We will be entering the full moon for November probably tonight (and I’m going to be a day late in posting). This means that there are only 31 days left in 2020—one more month. Then we cautiously peek around the corner to see what 2021 is going to bring.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to give myself grace when it comes to trying to get a lot of stuff accomplished. The reasons for this are: 1) I currently not working under any type of schedule; 2) depending on how I try to structure the schedule I may (or may not) give myself an anxiety attack; and 3) I still am trying to determine what direction(s) I want to be pursuing. In regards to the last reason—I want to be semi-confident that I’m going in the direction I want before sitting down to do a lot of work. This means I need to figure out the minimum workload to do in order to give myself an idea on the direction.
So, with that being said—I’m hoping to get back into some type of posting schedule in 2021. It will include photography (probably restarting the photography challenge for like the 5th time), and then it may also include more science, spirituality, humanities, social science and so forth. I need to determine the best mix of things to both keep me engaged in creating content and learning.
Therefore getting back to the topic at hand: November’s Full Moon. After this full moon, there will only be one more new and full moon for 2020. So what are some questions that one can contemplate during this time? Looking at “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland, there are five questions that one can ask during this full moon:
Have I been gossipy, superficial, or flighty this month?
Have I been glossing over other people’s feelings?
Have I been too quick to change my mind, or too restless?
Have I been too much of a silver-tongued hustler?
Have I done enough reading to keep expanding my mind?
If I were to number the above questions 1-5, my answers would be as follow:
No I haven’t been gossipy, superficial, or flighty this month. With the pandemic still going strong, the only people I see on a daily basis are my parents; I talk with one friend usually weekly, and keep in touch with everyone else via social media. The only thing really in the news has been the pandemic and the fact that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election earlier this month.
No I don’t think I’ve been glossing over other people’s feelings. Again, not around that many people and I’m pretty sure my parents would let me know if I was being too irritating.
This one is a little more difficult to answer—I don’t think I’ve been too quick to change my mind on things; but I also haven’t been quick on deciding on things either. So, I would have to say I’ve been a little restless in terms of career transition and other things.
Nope, I haven’t been a silver-tongued hustler. I’m actually going to be stepping back from doing Beachbody coaching this coming month, as I’ve realized that currently that type of coaching isn’t what I want to be doing—and I also need to try to get my life in some order before trying to help others.
This has both a yes and a no answer. Yes, in terms that I have quite a few books on my digital to-be-read pile and I’m slowly making my way through the list. It is also a no, in that there are days (and if I’m honest weeks) where I decide to either reread different romance series or I’m just doing color by number pictures instead of reading a personal/professional development book.
So I’m also going to see what house the moon will be transition through during this time. Using my rising sign (which is Scorpio), the Gemini constellation is moving through my eighth house—the focus of this house on “death and rebirth, reinvention and transformation”.
This makes sense as I’m still working through and figuring out my reinvention and transformation plan. This plan will focus on personal/professional development and encompass both career and personal health. The pandemic this year was the ‘death’ to quite a few plans (that luckily hadn’t been finalized yet, so I didn’t lose any money), and hopefully 2021 may be the ‘rebirth’ of some of those plans.
So this is the time to try to find balance between slowing down, rushing to learn things, being real with people, money, and determining one’s self worth.
Therefore my small goal list for the last month of 2020 (since the full moon showed up on Nov 30th) will include:
Read (or finish) at least two non-fiction books, and take (or highlight sections) notes in order to also post a book review on the blog (and possibly amazon as well).
Continue to work on improving my evening/afternoon meditations.
Get creative in figuring out an schedule/calendar for things. I’ve had ideas of doing everything from a ‘syllabus’ (treating different areas like they were ‘school subjects’) to making a to-be accomplished list. Needless to say neither has really stuck (though to be fair on the to-be accomplished list, the first draft was more of a brain dump). I may try to make a hybrid of the three—a brain dump, cleaned up into a to-be accomplished list, which can be formatted into one or more ‘syllabus’.
While reminding myself: “Progress over perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one”; and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.
Also just wanting to try to finish 2020 on a somewhat positive note.
So I’m 100 days into this challenge, and there are sixty-six days left in 2020. We’re also just about a week away from the presidential election as well (fingers crossed it goes the way I’m hoping).
I decided a couple of weeks ago, that I should probably look at the list again, and see if there were any goals that I wanted to remove (for whatever reason), and possibly any goals I wanted to add—but also to see where I was in terms of the different goals.
There is still the pandemic going on—which means that the travel plans are still on hold, and I’m still sheltering in place. I will probably continue to shelter in place at least until March of 2021 (when hopefully a possible vaccine is available). I’m still working on trying to figure out what my ‘new normal’ is going to be looking like.
As I stated in a previous post, I’m also thinking of replacing the list on the odds and end bucket list with this list—so that change may be occurring soon as well.
So how are things progressing?
Professional development and career: On-going
1. Transition into an industry position (probably remote/online or freelancing at this point to start); there will be several posts on this goal
2. Learn a programming language (python or R—ties in with #6)—going to go with python to begin with.
3. Finish various e-courses that I’ve bought, but in particular:
4. Dream Job Hack Removed, currently going through the modules but trying to tailor to my needs (program is best for those wanting to get into high level manager type roles—not the greatest for someone switching from research to industry and who also hasn’t been in a manager type role).
5. Medical Writers Organization
6. Data Scientist Syndicate—Finished September 3rd 2020
7. Project Management Consortium
8. Management Consulting Firm
9. All other courses—see additional lists in the journal.
10. More interacting on Linkedin—Hard to score these, I’m doing the best with #11; though I have started doing my own posts—mainly photographs and quotes; need to start working more on the other 2 (especially the giving/asking for recommendations).
