One thing I have learned in my life is that when I publish something, and publicize it, I have to follow through… let’s try it with the least likely to follow through of all events…

New Year’s Resolutions

I just have a couple… in order to make it likely that I will succeed. I can add a few extras for padding if I have to…

1. I will walk several times per week. A few years ago, Gail and I trained for and participated in a marathon (at Walt Disney World, on the American Stroke Association team). We were walking 3-5 times a week, and worked up to 5 miles for most of the walks, and as much as 20 miles on the weekend. While I don’t know that I want to walk 20 miles on a Saturday, I would like to get to 5 miles, three times a week. I would also like for the time to be about one hour for the 5 miles. (Anyone that wants to join me on the walks, feel free to let me know)
2. I will explore technology to make my business more efficient. One of the things I spend too much time doing is typing blogs… I’m not fast, and likely won’t be. If I am going to spend several hours a week walking, I will need to multi-task that time in order to not take it away from my family. I will need to explore options like Jott, as well as getting phone calls done and some strategic planning.
3. I will lose weight. That is the biggie… it’s on everyone’s list. I need to lose 30 pounds… and then re-evaluate and decide to lose 10 more… I hate diets… So, I will be working on burning off the garbage I eat. I’ll leave the garbage eating to another year.
4. I will increase my business. This is a no-brainer. My production last year sucked. If I can’t beat the hooey out of last year, I have no business in this business…
5. I will produce more content to separate my blogs and my website. I want to have more varied content on my blogs (here and “outside”) as well as my website. Most of the content is shared right now. I want each to have their own content streams, so there is less sharing.

I also have a few Goals for 2008 that I will have to strive for… since I’m telling you.

• 20 pounds. At my weight, I will burn about 135 calories in a mile. It takes about 3500 calories to equal a pound of fat. That means that a marathon is about what I need to lose a pound of fat. It would take 518 miles to lose my goal in fat. So, I need to walk ten miles a week… burning only fat… in order to reach my goal. I will also be ramping up some other exercise.
• Convert my website to a magazine format and produce a new “issue” each month… starting by March. I make a lot of content, and I want to make it more compelling to read. I also want to boost my reach by making the content and delivery more viral. I switched to the Joomla platform for that site specifically for this purpose.
• Sharpen the focus of both my website and my blogs to rank better with Google. Shocker.

Here are my padding Resolutions…

• I won’t start to smoke. If I’m smoking, I better be on fire.
• I will be the best father I can be for my sons. Almost broke that one right there… We have a new boy on the way… due March 5th, but I’m betting February 29th… and I originally wrote son. We will continue to do “Guy Lunch” and “Just Guys Day” as well as new traditions.
• I will be a good friend.
• I will work hard to make Mud 4 Blood bigger than last year. If you are anywhere near Atlanta around May 10th, join a few hundred off-road enthusiasts at our blood drive. This year we are trying to get national exposure from the enthusiast media. (just a note, as I write this there is only a placeholder for the M4B website… it’ll be up soon).

There is my list. I will keep everyone updated on how I’m doing… especially when people start bugging me about it while I’m try to change the subject (hint, hint).