I received a Christmas video greeting message from one of my business mentors, CEO of Quest Group, Mr KC See.

In the message, he suggested a method in which we can reflect and think about what to do in 2007. He says: “Stop, Start and Continue.”

Let me put it in the blogging context

Stop

What are the things you have done this year, that you think are time wasters, that do not contribute to your blogging goals? Have you spent too much time on Instant Messaging (IMs), do you feel that you have been reading too much and writing too little? Writing too much and reading too little? Are you spending too much time sorting feeds and porting from application to application? Are you burning too much midnight oil to keep your blogs going? (me! :mrgreen:)

Make an effort to stop these in 2007.

Start

What are the things that you have not been doing in 2006, that you thought you wanted to, but somehow didn’t get down to doing it? The reasons (read: excuses!) are not important, it is important to get started!

Have you been procrastinating on writing your book? (me again!), developing your e-course (me), reaching out to real life people and friends and helping them (me), calling old friends to chat (me)?

Get started on these in 2007, put priority on these things!

Continue

Next, were there some things that you were doing in 2006, that you felt were good and you wish to continue them in 2007? Have you been blogging regularly and joining conversations? Have you been doing well in balancing your time between work blog and play?

Make an effort to continue doing these things in 2007.

Here’s my list

Some time ago, I read that by announcing your goals and intentions to the world, you feel more pressured to do it (not that I don’t have enough pressure, but well…

I’ll STOP

1. Working through the night and sleeping in the day (erm… doesn’t sound right as I am writing this at 5:21am)
2. Tweaking my templates so much and focus more on writing good content
3. Spending more than 8 hours in front of my computer – maybe I should read more books

I’ll START

1. Working on my book. I’m one quarter through it but I’ve stopped writing and the momentum is dead again!
2. Working on my e-course. Again, need to spend time away from posting and more time on the e-course
3. Working on my workshop. I’ve been given assignments to speak, but I haven’t prepared for it yet!
4. Exercising daily! Yuks, look at all the fat!
5. Calling friends out to catch up and chat – I’ve been missing out on the real social life after putting so much time on this blog!
6. Reaching out to real people and companies to help them get started on blogging! I’ve arranged a meeting next Tuesday and that is great! I’m excited!

I’ll CONTINUE

1. Writing original content for all my blogs! I think its not only about having original content, but honing my thinking, and writing (and entertaining using words) skills.
2. Replying to my blog comments as quickly as I can.
3. Posting how-to guides like the guide on installing WPMU on CPanel Servers, since I have the technical knowledge to do so.
4. Keeping up with my crazy blogging schedule, and staying focused on blogging and blog marketing (not losing focus to other money making ideas!)

Hmm… its a short list here, I’m sure there will be more as I take some quiet time to think about it.

So what are yours? What are you going to Stop, Start and Continue doing next year? List them down on your blog and let me know about it through an email or trackback!

Some time back in late November, I wrote out a schedule for my blog marketing and blogging endeavours. This schedule was designed to be a little flexible… so like I will tell myself to make at least 40 posts in 25 days, or something like that.

Yesterday, I realised that I haven’t been updating the schedule as regularly as I am supposed to… and now I have lost count! I have been posting regularly over the past few weeks, and sometimes twice a day, but somehow without tracking, I have this irritating feeling that I haven’t been doing enough.

I was also supposed to get some contributions going in the forums I have shortlisted… but I haven’t go down to doing it yet. Argh. 😡

So right after I hit publish today, I’m going to work out a more disciplined and precise schedule – I’m going to write down what I will do everyday – day by day (or even by the hour!) A more definite and disciplined schedule will of course, mean less flexibility. But at this point in time (my blog is still so young!), I would anytime sacrifice flexibility for more exposure of this blog on the Internet!

Onwards!

Alright! I’ve been “missing in action” for the past few days – I took a break, and its a pretty long one. My birthday was really wonderfully celebrated, spending 2 hours for dinner – hanging 15 levels up in the air and enjoying the view from Mount Faber and Sentosa.

It was really fun.

And through the weekend I was over in Malaysia near the town of Tampin, to catch another magnificent sunrise about 900m above sea level, bunking in tents with 19 other adventure enthusiasts.

I went to trek Gunung Datuk with NUS Rovers. It was another crazily fun experience.

So its been a long 4 day break for me! Now I’m back with more ideas in my head, more things to blog about and with more energy than ever! … and hey, I also realised that my Alexa Ranking has gone up again! Now its already 81,050! Could I possibly get into top 50,000? That would be my next target! 🙂

There is also a lot to catch up in terms of my schedule – building my e-course and book, marketing this blog with articles, and reading some of the books I have planned to read, and also to catch up on the blog feeds that I am subscribed to!

Friends who are reading this blog – you might consider taking a short break for a small celebration or just a trip to nature to just relax your mind. It really helps spin new ideas to blog about, and take time off the computer screen. Losing 3 or 4 days of posts won’t kill your blog, and a break away from the place you blog is a great way to prevent blogging burnout!

Yesterday, I celebrate my blog being one quarter of a year old. This blog was set up on September 6th 2006! Yae! It was a quarter of hard work to bring this blog to where it is today. 🙂 I love it… (sometimes too much)

Today, I celebrate myself being a quarter of a century old! Muahaha… Yeah. Happy Bloggy Birthday to Me!

Okay, I’m not going to type more. I’m going out to have fun later! No blogging… in fact, no computer screens for the rest of the day! Its rare that I leave the work aside… but hey, you only have one chance in your whole life to be quarter of a century old right? 🙂

Catch up tomorrow. 🙂

How would you feel if your blog Alexa ranking rose from 484,222 to 96,209 within two months? Extremely elated right? That is what has happened to my blog! Yesterday, I received my Christmas present and achieved my Alexa ranking target for the year! Wheee!!!

*clap clap clap clap*

Okay, enough of fun. I’m angry at myself too. 😡

I was supposed to launch my Blogging eCourse yesterday. But I didn’t! I’m halfway (okay okay, one fifth!) through… but I’d tell you I feel I could just take everything out and put it into my book! I guess its the perfectionist me doing all the weird stuff again – my second part of the 10 part course is like 1700 words long and I’m halfway through. I’m practically dumping my brains out… man.

I guess I have to work through a few nights to get it done up… and hey Ted, thanks for the motivation to start my 200 words. It works… Now I can’t stop!