UsingMiles is on SmartCookies! Learn how to never lose another mile, from Sandra…one Smart Cookie!

Also, if you are a woman looking to be more proactive about your finances, sign up for their email list. I love everything I learn from them!

I am extremely excited about 2012 and I have a host of New Year’s Resolutions this year. I also firmly believe this year to be the most important of record for UsingMiles.com. We have an insane number of opportunities this year, and I am so pleased with where we are.

I just posted a blog on FitAndThrifty about how I approach my New Year’s Resolutions. Starting this year, I have decided not to “sweat it” until February. I like having January as the “warm up” month where you get mentally prepared for all of your goals and devise a strategy to meet them. 

I am also separating my resolutions/improvements/goals into 30 day sprints (to borrow a term from our agile technology strategy), with one main focus per month throughout the calendar year. These sprints are in addition to very measurable goals I have set personally and for our company. 

How do you set and achieve goals throughout the year?

Editor Mike Cote of Colorado Biz Magazine talks with Krista Paul, one of ColoradoBiz’s Top Five Young Professionals for 2011. 

About a year and a half ago I decided to create a platform in order to share my random fitness and money-saving musings. At the time I was also planning on making some cash on the side by including affiliate links on the site. My goal was to provide people with tips and tricks on how to get healthy and fit on a budget. I named the Blog FitAndThrifty.com.

Blogging is fun. I enjoy it. But it takes time, and when I came back to UsingMiles.com full-time, it was suddenly very hard to find extra time to write a blog. I decided to retire my blog in order to focus 100% on UsingMiles. Fast forward to nine months later with my friend, Kathy.

Kathy is probably my most fitness-oriented friend. We motivate each other to ski, run and as a matter of fact, we most recently completed the Pikes Peak Marathon together. It was grueling, to say the least. Kathy also loved my blog. I think she was pretty much my #1 reader and the only person who kept reminding to start my blog again. Recently when Kathy and I were drinking a keg at A-Basin (that’s another story for another time), we had the brilliant idea to relaunch the blog together!

I am going to take a backseat on the day-to-day publishing because I need to focus all of my energy on UsingMiles. But Kathy can pick up the slack and publish blogs regularly, and I’ll chime in when I am motivated and have a little free time in the evenings. 

We are also looking forward to a bit of publicity in January when we will be published in the “Real Simple” Magazine. I was interviewed for this piece literally 9 months ago and recently received an email that it’s being published in January. 

If you have any interest in fitness, health, or frugality, you should check out FitAndThrifty.com today!

My best friend, Chelsea Palmer, nominated me for the Top 25 Young Professionals in Colorado for 2011. I ended up getting voted as one of the top five professionals and somehow got a spot on the cover of the magazine. All remarkable, unexpected, and wonderful things. I am humbled by and grateful for this moment in my life. 

That being said, now I need to live up to the assertions made in this honorable award! It’s interesting because I have been reflecting on how to be a better leader this week, due in part to this announcement, and also after learning of Steve Job’s death.

As I read all of the inspiring articles, quotes and tributes for Steve Jobs, I am reminded that we have lost one of the most incredible innovators of our time. And then I ask myself, “How can I be a little bit more like Steve Jobs?” I thought I would jot down a few things I am going to try to do each and every day so that I can leave my own little “ding” in the Universe, just like he did. 

1. Stay hungry and give your team a reason to be hungry
2. Don’t settle
3. Live and work as if every day is your last day 
4. Do excellent things
5. Trust in your gut
6. Make sure your product works well
7. Think simple, not complex
8. Don’t lose hope
9. Follow your heart
10. Dream big