2 Goals and 5 Resolutions for 2009

My 2 goals are simple:

• Make more money;
• Work less.

2008 was a difficult year for me compared to 2007, and I got caught up in a pattern of putting out fires and working more reactively than executing a plan. I will not let history repeat itself.

My 5 resolutions are designed to fulfill my goals. This posting isn’t the full enchillada for my 2009 plans, but it is a halfway decent overview. Here are my 5 resolutions:

1. Take one day off per week no matter what. I’ll do better the other 6 days rested and recharged.
2. Create specific goals. I used to do this, and it went out the window in the scrambling, scatterbrained year of 2008. Goals get me juiced. I’m good when I’m juiced.
3. Plan my work. I am making an annual overall plan and I am going to pursue it via a quarterly, monthly and weekly plan review/evaluation.
4. Blog more. I mean leveraging the web as a marketing tool more via posting my listings in more places, linking to my company website more, and yes, writing more. I have an English degree and writing is therapeutic. If it helps me make money that is a double win.
5. Laugh more. I don’t mean I’m going to watch more Richard Pryor videos, although that isn’t a bad idea. The fact of the matter is that in our business, we are the product. When people list their house with me, they get me. I should therefore take better care of myself and do the things that feed my soul. So in 2009 I’ll walk the dog more when I could just as easily let him out into the yard. I will take Luke to his first Yankee game and explain to him why the Boston Red Sox are evil. I’ll visit Mom more. That sort of thing.

Putting this out in public makes this more than a private “I should” that can be dismissed in a weak moment. I know this works, so I am prepared to be hung by my tongue. My wish for everyone reading this is that you also make more money, work less, and laugh more yourself.