give a brief outline of what I have planned for the Second Period. I am not going to call these review/planning periods “months” or “monthly” because there will only be 11 of them, including the year-end review on 12 Dec.

I am making a promise to myself to be very diligent with my Weekly Reviews, to take careful notes, and to save all of my planning sheets. It is always exciting for me to start a new endeavor, especially one that can be as beneficial as this one. If I maintain my discipline I should be able to have an amazing year.

First Period Review

My goals for the first period were simple and less-than-ambitious:

1. Set goals and milestones for the 2nd – 4th periods of 2010
2. Begin an exercise regimen to maintain my weight-loss from this fall
3. Write a blog post for every weekday
4. Read one book per week
5. Bonus goal: Learn and implement a Personal Kanban system

Goal number 1 we will discuss at the end, as I mentioned, so lets talk about the second – Exercise. I did not do very well. No walking (other than at work) and only did my ‘core’ workouts 2-3 times per week. #fail. I must be more disciplined with this next period.

I did better with writing and publishing blog posts for every weekday, only missed a few. I batched these tasks (thanks WordPress scheduling feature), writing most of the posts on Sundays when I didn’t have to work at the Tavern.

Reading one book per week, well, according to my Reading Journal, I have started The Meaning of Night (novel) and finished Linchpin, The War on Success, and Make Today Count. The novel is pretty hefty, I started it on the 5th and I am about 2/3 done (and really enjoying it). Four weeks, four books, looks good.

The good news is that I have plenty of books to choose from for the next couple of periods, at least!

My bonus goal, Learn and Implement a Personal Kanban System, is well under way. This small change in the way that I administer my Projects and Next Actions has had a tremendously positive impact on my productivity, both at home and at my job. I will definitely be writing more about the Kanban and add it to the Productivity book that I am writing.

(I know, I know, “We don’t need another Productivity book”. Yes. We do.)

Groundhog Day Resolutions for Periods 2 – 4

This is the fun part, where you get to see what I am planning for the next three review periods and then mock me mercilessly if I don’t accomplish these goals (not that any of you would do that, of course).

Period 2 – Due 3 March
Period 2 is going to see a little more ambition, and positive progress on a major goal that has been back-burnered for too long.

1. Maintain exercise program
2. Read 1 book per week
3. Work on the Productivity Book
   • Add Kanban implementation
   • Write Introduction
   • Organize Chapters
   • Create Artwork
4. Staff Evaluations (@Tavern)
5. General’s Club Rollout (@Tavern)

Period 3 – Due 4 April

1. Maintain exercise program
2. Read 1 book per week
3. Create 1 free product (Like the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in Context)
4. Work on the Productivity Book
   • Write Conclusion
   • Send out for copy-editing
   • Prepare cover art
   • Contact possible reviewers
   • Brainstorm freebies and bonuses
5. Brainstorm ideas for new training courses

Period 4 – Due 5 May

1. Create 1 free product
2. Create 1 salable product
3. Maintain exercise program
4. Read 1 book per week
5. Market and launch e-book, real book
6. Prep for SOBCon

I am pretty excited about this – all of my major goals for the first part of the year, all laid out and ready to be broken up into actionable pieces. This is going to be a very good year.

You can still join in on this running experiment, leave a comment or email a link to your own post.

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