All is not lost if you didn’t…but right after Thanksgiving I ran a group writing project asking people, “What are your post-Thanksgiving goals for 2006?”

The idea was to get people to write out their goals for the last little bit of the year, and I participated with numerous posts as well.

Without spending too much time looking backwards, I thought it’d be interesting to see how I did.

1. Goal #1: Meet 5 Local Entrepreneurs and Find Ways to Help. Hhhm…I think I missed on this one, although I did extend some relationships with people which will prove hugely important in the future. I also met Andy Nulman which was great. Meeting people in-person is definitely one of the themes for 2007…
2. Goal #2: Start Two New Businesses Before 2006 Is Over. I’m happy to say I accomplished this goal. The first business is my own, called Business Blogs Now. It’s my effort to help entrepreneurs and small business owners get into the business blogging world. The doors aren’t 100% open, but we’re almost there. I’m certainly ready to take on clients, even if everything isn’t fully polished. The second business is still under wraps. I’m working with a couple great guys on it and we should launch it in 2007. Stay tuned.
3. Goal #3: Stay Productive Throughout the Day and Start Earlier. I’m not doing too shabby here. Ultimately my goals were to stay focused on my priorities and wake up earlier to be more productive. The holidays have derailed things (of course) but in a week or so things will be laser-focused around here.
4. Goal #4: Every Goal Shouldn’t Be Work Related. Very simply, I wrote that I wanted to be a better father and husband. Like many goals this is an ongoing one, but so far so good. I took a couple weeks off for the holidays and spent a full week hanging out with my son. I went to two movies on my own, and have worked to plan more weekend events.
5. Goal #5: Be The Duck. The title doesn’t really say much (but I still thought it was catchy.) The goal was simple: be like a duck and let the stress of holidays roll off my back. Mission accomplished. The holidays were bumpy but I’ve reached a milestone when it comes to stress in general, and the weight of a lot of nonsense is completely off my shoulders.

The final goal I wrote about was related to this blog. I listed some fairly frivolous goals that I wanted to achieve with Instigator Blog from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Here’s a summary of how I did:

1. Get into the top 15,000 at Technorati. — Thanks to the Z-list meme and my final group writing project in 2006 my Technorat ranking soared. At this moment I’m at 7,984 on Technorati.

   

2. Get another post on the front page of Digg. Digg is like crack, I can’t help myself! — No luck here. I got a few diggs on a couple of posts but not much more than that.
3. Get 220 FeedBurner subscribers (I was averaging around 190.) — I didn’t make it in 2006 but as of this very moment, I hit 221 subscribers! My highest total in December was 216 (which was close to my goal.) Doesn’t mean I don’t want people to keep signing up!

   

4. Get a link from Seth Godin. — Thanks again to the Z-list meme, I did get a link from Seth Godin. It’s not exactly the type of link I was going for, but it still meets the goal!
5. Run one more group writing project. — Done, and it was a huge success. 70 posts, $350 donated to charity.
6. Finally dip my toe into some affiliate marketing. — Nope. Didn’t get anything done here. Just didn’t have the time…

Lots of goals, a few hits and a few misses. Isn’t that always the way?

And now, enough looking backward…time to look to the future. 2007, get ready.