October Goals I wrote:
Financial
1) Pay off student loans and other minor debts (Should happen quickly)
2) Buy property, probably a condo, idk
3) Invest and Transition into more enjoyable work that promotes "Flow" and "Meaning" (this is sort of non-financial too)
4) Track my spending and choose a more sustainable lifestyle
5) Save enough to get to a 3% WR for that lifestyle
Non-Financial
1) Drop 20 lbs (haha)
2) Develop a daily Spirituality practice (haha)
Haha because I have written this several times and have not yet achieved these so. Something to review in the future as to why that is.
January Update/Rewrite on these
Financial 1 - Work gave me $10K, so I have like $2K left on the student loans and work is going to give me the other $2K or whatever it is in December. So these are functionally done. I've also paid off all other debt so I am calling this one done.
Financial 2 - So, I morphed this into, let's rent a condo and make sure we even like condos. And I spent time looking at condos this month and I'm realizing that to rent a condo like the one I'd like to buy is a minimum of $1700+utilities. and right now I am spending $615 including utilities basically. and it's a big swallow. and I'm having doubts and second thoughts. I can spend way less than $1200/mo to make my current situation tolerable and be equally happy. So. I don't know what to do with this yet.
Financial 3 - Oh I am really proud of myself! I started a self improvement book club. Last month we read A Man's Search for Meaning and this month we are reading The Go Giver. I am really glad that I am taking a step doing more activities that create flow and meaning for me even if they aren't paid, I actually don't care that they aren't paid I just want practice doing this sort of thing. BTW A man's search for meaning is an incredible book, it really changed me, and I recommend it to everyone here. I am going to work on infusing more meaning into my job and approaching the way I view life with the lens of "meaning" rather than success, or happiness.
Financial 4 - Mint says I spent about $2800. I spent about $250 on gifts, $110 on a passport renewal, and $300 for $400 of Botox credit. You know, I am okay with all that. I would rather feel like I can buy someone a gift because they will appreciate it and because I want to, than feel like I can't afford to do it. And I find myself frowning enough to get that line in between my eyebrows, and if I don't take care of it, I will have permanent angry face. Well fuck that. If it costs me $600/yr to not have permanent angry face, that is the way it is. Well, $500 now since I did the thing. I think I am still in observation mode on this. Seeing where my spending naturally falls right now without any restraint, since I've proven to myself I can get to $1150 when I am really motivated, I sort of know that's a lower boundary for me.
Financial 5 - doing it! I think one thing I didn't realize when I started work, is that really what I was doing was picking up a second job, because I never really got around to fully quitting my first job. So I am doing this job, but still working on the side way more than I anticipated. So that is really nice, it speeds things up.
NonFinancial 1 - doing it, I really cracked down mid-Nov thru Jan 3 on my eating, ate really cleanly. I didn't quite make it yet but I made a lot of progress. I am trying to transition away from being so harsh and strict and find a more sustainable way of eating so I am focusing a lot on tracking my food. will write more below about this.
NonFinancial 2 - doing it! yay! see below.
Okay so basically I found this journal online called the Best Self Journal and it is a $31 journal that is supposed to last you 13 weeks. Well I think that is a little nuts and it turns out they have a PDF of the journal online. So I have read it and tweaked it and made it work for me. and this journal is such a great habit for me! I feel much more focused and productive with it.
The way it works is: you come up with 3 goals. Then you come up with 3 progress goals per goal, and break those down into tasks. Then you journal daily, weekly, monthly, with those goals. Yeah, nothing earth shattering, and shit everyone here has heard before. But I am really appreciating the structure greatly and I've been doing it!
So I've decided my three main goals over the next 3 months are:
1) Meditate every day (I call it MRC - Meditate, (self)Reiki, Connect (with self))
2) Eat Mindfully
3) Journal every day
And this is the worksheet I created to fill out for myself every day to plan my day:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OwH ... sp=sharing
And it's working and I'm doing it! I feel so much more productive, I am making better use of my time, I am being more mindful of my time and my goals, and I am feeling more on track with things. It is helping me greatly.
One last note about time before I sign off. I was feeling severely time crunched this month. The newness of the job wore off and I was starting to get that 'grind' feeling and I was starting to severely regret my decision to go back to work. And then I had this weird 'fight/non-fight' with my boyfriend this week and all of a sudden I found myself with a lot of time in the evenings. And I actually found myself feeling rejuvenated and I actually am starting to feel like I can go back to work on Monday and accomplish some good stuff. and that was so eye opening! it wasn't necessarily all work's fault that work is a grind. I need to be really much better about how I spend my free time. If I spend my free time well, then work doesn't feel like a grind. And maybe this relationship isn't good for me. Truthfully it has been a large drain of time and energy, I thought it was worth it, but maybe it wasn't. And you know what else? When I was pursuing ERE hard in 2012, my relationship sucked then too! And I thought I was so unhappy because of my job. Well, I was, and that job sucked, but I guess the lesson is, I have to have a certain amount of mental resources to be happy at work, and if I am having an impossible time coping at work, it means something is off in my non-work life.
I am encountering typical normal challenges in that which is life but overall I feel like I'm doing well and making good progress.