11. Sharing articles from various biotech pages, and other science pages
12. Commenting on posts
13. Giving/Asking for recommendations
14. Start writing my own posts
15. Creating monthly/weekly/daily calendars for above goals—trying to get better at the editorial or to-do-list calendars.
16. Renew professional memberships—Need to pick just one or two currently to renew; can’t do all at once.
Both Personal and Professional Development—still working on all of these
17. Become fluent in Spanish
18. Become fluent in German
19. Become proficient in French, Norwegian, or Swedish
20. Read at least 300 personal/professional development books; this will include books from my previous attempts at 1001-day challenges as well. I have over 300 books on the list, and I would like to get through at least 100 of them before I keep adding to the list.
21. Finish the books on scientific writing
22. Start building up a portfolio of work (writing/data analysis/plus other ideas)
23. Develop a daily writing habit (tied with several goals below)
24. Write a letter to my future self
Personal development and hobbies—started a few, but need to also start in on others as well
25. Paint and frame at least one original painting
26. More photography—Have been doing this; started a new challenge (though I haven’t been totally consistent with daily postings) and updating/adding pages
27. 365-Day Challenge (aim for 365 different pictures)
28. Update photography pages on blog
29. Make my own jewelry
30. Learn to cross-stitch
31. Get a new sewing machine—On hold; seems getting a sewing machine there is a 50/50 risk that the machine will have problems winding the bobbin
32. Make a new quilt (or this may wait until I move)
33. Make a set of drapes for the bedroom (for backdrop for any zoom calls)
34. Start a new afghan (write a post on finishing the other)—need to figure out how to patch the other afghans
35. Show case crafts on blog (possibly a weekly update?)
36. Start writing a book
37. Learn Photoshop
38. Write in journal daily (answer questions/prompts from journaling books and free thought)
39. Create my own coffee-table photography book
40. Learn basic sign language
41. Start a virtual book club
Finances—still working on these, since I’m taking time off there isn’t a steady paycheck coming in yet.
42. Create monthly budgets—currently this is just paying off the bills.
43. Credit card debts down and hopefully paid off monthly—some are high, but that is due to buying a couple of personal/professional development courses that were rather expensive.
44. Declutter the house (way of earning extra cash)
45. Savings account up another 20K (hopefully)—this will be tied in with #44, #46, and any other ways of trying to earn a little extra cash.
46. Talk with financial person about short-term investment possibilities
47. Continue doing the small surveys as a way of earning a little extra cash
48. Finish the various financial e-courses, and decide when/how to start investing
Fitness & Health—On going
49. Get into the best shape of my life
50. Multivitamin and supplements daily
51. Manage to make it through the following Beachbody workouts
52. Morning Meltdown 100 (will probably do this 2-3 times, as I’m currently doing this program right now—07/19/2020)—Finished my first round on 9/15/2020
53. Yoga Booty Ballet—Abs & Butt (should be done mid-Nov)
54. 10 Rounds—Will be starting this mid-Nov & done by Christmas.
55. Barre Blend
56. Insanity Max 30
57. LIIFT4 (have already done this program once); 2nd round will be done mid-Nov (combined this with Yoga Booty Ballet—Abs & Butt)
58. 22-Minute Hard Corps
59. T20
60. Insanity
61. Insanity: Asylum 1
62. Insanity: Asylum 2
63. 4 weeks of Prep
64. 6 weeks of the work
65. T25 (have already done this program once)
66. Brazil Butt Lift
67. 21-Day Fix (Already done this program once)
68. 21-Day Fix Extreme (Already done this program once)
69. Country Heat (already done this program once)
70. CIZE
71. Muscle Burns Fat
72. Muscle Burns Fat Advanced
73. 30-Day Breakaway (this is a maybe—it’s running based)
74. 9-week control freak
75. Shawn Week
76. 80-Day Obsession
77. Brazil Butt Lift: Carnivale
78. Shift Shop: Proving Grounds
79. P90
Plus any other possible Beachbody program that is coming out that I may want to add.
80. Manage 5 push-ups on my toes
81. Manage 10 push-ups on my toes
82. Hold a two-minute forearm plank
83. Hold a 90 second plank
84. Meditate nightly
85. Start jogging (as another way to try to keep my mental health up)—may tie this in with #73
86. 60-80 oz of water a day
87. Stretch daily
88. Go one weekend a month with no social media (no scrolling through social media pages; may still post on the sites)
89. Get at least 10,010,000 steps (breaks down to 5K/day)—on my way; I’ve managed to hit all month goals (and surpass slightly).
Blog and Social Media–Ongoing
90. Finish YouTube for bosses course
91. Finish YouTube course creation for bosses course
92. Finish blog to biz course
93. Launch a YouTube channel
94. Launch an online course
95. Get blog traffic to 500+ views a day
96. Rebrand myself (?)
97. Get Instagram followers to constant 800+
98. Get pintrest followers to constant 400+
99. Get twitter followers to constant 1000+
100. Publish at least two blog series
101. Editorial calendars (monthly/weekly/daily)
102. Blog
103. Instagram
104. Facebook pages
105. Twitter
106. Pintrest
107. Get Fit with Jessi to 1000+ likes/follows
108. Get becomingJessi (or new name if I change) to 1000+ likes/follows
109. Various top 10 author lists
110. Various top 10 book series lists
111. Launch a podcast
Spirituality–Ongoing
112. Full/New Moon Goals
113. Create my own altar (wicca/pagan)
114. Weekly (or daily) tarot/oracle card readings
115. 15 minutes outdoors in the morning (coffee only) weather permitting; probably on hold now until spring—fall/winter mornings are usually somewhere between the 30s and 50s (if it’s closer to the higher end—maybe).
