Are you scared to track your progress on your 2017 goals

Are you scared to track your progress on your 2017 goals At the beginning of last week, I received a letter in the mail – from myself. I had written it three months ago at a quarterly planning day with ActionCOACH, and I knew it was a cheerleading letter asking me how I was doing with my  goals  for the quarter. I let the unopened letter sit on my dining room table, my repository for mail I’m avoiding. I was afraid I would discover that I  hadnt made any progress on  the things I said I would do. In fact, I was fairly well on track, and felt encouraged. This experience gave me some strength as I went back to look at my New Year’s â€Å"Ressaylutions† for 2017. I’ve honestly been dreading looking back at my New Year’s Resolutions, because I’ve had a more challenging year than expected, and thought I would be reminded of all the things I promised to do and didn’t get done. Does this sound familiar? I could have not looked, but I have a tradition of sharing my progress at this time of year. It keeps me honest. So, dear reader, here’s my list of resolutions from January, along with a report on how 2017 has been going so far. 1. Publish the 14th edition of How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile, updated with the new face of LinkedIn. It turns out I can’t count so well, and the next edition is actually the 13th! That said, I have been furiously editing How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile, and I expect to release the 13th edition within a month. Unfortunately, the recommendations section is under construction, so I’m being held up by that. In the meantime, if you have ideas about how to get the word out, I’d love to hear them! Here’s just a taste of what’s new in the 13th edition: Revised images and instructions throughout to match LinkedIns new redesign Update on which features have really disappeared and which have moved Mobile-specific instructions Special advice from a past recruiter How to create an All-Star profile The new face of LinkedIn Jobs And that’s just some of the changes. I think you’ll love the new edition and intend for it to be the best, most up-to-date LinkedIn book available on line! 2. Publish a trade edition of How to Write a WINNING Resume It turns out the trade edition will be of How to Write a STELLAR Executive Resume. I negotiated a contract with Skyhorse Publishing to create a trade edition of this book, geared toward executives. I just received the edited manuscript last week and sent my response back to the publisher. We’re on our way! 3. Launch Writely, a Client Management Portal In an effort to improve communications for both writers and clients, I moved all client communications over to Writely. While I succeeded in following through with my resolution, I quickly determined that Writely was not the solution I needed. In fact, while the program helped to solve some issues, it also created a lot of them, and I simply could not justify the cost. In the end, I reversed my decision and went back to InfusionSoft. I may revisit this one next year. 4. Find that editor. I identified two possible editors to do some of the work to bring The Essay Expert’s resumes to the high standards I hold. Then volume slowed for the first half of the year, so I only worked with one of the editors on a couple of projects. As volume increases, I look forward to having some of the editing portion of our work done by these talented women! 5. Write a marketing plan – including SEO enhancements While I did not write a marketing plan, I did make progress with some new strategies, including my favorite: starting to wish my LinkedIn connections Happy Birthday! I think all contact is good contact, and it keeps The Essay Expert top of mind. I reached out to some past connections as well, and I sent out an announcement about an upcoming price increase. I believe all these steps increased brand awareness for The Essay Expert. Probably the most effective step I’ve taken is the new way I’m holding conversations with new clients. I’m taking more time and being more consistent in these conversations, and I think a greater sense of trust is resulting. 6. Explore the possibility of moving to the East Coast I took a trip to New York and New Haven in May, and had a great time! I’ll probably go to explore more in October. Stay tuned! Have you looked back at your 2017 resolutions in order to track your progress? How are they going so far? Are they realistic or might you want to adjust them so you can succeed? Please share – putting your promise and progress out to someone else creates accountability and makes it more likely that you will stay on track. Here’s to finishing up the year proud of your achievements, and content with your course corrections. Let’s all finish the year strong!