What did you learn in 2010?

Was 2010 a good year, a GREAT year, or one you don’t want to remember?

No matter what unfolded for you during the year, you ought to take a moment to look back and evaluate what you learned during the year. I can guarantee you that when you look through your calendar and think about the events that occurred to you (both personally and professionally), you will find some valuable lessons that make you better and stronger in the years ahead.

“Are you kidding me???”, you might ask.

Not at all. We all have things that occur in our lives that may not appear at first glance to make much of a difference, , , but if you look a bit closer you might find they have significant impact on many things, such as:

your outlook and perspective of things
how you approach similar situations in the future
how others perceive you
cause and effect of things that happen
a new interest or curiosity

Challenges build character. Successes create positive feelings. Failures can be valuable lessons learned and not to be repeated.

It’s possible to learn from most anything you do or that happens to you in your life. Whether we learn from these events is up to each of us individually. For me, I value the lessons I learn as I go through my daily life and professional career, , , I believe these events and what you can learn from them are what makes you who you are.

Personally, I want to become the best person I can be, , , and believe me, I have a long way to go.

Here are some things I learned in 2010:

Don’t use a VISA processing company – A very bad experience taught me that these companies charge you a good fee to do what you can do very easily yourself. From now on, I’ll take care of getting my VISA myself.
Holding an open class in a new venue is a challenge – We tried to hold a class in Hawaii and Australia and failed. New places are difficult unless you have a local host and facilitator.
The best class model is to deliver to a large company – The Tanzania IT Manager Institute class we just held in Dar es Salaam had 14 students (12 from the Tanzania Revenue Authority). This model is always the best model in many ways (easier to coordinate and fill, no classroom expenses or challenges, easier communication, and more profitable).
Listen to your advisors – A couple of my close advisors recommended I begin a BLOG way back in 2006. I didn’t do it because I felt I was too busy, , , discovering WordPress early this year and starting the ITLever Blog proves that this idea was all wrong. I wish I had started it in 2006, , , never too late, I guess.
Practice does make a difference – I committed to hitting more golf balls last year and it made a difference. Go figure.
Education and knowledge is key – An investment in our Internet marketing knowledge is beginning to pay off. Even though marketing and sales is not something I get excited about, it’s a key piece for any business to succeed so we are investing more in this area going forward.