Others–ongoing
116. Keep at least 3 plants alive
117. Design a science based board game
118. Create and update digital vision board
119. Reorganize my storage unit
120. Put in at least one flower garden around the house (backyard, and/or front yard)
121. Help put up partial privacy fence in backyard
122. Start downsizing clothes and creating different “minimum” wardrobes (work/professional/casual; home/casual/working out)
123. Develop at least 10 different 100-day challenges
One challenge will be 100 days of iPhone Photography.
124. Start downsizing rest of my things./ as well—would like to probably be able to live comfortably in a smallish size apartment (or house) wherever I move for the next job.
TV shows to binge watch—Haven’t felt like sitting and watching anything lately
125. Hawaii 5-0 (latest remake)
126. Grimm
127. The Librarians
128. Once Upon A Time
129. Blacklist
130. Numbers
131. Agents of SHIELD
Goals on hold due to the global coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak (either because they require traveling, going into a large store, and/or being around large groups of people):
132. Re-pierce my ears
133. Go to at least 1 scientific conference
134. Present at a scientific conference
135. Go to at least 2 professional networking events
136. Move to a new (or maybe not new) city for job
137. Visit at least 3 new countries
138. Visit at least one new national and/or state park
139. Visit at least one new national and/or state monument
140. Visit at least one new zoo
141. Visit at least one new aquarium
142. Fly out and/or land at 3 new (to me) airports
143. Visit at least one new city
144. Visit at least one new state
145. See the northern lights
146. Attend at least one blogging conference
147. Attend at least one author-reader conference
148. Swim with whale sharks
149. Parasailing
150. Run a 5K (connects back to goals #73 & #85)
Once I move:
151. Get fabric and foam and make new cushions for chairs
152. New couch & chair for living room
153. New dresser for bedroom
154. New mattress & box spring for bed and/or a new bed set
155. New TV & stand
156. New desk/craft workstation
So in terms of the goals:
So I’ve removed one goal (finish the Dream Job Hack program), though I’m still going to work through a little that I think is relevant to what I need to be doing. I did find the program helpful, but it is geared more towards people who have been (or are in) management type positions—while I would like to get there, I know that I probably need to start a step or two below.
I’m making some headway with others—I’ve finished the data science syndicate program from the Cheeky Scientist Association (will be writing a post on late shortly), and am looking forward to trying to learn python and then start building a data science portfolio.
I’m working my way through the medical writers organization (another advanced Cheeky Scientist program), and am hoping to have that finished by mid-November, and again start working on building up a writing portfolio.
Currently I’m thinking of going in the freelance/online/remote direction for work (namely because of the pandemic and not really wanting to figure out the whole headache of trying to move two animals, all of my stuff, and myself to a different state currently). So in that case, I’m also thinking of possibly rebranding the blog (I have a couple of different names bouncing around, a decision will be made probably early next year sometime).
I’m still working on developing an editorial calendar/to-be accomplished list hybrid that works for me. I’ve realized that I swing between two extremes: I get over-ambitious and try to cram way to stuff in everyday, or I don’t get anything really accomplished.
I’m trying to work on that by possibly going to larger bullet journals that I can paperclip in my to-be-accomplished lists (which would then be discarded once everything as accomplished) instead of having to write out the lists constantly.
I’m also working on a schedule that will let me bounce back and forth between different things. I just finished reading “ How to be everything: A guide for those who (still) don’t know what they want to be when they grow up” by Emilie Wapnick.
I will be posting a review on the book soon (hopefully this week)—but it was nice to see that I’m not the only one who has felt drawn in different directions and not having a clue how to handle things. I was pleased to find that I’m a mixed-style multipotentialite—someone who goes between having quite a few different projects going on at once to only having one or two projects going on at once.
So that has definitely been a major breakthrough during the last few weeks—now it is a matter of me fully embracing that aspect of myself and figuring how the best ways of working that way—without triggering massive anxiety attacks (stay tuned).
I also removed the “number” of workouts from my fitness goals—the main reason I was starting to get tired. Everyone needs a rest day, and I’ve shown myself that I can still push play on Monday morning even if I take the weekend off (as told by the workout schedule).
So I am slowly making progress on the first ~124 (or I guess 123) goals; the last twenty-odd goals still require the pandemic to be brought under control and for me then to be willing to slowly start leaving the house and going to places that will actually have other people present as well.
So July has come and gone—which means there are only five months left in 2020. As I’ve stated before—2020 hasn’t gone the way I wanted it to go so far, and the next five months probably still won’t totally go the way I would like to go, but I have to keep reminding myself—the only reactions I can control are my own—so it’s now into month five of self-isolation, I go.
While some parts of the world seem to be getting the virus under control—the US isn’t one of them. Our numbers are still climbing (over 4.7 million confirmed cases and over 157K dead), and we’re still more or less on a “global timeout”. This means that any and all travel that I had planned is delayed for at least another year (which means the earliest—August 2021), if not longer. While I don’t mind delaying travel—I am getting a little tired of self-isolation (though I will continue to do so as long as necessary).
This means that any type of interviews (informational and job-related) will be done via online applications, which also means numerous other things need to be taken into consideration and dealt with—such as making sure that the sound and everything works well (microphone over using the computer), creating a neutral backdrop for the office area of my bedroom, and whatever else I will be needing to add to the list. But for now, it is time for a brief reflection on the goals that I had set for July and how I did with each one of them.
So what were the goals for July? The goals for July included:
At least 155,000 steps (since I’ve made a tracker for the journal, it is easy enough to write down the numbers at the end of the day)
Continuing Morning Meltdown 100 (Days 24-54)
Reading (or finishing) at least 2 non-fiction books
No Spend Days/No Spend Weeks/and hopefully no spend month
Finish the Data Science Syndicate program
Finish at least 3 other short e-courses
And finally,
Continue working on devising a goal list and breaking it down, plus working on various different ways to translate those goals into an overall editorial calendar for the different areas I want to focus on: the blog, personal/professional development, fitness & health/mental health/crafts.
