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Each January almost every fitness blog seems to have at least one post dedicated towards setting your own goals for the year.  However, I’d like to follow the trend set by my good friend Mike Robertson and let you have a peek at my professional goals for the upcoming year.

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1.  Double my income

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I know it is not always considered cool to talk about making money in the fitness industry (some people expect everything for free).  However, the very real fact is that this is how fitness professionals like myself support our families and it is no different that having aspirations in a non-fitness related career.

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Having had a daughter last year I’ve had do to a lot of reflection about the type of life I’d like for my family to have and it is going to take a lot more money to pay for my daughters schooling, activities, and the things I would like for my wife and I to have in our retirement (something most fitness professionals don’t bother to save for until it is too late).

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As a result, my goal is to step it up this year to dramatically increase my income.  And since most of my current income comes from sources that are not online, you can expect to see a lot more from me this year on the interwebz.

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2.  Finish my Masters

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As some of you may be aware, I was just shy of completing my Masters in exercise physiology a few years back when my father passed away unexpectedly as a result of some medical misdiagnosis.  At the time, I had a personal training business as well as my academic load and with the possibility of a law suit in the works I just couldn’t keep all the balls in the air.  I wanted to finish and defend my thesis, but I didn’t have the steam so I withdrew from the program and left my academic career behind.

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Recently, I exchanged a few emails with my old thesis advisor and he pointed out that the manuscript of my study was nearing completion for submission to a journal and that it wouldn’t really take much in the way of time or energy to come back and defend.  Now I have to admit that getting my M.Sc. at this point in my career won’t add much (if anything) to my life financially, but I am big on goals and having not completed that has hung over my head ever since.

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This is something that you might technically consider a personal goal because it probably won’t effect my professional life that much, but it will give me some more letters after my name which makes me instantly cooler.  I should al;so note that this goal is largely dependent on goal number 1 since going back to school (even for a very short time to defend) could be a costly endeavor so this may happen later in the year than sooner.

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3.  Double website traffic

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When I started this blog in January of 2009 I had 14 visitors in the first month (no, that is not a typo).  By January of 2010 that number had increased to 7,408 visits per month.  As of the end of December 2010 my site is averaging close to 30,000 visits per month.  While this is certainly nothing to write home about, it is definitely more than 14…which I think is a pretty good improvement.

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My goal by the end of 2011 is to see that number closer to 60,000 visitors per month or more.  Lofty perhaps, but it is still my goal.  I should note here that I want to thank each and every one of you for helping me to grow my readership thus far by sharing posts and articles with your friends.  I couldn’t have done it without you!

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4.  Triple the size of my newsletter list

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Although this might seem a little incongruent with the doubling of site traffic, I think it is fair to say that not everyone who reads my site is on my newsletter list.  If you’re not already on the list I’d urge you to get on board not only because of the Free Core Interviews, but also because in 2011 I’m going to be focusing at least once or twice a month at some badass “subscriber only” content (more on that below).

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5.  Monthly TMuscle Submission

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I have to admit that although I’ve done a few TMuscle articles in the past (and enjoyed writing them), I often don’t make time to do these as they take away from the time I could spend reading stuff, watching stuff, or blogging for you guys.  However, in 2011 I’m going to deliberately set aside time to submit at least one article per month to TMuscle.  I feel that this could greatly accelerate my ability to achieve goals 3 and 4 above.

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6.  Product Reviews

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Honestly, I have to admit that it has been a long while since I have had to purchase a fitness product, but back when I was buying stuff all the time I think it would have been helpful to have solid reviews of what is actually worth shelling out money for.  I know I probably would’ve saved myself thousands of dollars…or at least spent it where it was worthwhile.

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In the past I’ve been really leery about promoting products on my blog for fear of being seen as some kind of product pimp or something, but the reality is that there ARE good products out there and when I find one I feel it is only fair to tell you about it.  I get sent a lot of stuff so I can easily act like a filter on your behalf to screen out all of the crap.

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I think most of my regular readers will know that I’m quite critical in my reviews of research and other fitness trends I see.  If you see me recommending a product, you can be damn sure I’m holding it to the same standard.

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7.  Post at least 2 blogs per week

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Sometimes when I get busy I put blogging on hold and that needs to stop.  In 2011 my goal is to hit at least 2 blogs per week each and every week so you can expect a steady stream of content every week for the rest of the year.  Heck, even if I’m on vacation my goal is to have the blogs written in advance so they’ll post automatically on certain days.

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As I’m already a week in to the New Year and this is my first blog this week I’m starting out behind the 8 ball.  I need to turn this ship around!

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8.  Send out a newsletter at least once per week

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If blogging gets pushed aside when I’m busy then this tends to be even worse.  My goal for 2011 is to really step it up and give my newsletter subscribers a little extra attention.  My plan is to deliver at least 1 update per week and 1-2 times per month there will be subscriber only content that will only be accesible to you if you’re on my list.  If you’re following my RSS Feed, Facebook, or Twitter that is awesome, but don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter (look on the left hand side of the page) so you don’t miss out.

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9.  Release 2-3 Fitness Products

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I have two products already mapped out in my head and one that I’m thinking about putting together (more on all this next week).  However, my goal isn’t just to crank out low quality products so I’ll only release something I think would be worth the money spent.  Next week I’ll be asking you what you want to see from me so keep your eyes open for that.

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10.  Be ruthless with time management

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This will definitely be my most difficult goal as I’m aiming to restrict my email usage and cut my Facebook time down to minutes per day.  Anyone who is on my Facebook probably knows that I’m a little bit of a junkie (read: hard core user – like heroin) and if I’m to achieve all of the goals above, I need to focus my time on what is important instead of sharing really funny videos about people falling on their faces. (Don’t worry Facebook friends…there will still be funny stuff…just not as much).

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With that said, I should note that since my email time will be reduced I will do my best to get back to you if you decide to get in touch, but it may take a while.  Please be patient.

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And that’s it for me

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I think I’ve set some pretty concrete goals in 2011 (and I obviously need to refine the last one so I know exactly how much time I’m allowed to spend on Facebook and email per day), but I’m really excited about what is to come.

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What are your goals in 2011?