In about 48 hours I’ll be getting on a plane and returning to the Great White North, which gives me cause to reflect on the past 3 1/2 months. I’ll be doing some more of that in the next few posts (as I’ll have a lot of time in airports to write them), but I’m going to talk about Continuous Improvement for a bit.

This weekend I finally wrote the test to become a Google Analytics Qualified Individual (GAIQ). For those who aren’t familiar with Google Analytics (GA) it’s a program which lets you see how much traffic is coming to your website and what it’s doing there. I’ve used it with huge sites making millions of dollars through e-commerce, and I’ve used it on little blogs like this one. The test was $50, which isn’t a trivial sum for a certificate which looks like they copied one used by a kindergarten teacher, but that’s not the point.

The point is that for the last three months, I haven’t just been fruitlessly searching for a job, roaming the European countryside on vacation and drinking the fruits of Ireland. I’ve been working to improve myself. Some of it’s been little stuff, like changing this blog over to the Thesis theme and starting to learn about WordPress hooks and CSS.

Then some of it’s taken more time, like the Google Analytics exam, or the reading I’ve done. You can see some of it in my Google Reader or my Delicious bookmarks. I’ve done a little writing for friends (see my story on an iPhone worm at WebAnalytics World). I’ve released another rental site ranking whitepaper and put on a free webinar on internet marketing.

In everything I do, I’m always looking for ways to improve what I do and how I do it, from sailing, to work, to music, to my marriage. I work to cultivate a spirit of continuous improvement, always trying to do better, in everything I do. Sitting on a beach for more than a week or so just isn’t in my nature.

I’ve been offered a position back at Enquiro. I know things have changed there in the short time I’ve been gone. I hope they find that I’ve changed too.

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