So how did I do with each goal?
At least 155,000 steps (since I’ve made a tracker for the journal, it is easy enough to write down the numbers at the end of the day)
In terms of steps—I managed to get to a total of 182,969 steps for the month of July. There were seven days that I finished below the 5,000-step goal—which is why I was about 20K below the final total that I managed for June. But at least I managed to move around enough that I got about 25K extra steps during July (and some of the days that I was short—the days were hot and humid and I didn’t feel like moving around that much).
Continuing Morning Meltdown 100 (Days 24-54)
I have been continuing with Morning Meltdown 100, and finished days 24 to 54. While I measured at the end of phase 2 (which was July 17th), I’m not going to measure again until the end of the program (which will be on Sept 15th). The reason—water retention and bloating can cause numbers to be off.
Reading (or finishing) at least 2 non-fiction books
During the month of July I managed to read (or finish reading) the following books:
“How to be an imperfectionist: The new way to self-acceptance, fearless living, and freedom from perfectionism” by Stephen Guise
“Hello Fears: Crush your comfort zone and become who you’re meant to be” by Michelle Poler
“Better than Before: What I learned about making and breaking habits-to sleep more, quit sugar, procrastinate less, and generally build a happier life” by Gretchen Rubin
All three of the books would fall under the personal development category (though it is very difficult to try to separate personal and professional development—they are two sides of the same coin). They all dealt with similar topics—our comfort zones, and trying to push past the “fear zone” to get into our learning/growth zones. While I know that I haven’t stated much on the books, that’s because it’s on the August to-do list of writing a short review on each one to post to both the blog and amazon.
No Spend Days/No Spend Weeks/and hopefully no spend month
I’m getting better at having no spend days/weeks—but I’m not quite up to a full no-spend month. During July I still spent money during the month—the money was spent on books, masks, and I had hoped on a sewing machine (I’m actually probably be demanding my money back on this one—as the order was placed almost 3 weeks ago, and all of my messages have been ignored).
I’m hoping that during August, I can manage not to spend money on books, or other things. Depending on how I progress through various e-courses during August, I may purchase other e-courses to continue my learning (but this is only currently a possibility).
Finish the Data Science Syndicate program
This hasn’t happened yet. I started module four of the program and made it about halfway through. I had decided that I’d been pushing too fast through various programs and that it would probably be more beneficial if I slowed down and actually took the time to review and think on the information I was learning, instead of just powering through to be able to check it off my to-do list.
Finish at least 3 other short e-courses
Like, the data science syndicate program—this also didn’t happen. In part to wanting to be able to think on the information I was learning, but also due to the fact that most afternoons, I would go and sit outside and read—instead of being inside and working on something else.
And finally,
Continue working on devising a goal list and breaking it down, plus working on various different ways to translate those goals into an overall editorial calendar for the different areas I want to focus on: the blog, personal/professional development, fitness & health/mental health/crafts.
This is slowly coming together—I managed to find my old bulletin board—so I can also have my to-do lists tack up, instead of needing to look in the journal to see what I had planned for the day/week. Though I will also be using the journal as well. The main thing I’ve realized—I need to figure out the answer to the following question: “Who do I want to become over the next five to twenty years?” Once I can answer this question in great detail—I’ll have a better idea of what goals and the breakdown of said goals I need to focus on.
So I managed to get about half of the goals accomplished for July (the steps, the workout, the reading, and going 80% of the month not spending more money). I’ve also realized that one reason why certain goals (e-courses/certification programs and sometimes the non-fiction reading) aren’t always met—I haven’t quite figured out the end goal. In other words, I think once I can determine the answer to the question: “Who do I want to become over the next 5 to 20 years?”—Some of these goals will become easier to accomplish.
Therefore, the goals for August will include:
At least 155,000 steps (again breaking it down to roughly 5K/Day)
Continuing Morning Meltdown 100 (Days 55-85)
Reading (or finishing) at least 2 non-fiction books
No Spend Days/No Spend Week/ and hopefully a no-spend month
Finish the Data Science Syndicate program (or at least modules 4 & 5)
Finish at least 3 other short e-courses
And finally,
Answer the question: “Who do I want to become over the next 5 to 20 years?” The answer to this question will help me to continue working on my long term goal list, figuring out how to break it down to short-term goals, and finally translating those goals into an overall editorial calendar for the different areas that I’m trying to focus on: personal/professional development, career transition, fitness & health/mental health/crafts, and the blog.
While reminding myself: “Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one”, and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.
Well I realized that since we’re over half way through July—that means there are less than six months left in 2020. I’ve come to the conclusion that trying to complete the 101 goals in 1001 days wasn’t going to work. For me it is due to the fact that I will only open the word document every so often—which makes it difficult to figure out which goal(s) I’m doing well on and which ones I’m not doing so well on meeting. Therefore, I am thinking of stretching out the time frame for this project and increasing the total number of goals to 150-200. There are numerous goals that are on hold (traveling), and will be at the bottom of the list. There are two reasons why the traveling goals are going to be at the bottom of the list: 1) we’re still in the middle of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. Cases aren’t going down really in the US (though there are some states, where they are decreasing—OK isn’t one of them) and 2) several countries (namely the EU) have banned travelers from the US—in other words if you try to fly into any EU country, you may be put right back on a plane for the US, since they’re flattening their curves—they don’t want potential virus carriers showing up and spiking cases.
