I made a comparison... may - october 2007 (i started adsense at that time) 11,76$ may-october 2008 284.88$ it's not much but if you compare the prices in one year it's about 2450% raise!!! so, my goal is not to reach a 1.000.000 clicks a day, (that won't happen in a million years ) it's all about profit if next year i have 2450% raise again then i will have 6979.56$ and so on...
I'm sure 1000$ a day will happen much sooner than in million years for you. The key with AdSense, like with everything else in the life, is consistency. And as you have had that for a year now and you have been proven that profit increase as big as 2450% is possible (Try to do that on Stock market )
Consistency! Good point. my earnings at one point had dwindled to 60 cents a day or so. I set a goal that I wanted my average to make it back to a dollar a day. I did, so I moved my goal to $2 per day and I met it... then $3.33 a day so that one month would make the payment threshold. I made THAT goal, so I raised my sites to $5 dollars a day. Now I'm aiming for $10! Most all of this progress has come in just the last few months. I've been working on 1) content 2) backlinks and 3) ad placement/colors. I think it's important to set goals for improvement (don't put a time limit on them though) and give yourself every opportunity to MEET the goal to encourage you to KEEP working at it!
I dont think you can count your income mathematically like this still I would say its a nice move upward