Well, I can't believe 2010  has gone by so fast. What I have to show for it?  Hmm.  I have to be honest this year has not been my finest.  Much of has to do we the amount of change that took place in my life during the year.  I am not trying to make excuses for it but I need this year to realize a few things about myself.  I would like to share a few of them with you in this blog so hopefully, you don't have to repeat my mistakes in 2011.

For starters, I realized that routines get you through the weird times.  This past year I gradually became committed to framing my daily work with well worked out schedules.  The more I stuck to it when things were good the more it will be useful to me when things weren't so great.

I also realized that not to do lists are just as important as to do list.  I can't take all the credit for this one because I got the idea from a great article, but I did make it my own.  It is very easy to become consumed by the need to do more.  I learned the hard way that the ability to do more is not as good as the ability to do more quality work.  It was hard, but forcing myself to identify the things that I needed to stop doing caused me to reflect more on the impact of my actions.  As a result, I could recognize what were the true ingredients to successfully completing higher quality work.

Lastly, I realized that you have to always remember who you are and what you make you good at what you do.  This may sound unpractical, but surprisingly it is very helpful when done correctly.  Who doesn't have work-related stress, demanding clients, and looming deadlines? Well in all that it is easy to lose sight of what makes you successful or what do you actually do well.  Both of which are needed when times are tough and the workload is piling up.  It does not hurt to keep a record of your successes and acknowledgments. It could be as a simple as box or folder that you collect artifacts supporting your "genius".  Maybe it would be easier for you to keep an electronic record, regardless of your preference, just do it.  Now you can't stop there, you will have to review it from time to time to keep it fresh.  After all, if you keep up with your successes who will?

Well, I know that I will have many more lessons this year and I look forward to learning them all! Try these out and hopefully you will be able to move on to bigger and better lessons this year. May you have a blessed 2011!