So the world has been in the grasp of the SARS-CoV2 virus for seven months (probably a little longer than that for the countries that are neighboring China), and we’re still learning about the virus each day. While there are several vaccines that are being pushed into various clinical trial phases—a real contender may still not be ready for another 6 to 18 months. Vaccine development is a slow and tedious process that the world is currently rushing because everyone wants to get back to ‘normal’. Hate to break it to everyone but the ‘old normal’ needs to be left in the past and we all need to work together to develop a ‘new normal’.
Truthfully, even if there is a vaccine out by the end of the year—I will probably still continue to shelter in place and wait at least an additional 8 to 12 months before I’m willing to get the vaccine (just to see how efficient the vaccine(s) are). Though based on the current news, we could end up with needing seasonal shots, as it has been shown that with people who “recover” from SARS-CoV2 the antibodies against the virus slowly disappear over time.
So I’ve been self-reflecting over the past six months (though maybe not that much during April—I was too pissed at the world for how bad the pandemic was getting, and now that we’re into July, I can say I’m still pissed but trying to get back into a routine of doing other things that I can control the outcomes of)) and have decided a few things:
Try to organize the challenge list into categories
If needing to restart (and I am)—any day of the week can become day 1 again
Balance is needed
I want to balance using my strengths (learner, intellection, input, achiever, deliberative/ideation/arranger) with working on my weaknesses (communication, self-regulation, bravery, zest, love)
The only person I should be competing with is who I was yesterday
Always strive for progress over perfection
So below are my goals—but broken up into different categories (such as professional development/career, personal development, both personal/professional development, travel, health & fitness to name a few categories). I’m going to extend the time frame to 2002 days (which is not quite 5 ½ years—but considering 2020 has started the decade off with a global pandemic—this a good time frame).
I’ve also decided that since I’m basically restarting the challenge (instead of just extending it), that some of the things I’ve accomplished so far this year probably shouldn’t count towards it (such as reading 12 personal/professional development books, and the fact that I would be on day 42 of Morning Meltdown 100, tomorrow—the last 59 days of the workout would count towards my 2000 days of Beachbody workouts-just not the first 41 days).
More goals may be added over the years as I re-evaluate this list and see what may need to be removed, what has been finished, and where I think I could possibly push myself more.
Professional development and career:
1. Transition into an industry position (probably remote/online or freelancing at this point to start); there will be several posts on this goal
2. Learn a programming language (python or R—ties in with #6)
3. Finish various e-courses that I’ve bought, but in particular:
4. Dream Job Hack
5. Medical Writers Organization
6. Data Scientist Syndicate
7. Project Management Consortium
8. Management Consulting Firm
9. All other courses—see additional lists in the journal.
10. More interacting on Linkedin
11. Sharing articles from various biotech pages, and other science pages
12. Commenting on posts
13. Giving/Asking for recommendations
14. Start writing my own posts
15. Creating monthly/weekly/daily calendars for above goals
16. Renew professional memberships
Both Personal and Professional Development
17. Become fluent in Spanish
18. Become fluent in German
19. Become proficient in French, Norwegian, or Swedish
20. Read at least 300 personal/professional development books
21. Finish the books on scientific writing
22. Start building up a portfolio of work (writing/data analysis/plus other ideas)
23. Develop a daily writing habit (tied with several goals below)
24. Write a letter to my future self
Personal development and hobbies
25. Paint and frame at least one original painting
26. More photography
27. 365-Day Challenge (aim for 365 different pictures)
28. Update photography pages on blog
29. Make my own jewelry
30. Learn to cross-stitch
31. Get a new sewing machine
32. Make a new quilt (or this may wait until I move)
33. Make a set of drapes for the bedroom (for backdrop for any zoom calls)
34. Start a new afghan (write a post on finishing the other)
35. Show case crafts on blog (possibly a weekly update?)
36. Start writing a book
37. Learn Photoshop
38. Write in journal daily (answer questions/prompts from journaling books and free thought)
39. Create my own coffee-table photography book
40. Learn basic sign language
41. Start a virtual book club
Finances
42. Create monthly budgets
43. Credit card debts down and hopefully paid off monthly
44. Declutter the house (way of earning extra cash)
45. Savings account up another 20K (hopefully)
46. Talk with financial person about short-term investment possibilities
47. Continue doing the small surveys as a way of earning a little extra cash
48. Finish the various financial e-courses, and decide when/how to start investing
Fitness & Health
49. Get into the best shape of my life
50. Multivitamin and supplements daily
51. Manage at least 2000 days of Beachbody workouts
Finish the following programs (some will probably be more than 1 or 2 times)
52. Morning Meltdown 100 (will probably do this 2-3 times, as I’m currently doing this program right now—07/19/2020)
53. Yoga Booty Ballet—Abs & Butt
54. 10 Rounds
55. Barre Blend
56. Insanity Max 30
57. LIIFT4–all three phases (have already done this program once)
58. 22 Minute Hard Corps
59. T20
60. Insanity
61. Insanity: Asylum 1
62. Insanity: Asylum 2
63. 4 weeks of Prep
64. 6 weeks of the work
65. T25 (have already done this program once)
66. Brazil Butt Lift
67. 21-Day Fix (Already done this program once)
68. 21-Day Fix Extreme (Already done this program once)
69. Country Heat (already done this program once)
70. CIZE
71. Muscle Burns Fat
72. Muscle Burns Fat Advanced
73. 30-Day Breakaway (this is a maybe—it’s running based)
74. 9-week control freak
75. Shawn Week
Plus any other possible Beachbody program that is coming out that I may want to add.
