Hi all… A quick note to let you know I’ve put together a new build of Achieve-IT! goal software for Windows computers.  Like Steve Austin, this version is better, stronger and faster than it’s been before.

I’ve spent a lot of time cleaning and polishing the little stuff so it looks better too.  (I’ll list out the changes later) But for the early adopters, you can download the installer here:

Achieve-IT! Desktop Release Candidate 3 (build 2.99.3138)

Unless I hear any bad news about this, this will be the final version of the Desktop app.  The sync component and Pocket PC update will soon follow.

So please take it for a spin and let me know how it does.

Download Achieve-IT! Desktop Release Candidate 3 (build 2.99.3138)

Update: For people who use European style date settings only: There is a file called A.I_Euro_dates.mdb in the Achieve it folder. Delete the A.I.mdb file and rename the A.I_Euro_dates.mdb to A.I.mdb. This should fix the registration problem.

I’m both proud, giddy and a bit lightheaded to announce the latest Beta of Achieve-IT! goal software for Windows OS machines.

This is version 2.92.3047 which has the following enhancements:

1. New systray icon located next to the clock
2. Minimize Achieve-IT! to the systray or Maximize back out of it
3. Quick entry of goals by right clicking the systray and choosing Add
4. Exit from systray (right click and choose exit)
5. Quick entry bar on the main screen of Achieve-IT!  (Enter your goal and hit the enter key)

Logic:  The systray feature will become more important as syncing is introduced in the coming builds.  I’ll need part of A.I. running if you want to sync at any time.

This beta also fixes the following issues:

1. Repaired Top Menus
2. Fixed completed goals screen for display issues
3. Fixed a display issue on the home screen where the Home button disappeared.
4. Repaired a display issue on the Manage screen where the buttons were not aligning properly in certain circumstances.
5. Repaired a refresh issue when using quick entry from the Home screen
6. Fixed an issue where multiple systray icons would appear during quick entry.

How To:

This Beta requires the freeware Microsoft .NET framework 2.0 installed.  And a Windows OS machine Vista, XP, Server 2000+, etc.  Please install that before running Achieve-IT! software.

1.  Back up your Achieve-IT! desktop database by making a copy of A.I.mdb in the Achieve-IT! program directory.  This is especially important for registered users who are doing real goal management in the Beta versions.

2.  Download and install the freeware Microsoft .NET framework 2.0 (you may already have this installed)

3.  Download and install the new Achieve-IT! beta.

4.  UK and European users will want to delete the A.I.mdb in the install folder and rename the file A.I_Euro_dates.mdb to A.I.mdb.  Otherwise, the program will error out on launch.  What the A.I._Euro_dates file does is compensates for regional differences in how dates are handled by your computer vs. mine.

5.  Try and break it.

6.  Have fun.

As always, I appreciate your comments and bug reports in the comments field below.

Thanks for playing!

It started out as a simple task. Build a software installer to deploy my new version of Achieve-IT! goal software for desktop, Pocket PC as well as the WiFi and ActiveSync components. Everything is working great, except for the installer.

It is a complex project. The entire installer hinges on 11 separate programs playing nicely together. Like tumbling dominoes, each program has to sequentially build so the next one’s dependencies are built and so on.

I elicited help from my friend Sasha and he is about as baffled as I am.
It installs everything, but it seems to unregister a .dll on the Pocket PC side – this wrangling is what developers commonly call “.dll hell.” The .dll in question is a critical component creates the program’s database connection. With no database connection, there is no Pocket PC application and the sync becomes a needless application.

Software development has taught me know how Edison must have felt. Like Edison responded when asked if he would give up after ‘failing’ 700 times to create the filament for the light bulb… He responded that he did not fail, but instead discovered 700 ways that didn’t work. For me, each failed build brings me closer.

So I would ask, how many failures are you willing to endure before you decide it can’t be done?

I’ll tell you when I’ll stop. When it’s done.

I may not break through today, tomorrow or the next, but it will happen; one way or another. I hope it won’t take me 700 tries. But if it does then that means I’ve done something very few people can do.

Ultimately, creating something new – be it a new invention or a new life – is always going to be fraught with setbacks and delays. It’s part of the process. So there is no need to fight it. Setbacks are where everyone else quits.

But you and I can’t quit during these challenges. Persistence is what makes you and me different than others. Climbing to the other side of the mountain even though people say it’s “impossible” or “can’t be done” has got to be our specialty.

Experts told me from nearly day 1 that my project was impossible. They said things like “Nobody takes goal setting seriously.” “You’ll never make enough money to survive.”

Developers with 10 years experience over me thought it unlikely – maybe even impossible for this project to come together without shelling out 10′s of thousands of dollars for a team of developers.

Fact is, I got help with some parts. I am not an interface guy. And I needed some assistance fixing the sync components and other odds and ends. But I don’t have a team working for me and I haven’t spent $10,000 or even $2,000 over the years.

Recently, an upper level management type implied that I somehow bought the Achieve-IT! software and re-branded it. “It’s just not very realistic that you could do something this big without a team.”

Oh really? I have to say that I am still curious how someone could look with their own eyes at an existing product that someone built and still say “it’s not realistic you did this.”

I guess the point of me writing this is to say one failure is ok, 100 failures is a whole lot better. If you don’t fail and fail a lot you probably aren’t stretching yourself. You aren’t creating, inventing or designing extraordinary results. Failing, and adjusting your actions and failing again is how success happens.

Staying in the safe zone (i.e. where failure never happens) ensures you won’t be criticized, but you’ll probably never impress either. And I’m not just talking about other people. Don’t you want to impress yourself? Don’t you want to stand at the top of the mountain and take it all in?

If so, you have to be willing to endure failure and the people who won’t shut up about it. These obstacles will be there. We’ve known this all along. But the obstacles make us better, more accomplished and eventually more successful.

It’s been a great ride these past two years.

Since the very beginning, here are some of the great life boosting articles:

We’ve discovered The 5-Minute Productivity Breakthrough
We’ve seen Why Birds Never Have Any Money
We’ve become motivated to exercise
And doubled our typing speed
We’re no stranger to organizing with Kaizen
We aren’t afraid of anything including success
We’ve improved our optimism
We’ve improved our goal setting
We’ve woken up with a caffeine nap.
We now bind our own books at home
Heck we’ve even gotten in some dog training

And so much more…..

But this is only the beginning.