Lessons Learned During 2008 - Tips For 2009

Look for the future

2008 was an amazing year for me. I achieved tremendous goals in my personal and professional lives.
This year I have new goals and a new theme. My theme for 2009 will be:
2009 Is My Year Of Revolution.
Over the last 3 weeks I have worked very hard on my plan for this year, trying to figure out what I want to achieve this year and what outcomes I would like to see in 2009.
Over the long process, I started to think about what I learned last year. A year is a long period of time and presents us with a lot of lessons that we have to remember and to learn from.
I decided to share some of the lessons that I learned in 2008. I must say that during the last few weeks I’ve read a lot of similar posts from within the blogsphere, and found that I have a lot in common with many other people (which is both good and bad).

1. Listen - this is most important lesson for me. I started the year by talking to a lot of people without actually hearing what any of them said. I found myself missing many important details from my conversations. Over the last few months, I’ve been trying to listen first and to speak second. This change has led me to many new ideas, better connections with my friends, and, most importantly, it has made me happier.
2. Think before you speak - consider every word you want to say because every statement reflects your future. Being smart does not always mean saying smart things; sometimes it’s the things you don’t say that make you smarter.
3. You cannot attain everything you want in one day - I had and still have many dreams. Over the year, I wanted to achieve most of my dreams and move on from one to the next as quickly as possible. I found that trying to do things quickly is the wrong formula for many things. I started in the last few months to focus on my goals and to take each step toward my goals only after deep thinking. During this planning, I found myself changing directions and choosing other methods-things that I would never have discovered if I would have acted too hastily.
4. Family is the most important - yes, if you’re working in the high tech industry like me, the hard work may cause you sometimes to forget your family. I’m trying hard to dedicate my weekends to my family and not to work in these two days. I have found that happiness at work is in many ways directly related to happiness at home.
5. Don’t trust everyone. I still often have to remind people who owe me money. “Business is business,” as they say, and I learned this lesson the hard way. I have learned over the last year that asking for money upfront is sign of seriousness.
6. Do what you love - over the last year, I left my job and changed professions. This step was not easy for me, but I feel much better now and very happy with my new career. I believe that leaving a job is not easy for people–specifically in these days– but doing what I love and delivering value to other people is the most important thing for me today.
7. It’s OK to dream sometimes, but it’s better to dream all the time - yes, think all the time of your daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Don’t hesitate to set high-level goals in order to work hard to achieve them. In my planning for the upcoming year, I have set very high goals for myself. How high? Some of them really look like dreams, but, then again, I’m a true dreamer.
8. First impressions are important but they’re not everything. People make mistakes from time to time and you should consider each mistake in the present situation. In the last year, I found myself disconnected from many people because of a single mistake that either they or I made. I found that giving second and sometimes third chances will make things look different.

photo courtesy by chunyang