So the moon is going to be entering the second to last full moon phase for 2019 either tonight or tomorrow (depending on where one is at), so that means that it’s time to review the goals I had set for the Aries full moon. Somehow we’re a little over a third of the way through November (Friday will mark the halfway point of the month), and that means there are now less than fifty days left in the year—and I start my reboot break in two weeks.

But what were the goals that I had set for the Aries full moon?

            Working on my reboot break/transition plan. This may include working through some of the personal development courses or starting to read some of the personal development books (particularly the ones that have numerous journal prompts).

            Trying to back into meditating nightly—this has been an on and off endeavor the past couple of weeks. I know that when I manage to do it for at least a couple of minutes—I do sleep a little better at night.

            Not touching my phone after I turn off the lights and start reading (I have the light dimmed on the e-reader, but haven’t figured out how to dim the light on the phone). Try to be meditating by no later than nine, and reading no later than twenty after nine.

            Continue trying to plan out the next couple of months, and look into different programs that allow you to block certain apps/web pages to help increase my productivity and work on my time management skills.

And always remember: Progress over Perfection.

So how did I do with each goal?

In terms of my reboot break/transition plan—I’m working through a couple of different e-courses, and have realized in terms of planning things out—I prefer pen and paper over trying to do it digitally. I have a couple of brand new journals and I’ve decided that I’m going to set it up as a semi bullet journal—there will be to-do lists, but I’m also to write down two to four journal prompts (or self reflection questions) each night for me to think about and answer in the morning. In addition the to-do lists will be fairly short, but plenty of room for journaling and self-reflection.

Once I start working on e-courses that may actually require more room for note taking, I have several notebooks that I have bought for just that purpose—and I have sticky notes and tape so I can even semi-color code the pages to keep the various courses straight.

I’ve also realized with my transition plan—it has been almost an abstract idea—I want to get out of academia, but other than that, I haven’t made anything absolute. I need to get my possible career list down to three or four from the seven or eight it is currently at, and then I need to determine the type of company I want to work for and go from there—I just can’t state that I want to be a research scientist in industry by 2022—I need to be able to state that I want to be market communications specialist for ginkgo bioworks by 2022 (as an example).

In terms of trying to get back into meditating at night daily, I only missed one or two nights during the past few weeks and that was usually due to either the time change (which was last week and I’m still not adjusted one hundred percent), or something else irritated me and I decided just to read instead. But I am getting better at sitting (or lying) and focusing on my breathing for a couple minutes at time—continued practice and it will become even a better habit.

I only looked at my phone once or twice after going to bed during the past month (and one of those times was actually last night). The few times that I’ve done it was mainly to check to see what the temperature was either falling to or to sync my fitbit before heading off to bed (since I may not always remember to try to sync it before lights are turned off). But I am more adapt at just not getting on the phone after lights have been totally turned off, and I think I’m starting to sleep a little better because of it.

In terms of trying to plan out the next couple of months—I have a rough idea of what I want to get accomplished, but I haven’t written it all down on paper yet. This is due in part to the fact that I try to plan everything out—but I’ve realized that I need to focus on just a few areas—list the major (and long term) goals, and then break those down to monthly, weekly, and then daily goals. I also shouldn’t be making all the goals super complex either—true I’m not positive which direction I’m going in terms of my career transition, so I should have a mini list for each and as I narrow down the direction(s) those lists can grow.

So I’ve managed more self-reflection than anything this past month. I really can be (and have been) my own worse enemy when it comes to things. I blame part of it on the scientist in me that wants a detailed plan of action before starting anything—that has probably been one of my biggest hang-ups over the past year or so—trying to figure out the detailed plan of action before acting. Now I’ve decided that I’m going to do a reboot break, and while some things are semi-planned out—I don’t have them set out on paper yet. That is going to be the something I work on over the next few weekends—planning out the journal/notebook(s) that is going to see me through my reboot break and job transition.