Andrew Rondeau

Andrew is the owner of this website and has been a Leader, Manager, Coach and Consultant for the last twenty-five years.

How To Make 2009 Your Best Year Ever?

By Andrew Rondeau
Published 12/28/2008

How To Make 2009 Your Best Year Ever?

It’s getting close to the end of 2008. What did you achieve in 2008? Everything you wanted to?

Now is a great time to start reflecting on 2008 and then invest some time on your plans for 2009.

My goals for 2008 were:

1. Create four new product offerings for my web business.

Well I like to think I excelled on this one. I now offer:

3 different free products for people who subscribe to my websites

3 different inexpensive ‘self-development product bundles’

A revamped First-Class Managers course

The Great Successful People package which is 16 audio interviews with successful people plus tips and techniques from Ken Blanchard, Steven Covey, Marcus Buckingham…

A Public Speaking multi-media course co-authored with the World Champion of Public Speaking, Darren LaCroix.

So, yes, I feel I did everything I wanted to this year.

2. Set-up four joint ventures for my web business.

I must admit I put a lot of effort in 2008 to build relationships and I now have several (many more than 4) joint ventures set-up, and I am pleased with the results. (However, I am always on the lookout for more!)

3. Increase my web clients / customers and earnings ten-fold.

I failed on this one! Although I created several more products and build several more Joint Ventures, I didn’t achieve this goal. Maybe it was too stretching! But I am setting the same goal for 2009 and will be trying different approaches and strategies.

4. Take my wife out on a date two times every month.

We definitely achieved this one. We love going out, we like socialising and we like each other’s company. Earlier in the year we started Ballroom / Latin dancing which is also great fun.

5. Actually go on holiday - somewhere nice and hot (haven't had a holiday in 2 years!).

We had a great holiday in Thailand – some of you may have seen my videos! I loved the place and have promised to go back one day.

6. Get into the habit of exercising 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes.

This one started well but I’m now only down to 2 times a week. My wife and I play badminton once a week and as stated above we joined a Ballroom / Latin dance class, which is once a week. Both great exercise but…I’m still overweight! I MUST loose some weight in 2009 – I need to! So, one goal for me this year will be to lose weight as well as exercise.

7. Read one new book every month - either a self-development or autobiography.

I failed on this one! I concentrated on learning several Internet Marketing strategies like copywriting and gaining traffic and therefore, this goal went to the ‘back-burner’ (a little).

Book’s I did read include:

Allan Leighton’s book, On Leadership: Practical Wisdom From The People Who Know

Millionaire Upgrade by Richard Parkes Cordock

The Naked Coach – David Taylor

Rule For Renegades – Christine Comaford-Lynch

Our Iceberg Is Melting – John Kotter

The Life Plan – Robert Ashton

So do I feel 2008 was successful for me?

Absolutely yes.

Do I feel I could have been even more successful?

Absolutely yes.

What are you going to achieve in 2009?

Are you determined to make 2009 your best year ever?

How?

One of the tasks individuals struggle with is what to actually plan for.

So, set yourself some goals.

In order to generate ideas, you first need to have a goal. A goal of what you want to achieve. Have a balance of goals across finances, free time, health, career, relationships, learning, giving something back.

The goals can be anything like losing weight, being promoted, getting a salary increase, buying a new car, anything you really want to accomplish.

There is a very simple way of doing this. You just need to write down as many ideas as you can each morning when you get up. Aim for around 20 ideas every day for 5 days, which will give you approximately 100 ideas to play with. Don’t spend too much time thinking, just write down whatever comes into your mind.

For instance if you want to lose weight you can come up ideas such as swapping full fat milk for skimmed milk, eating two thirds of the amounts of food you normally eat, cutting out desserts or just have one every other day, joining exercise classes or walking or cycling to work etc.

Not All Ideas Will Be Good

Not all you ideas will be good, but some will be great and will help you to achieve that goal. This should only take you around 10 minutes each day and is a very powerful exercise.

If you can’t think of any ideas to write down, then you need to do some research into how you can go about achieving your aim. Use the internet, talk to other people who have done the things you want to achieve, read books etc.

Remember anyone can do this, you just need to really want to achieve your goal badly enough. Try it and see what happens, it doesn’t take long and the benefits can be great!

Make 2009 Your Best Ever

So, are you going to make 2009 you best year ever. In fact, why don’t you start sharing your goals and ideas right here for others to see?

Setting realistic goals is far better than not setting any at all or wanting to climb Mount

Here’s my goals for 2009:

1. Create three new web businesses. I’m going to diversify my Internet business in 2009 and not just stay in the self-development area.

2. Increase my Internet earnings ten-fold. I am going for it this year!

3. Take my wife out on a date two times every month. Still going to do this – this is important.

4. Celebrate 25 years of marriage. Plan and do something special with my wife. Don’t know how or where yet but we will do something special. Any ideas?

5. Continue to exercise 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes including badminton and Ballroom/Latin dancing.

6. Firstly lose 10kg by end March and then maintain my weight from then on.

7. Read one new book every 2 months – I love learning and I love reading but this year I have set the goal to be realistic.

How are you going to make 2009 even better than 2008?

What are your goals?

Let us know.