76. Manage 5 push-ups on my toes
77. Manage 10 push-ups on my toes
78. Hold a two-minute forearm plank
79. Hold a 90 second plank
80. Meditate nightly
81. Start jogging (as another way to try to keep my mental health up)—may tie this in with #73
82. 60-80 oz of water a day
83. Stretch daily
84. Go one weekend a month with no social media (no scrolling through social media pages; may still post on the sites)
85. Get at least 10,010,000 steps (breaks down to 5K/day)
Blog and Social Media
86. Finish YouTube for bosses course
87. Finish YouTube course creation for bosses course
88. Finish blog to biz course
89. Launch a YouTube channel
90. Launch an online course
91. Get blog traffic to 500+ views a day
92. Rebrand myself (?)
93. Get Instagram followers to constant 800+
94. Get pintrest followers to constant 400+
95. Get twitter followers to constant 1000+
96. Publish at least two blog series
97. Editorial calendars (monthly/weekly/daily)
98. Blog
99. Instagram
100. Facebook pages
101. Twitter
102. Get Fit with Jessi to 1000+ likes/follows
103. Get becomingJessi (or new name if I change) to 1000+ likes/follows
104. Various top 10 author lists
105. Various top 10 book series lists
106. Launch a podcast
Spirituality
107. Full/New Moon Goals
108. Create my own altar (wicca/pagan)
109. Weekly (or daily) tarot/oracle card readings
110. 15 minutes outdoors in the morning (coffee only) weather permitting
Others
111. Keep at least 3 plants alive
112. Design a science based board game
113. Create and update digital vision board
114. Reorganize my storage unit
115. Put in at least one flower garden around the house (backyard, and/or front yard)
116. Help put up partial privacy fence in backyard
117. Start downsizing clothes and creating different “minimum” wardrobes (work/professional/casual; home/casual/working out)
118. Develop at least 10 different 100-day challenges
119. Start downsizing rest of my belongs as well—would like to probably be able to live comfortably in a smallish size apartment (or house) where ever I move for the next job.
TV shows to binge watch
120. Hawaii 5-0 (latest remake)
121. Grimm
122. The Librarians
123. Once Upon A Time
124. Blacklist
125. Numbers
Goals on hold due to the global coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak (either because they require traveling, going into a large store, and/or being around large groups of people):
126. Re-pierce my ears
127. Go to at least 1 scientific conference
128. Present at a scientific conference
129. Go to at least 2 professional networking events
130. Move to a new (or maybe not new) city for job
131. Visit at least 3 new countries
132. Visit at least one new national and/or state park
133. Visit at least one new national and/or state monument
134. Visit at least one new zoo
135. Visit at least one new aquarium
136. Fly out and/or land at 3 new (to me) airports
137. Visit at least one new city
138. Visit at least one new state
139. See the northern lights
140. Attend at least one blogging conference
141. Attend at least one author-reader conference
142. Swim with whale sharks
143. Parasailing
144. Run a 5K (connects back to goals #73 & #81)
Once I move:
145. Get fabric and foam and make new cushions for chairs
146. New couch & chair for living room
147. New dresser for bedroom
148. New mattress & box spring for bed and/or a new bed set
149. New TV & stand
150. New desk/craft workstation
So I now have roughly 150 goals to accomplish in 2002 days. Some of the goals may be accomplished well before the 2002 days are up—others may be up to the end (namely the fitness workouts and steps). So how will I accomplish these 150 goals??? Well, there are 25 goals that are “on-hold” until the virus is under control (goals #126-150)—so these may not be looked at for the first 500+ days (though I will probably be checking the stats on the pandemic more often).
In terms of the other 125 goals—I already have some ‘habits’ in place—I have set up monthly calendar/check-ins for my steps, daily workouts, and spending, plus I do a monthly money check-in when I set up payments for various bills. So what I’m going to be doing is adding in additional trackers (e-courses, photography, tarot/oracle card readings) and seeing tracking that ways helps me move through things better. Also in terms of the e-courses, I’m going to be trying to take better notes so that I can post little recaps on the blog as well (all of this will also help me possibly finally design and keep up with editorial calendars as well).
But above else, I need to remember the following phrases: Aim for progress and not perfection, work hard in silence, let your success by your noise, and make it happen, shock everyone.
So I’m about a month into my reboot break, and am still
trying to figure out the best routine. One thing I’ve noticed after going
through notes that I’ve taken over the past couple of years—I need to try to
find (or actually rediscover) my “voice” or who I am. I’ve realized that I’ve
spent the past couple of years just drifting along, and when it comes to trying
to answer personal/professional development questions such as “who are you” or
“what is the difference between you and someone else for this role”—I can
almost generically answer the first one, but can’t come up with answers of what
makes me unique for roles. I realize that I’ve spent years blending in with my
surroundings and trying to stay in the background unnoticed. This all comes
from childhood and being a victim of bullying—not of which was physical, and I
learned it was better to pretend to be invisible and blend into the background
than draw attention to the situation.
While it is nice that I’ve identified the problem (my
unconscious moves to blend into the background), now I need to work on breaking
those patterns. I need to rediscover things that I enjoy doing (things that
make me uniquely me), and then determine the best ways of weaving those hobbies
into “transferable skills” for job interviews. I would say that I’m fairly
confident that I should move R&D scientist down the list on interesting job
titles (as it is more or less my comfort zone), and start trying to step
outside of what I’m use to doing to see what grabs my interest in terms of the
other possible job titles.
I’m thinking that the list is going to now look something
like this:
Health Economist
Market Research Analyst
Scientific/Medical Writer
Market Communications Specialist
Clinical Data Analyst/Manager
Quantitative Analyst
Patent Analyst
R&D scientist (up to R&D
manager)
Though the top seven are more or less fluid (I just
rearranged a few from how I’ve previously listed them).
