It's that time again - time for the annual lessons learned post.  It's a valuable exercise I think - because it's all behind you, you're able to reflect on your successes and failures objectively.  It helps you look forward to what you really want to do in the coming year.  So with that, here's my list:

• Budgeting time is just as important as budgeting your money.
• Any budget really DOES have to be done EVERY month.
• Ideas and goals are great, but you've gotta write them down, and you've got budget time (see above).
• If you've got a business idea, don't run out and tell everybody about it.  It's not that you need to keep it secret, but just the act of telling someone about it satifies a bit of your need to do it - and thus makes it less likely that you'll actually do it.  Keep it close to your chest, and steer that nagging feeling into action (paraphrased from a quote found in Dan Miller's book: No More Mondays: Fire Yourself -- and Other Revolutionary Ways to Discover Your True Calling at Work )
• Learning from screencasts/videos is much better (see TekPub.com)
• When you have something that you really want to work on, for yourself... it can be kind of a bummer to having paying customers.
• Some of the best insight, instruction and advice is found in blogs.
• Doing some sort of renovation project on your own house is one of the most satisfying things you can do.
• For some reason, only this year, has this saying really sunk in: "If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting".
• I need to learn to listen more, and talk less.

Here's to a great new year...