So this week is going to be spent getting back into a
workout routine, spending some time practicing photography, puppy training (I
adopted a puppy just before Christmas), reading, working a rough draft of
everything that I would like to accomplish this year, and looking more into the
above roles.
Once I remember (or better yet remind myself) of things I
like to do, that aren’t related to work, I will be that much further on my path
to finding the optimal industry position to transition into this year.
So most people were doing the decade comparison in pictures
over various social media sites—I’m not going to do that, mainly because I let
my health and fitness slide enough that I’m back to basically the same weight.
But I can try to summarize the past decade and maybe that will allow me to try
actually projecting ahead a few years (so that I can actually push myself out
of the “weeds” or “quicksand” that I feel like I’ve been stuck in for the past
few years).
I started out the decade by finally finishing graduate
school. I had promised myself that I would be done with school by the time I
hit my 30th birthday and I was (more or less). I managed to finish
two out of the three requirements (the third was what held up my diploma
another five months). But I walked across the stage and accepted the diploma
holder for my PhD in May, I presented and defended my dissertation in July, and
then dealt with rewrites of my dissertation that finally earned me my diploma
in December of 2010.
I took a post-doctoral position out in the Boston area in
July of 2010. This required me finding an apartment that was close to public
transportation (since that was how I was going to be getting to work every
day). I managed that, but then hired the worst possible company to move my
stuff out there (luckily they’re now out of business)—to the point that I slept
on an air mattress for a month before my furniture and things showed up. I also
hired pet movers to move my dog (Chewi) and cat (Pancakes) out there, and I
will use them again when I move for my next position (as I also hired them to
move Chewi and Pancakes back home when the job folded under me and I had to
move back home in 2012).
So from August 2010 to December 2012 (with a short visit
back for Christmas in 2011) I was on the east coast. I did manage to visit
Maine, NYC, and Connecticut; with drive-troughs of New Hampshire and Rhode
Island (to get to Maine [New Hampshire—though I think it was also a brief stop]
and then Connecticut & NYC [Rhode Island]). I didn’t do as much traveling
in the area as I would have liked, due to 1) not having that much
money—postdocs aren’t paid great, even in large cities [they don’t take cost of
living into consideration], and 2) I didn’t feel comfortable always hiring a
pet sitter (did that once for the trip back home for Christmas 2011).
But I did visit Salem and Rockport, in addition to wandering
around Boston. The trips out of state to visit friends and family allowed me to
see a little bit of other states—though if I move back there I would like to
spend more than 24 hours in NYC playing tourist.
Being out in the Boston area was fun—I made numerous friends
and enjoyed exploring the area. It wasn’t the greatest decision career wise
though—I only learned a few new techniques, and the position ended on a sour
note between my advisor and me. One thing I learned is that I should always try
to listen to that voice that warns that there could be issues with the job—I
ignored it, and found out that yeah, there were issues with the job.
Christmas 2012 saw me moving back home from Boston. While I
could have tried to find something in the Boston area, truthfully at this point
I was pretty well financially broke, and emotionally burnt out. I decided that
it might be best to regroup, where I knew that I could save money, and maybe
figure out what I was doing with my life. But of course, I wasn’t sure what I
was going to be doing—I just knew that I really needed to find some job so
that I could start paying off all the credit card debt that I built up living
in Boston (see above note about how postdocs are paid).
2011 also saw my parents bringing another dog into the
family—a Great Pyrenees/Bearded Collie mix that we named Boozer (she was
fascinated by the sounds of cans opening when she first came into the house).
She was also served as a transition dog for my dad, as we weren’t sure how much
longer the St. Bernard had (though she lasted another three and a half years).
I managed to get another postdoctoral position within my
alma mater department working with yeast. This meant that I was learning a new
biological system (previously I’d work with plants, bacteria, insects, and cell
cultures), and new techniques. Alas, the money for that position only lasted a
little over a year (and the fellowship I tried for I didn’t get [in part due to
being back at my alma mater and not asking my first postdoc advisor for a
letter of recommendation]),
Luckily I managed to find a one-month teaching position that
paid well. It kept me busy during part of summer, and reminded me that I did
enjoy working with students. I spent the next few months putting out job applications—I
luckily managed to get another position within the department this time working
directly with undergraduate students. I had to write my own job description
after being hired as no one knew exactly what the position was suppose to
entail. I coined the job title “senior research specialist/undergraduate
research techniques instructor” as I was doing both—research and trying to
teach students the basic techniques they would need to know for doing research
in a lab.
This was a job that I really enjoyed for the most
part—working with students, working on different projects and just generally
not being bored (again for the most part). The only drawbacks were working with
certain people (and you can have personality conflicts no matter where you go).
So this position lasted from basically mid-September 2014 through July of 2017;
it was terminated due to funding issues and I became unemployed for the third
time. This unemployment period lasted longer than the other two (probably could
be considered a sum of the other two), but again I managed to get another staff
position within the department just after Thanksgiving in 2017.
2015 was also a slightly off year as it was the year that we
had to say goodbye to our St. Bernard Speedbump. She was a loving goof ball
that got along with all dogs, and was a cuddle bug.
Now this position taught me a few more things, and it was a
paycheck. It was a yearly position that would be renewed if there was funding
available for it—so always fun working and wondering if there would be another
contract to sign or if you were going to be told sorry only ‘x’ months left. So
after signing another contract in November of 2018 I decided that no matter
what, this would be basically the last year at my alma mater.
2018 was also another off year as we lost three more dogs—we
lost Spelunkers in February due to cancer, and then we lost two other dogs in
October (within a span of four days) due to both old age and other health
issues (heart problems and cancer). So to say that I was more than happy to see
the tail end of 2018 was an understatement.
2019 was an okay year—we adopted two more puppies (my mom got her puppy in May—a boxer mix that we named Rolex (so she could say that she had her watchdog), and then I adopted a puppy about a week before Christmas (a male blue heeler/border collie/aussie mix that I named Chaos—because bring another dog into the house right before the holidays was to introduce Chaos). So yes, two new puppies with names that make a play on words.
This was also the year that I decided that I would quit my
job and take a “reboot break”. Since I realized that I could truthfully say
that I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I needed to take a break,
regroup, and then focus on my career—I don’t want to say that going through
college and earning a PhD was for no reason—I’m going to dedicate time to
figure out what the best path for me is in terms of a career change that still
will allow me to make use of the skills that I picked up over the past twenty
plus years (yes, I figured out that my academic career reached the legal
drinking age awhile ago—and since I wasn’t totally happy within that arena it
is time to figure out what arena I want to be in).
Here is to 2020—the start of a new year, and a new decade.
It is a blank slate and I am capable of writing whatever narrative I want for
my life. I control the direction that my life goes—all I need to do is fix the
oars, patch the leaks, and look up to the stars. I open myself up to what the
universe will send my way.
So 2019 has come to a close, and now it’s time to reflect
back on the year (with its ups and downs, hills and valleys).
This was the year that I decided that I needed to do some
type of major shakeup career wise—this wasn’t to say that I was totally unhappy
with my job—something needed to change though. I had decided that I would
hopefully either transition into an industry position, or I would resign my
position, take some time off to re-center myself and then refocus on my job
search. I ended up going with option number two—my “reboot break” started
shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday.
I’ve realized over the past few months that I’ve more or
less been in a “coasting” mode for the past couple of years—never really
thinking of where I want to be in five or ten years, just focusing on trying to
get through the day and the week to the weekend. It’s hard to figure out the
next direction to go in, when you’re stuck in the weeds with nothing but a
slightly broken oar to propel yourself—you don’t get very far.
I’ve also realized that I’ve been trying to focus on too
many different areas at once (health/fitness, finances, moving my career
forward, and trying to find time to do crafts to balance things out), that I’m
going to try to focus on just two to four areas (health/fitness and moving my
career forward are tied for number one, and then it will probably be
personal/professional development (tied for number two, and tied into both
areas at number one), and then some time for crafts.
This was I can probably set up an monthly calendar easier
with just those “three” areas instead of considering them four to five
different areas. This should also mean that I have more ideas for blog topics
throughout 2020 as well (which is one area that I felt that I didn’t push
forward enough throughout the year).
In terms of health and fitness—I’m slowly making my way back
to a routine that works for me. I will probably stick with the workouts
provided by Beachbody, but figure out the best nutrition plan on my own. I know
that I have a major sweet tooth, and instead of depriving myself (and ending up
binge eating sweets), I allow myself some sweets and try to balance it out with
more fruits and vegetables throughout the day. I’m pretty sure that there will
be more posts on nutrition and fitness throughout 2020 as well, as I work to
get into the best shape of my life (I’m thinking of some trip later in the year
that would require me to be in better physical condition than I am currently).
We also adopted a puppy back in May shortly after mother’s
day. My mom decided that it had been long enough since losing her dog, that she
was willing to get a puppy. So we adopted a boxer mix, renamed her Rolex and
it’s been a crazy ride ever since. Then basically a week before Christmas, I
decided that I really wanted a puppy (I know that I will never be able to
replace Chewi), so I went with my brother to the animal shelter and adopted a
blue heeler/collie/shepherd mix. Now we have a period of adjustment—Rolex is a
little jealous of the puppy (mainly the amount of attention that I’m giving
him)—but I chose the right name for him—Chaos (since I was getting him right
before the holidays—I knew that I was going to be bring chaos into the house).
Now, as I start looking forward again on my job search—the position/location
will also need to be puppy friendly (nearby parks and so forth).
In terms of personal development I managed to read nineteen
different books (though several of them were challenge books—where you pick a
topic and try to work on it for a month or so). Several of the books related to
finances (mine are okay—which is why I’m able to do the reboot break right
now), decluttering (something that I really need to do—both for myself and ease
my parents into it as well), and then just some good old fashion self-care
(reboot break, and being reminded that I shouldn’t be waiting for others to
give me a ‘permission slip’ to live my life). I’m hoping that in 2020, I double
the number of books that read in terms of both personal and professional
development.
I had gotten back into doing oracle/tarot card readings for
a good portion of the year (quit doing them the last few months), and realized
yet again my pulling back was due in part to me trying to fit in to molds that
I don’t belong (worry about what prospective employers might think if they come
across my instagram account). But I was reminded with reading a couple of books
last month that I shouldn’t be waiting on a ‘permission slip’ from others—it’s
my life and I doubt that I would be wanting to work for any company that
doesn’t value everyone’s spirituality.
I had wanted to travel a little during 2019, but those plans
never came to fruition—either due to not having enough vacation time earned,
the weather (one major “fear” earlier this year was being stranded somewhere
due to the weather and losing money since I wouldn’t be working & would
have used up all my vacation time), or just not being able to decide where I
wanted to go.
Hopefully in 2020 there will be more travel—both for mental
health (since I’ve realized it has been over a year since I’ve taken a
vacation) and networking/job search/hopeful job interviews, or a combination of
the two types.
So while there was some change in 2019—there wasn’t as much
as I’d hoped for—but I did manage to plant the seeds for change (namely in
quitting my job) to occur in 2020. As we head into a new year and decade I need
to remember that for 2020 I’m going to focus on “grow (th)”, “change”,
“achievement(s)”, and “success”.
And remember: Progress over perfection. I’m also going to
remember to “evaluate the people in [my] life; then promote, demote, or
terminate. [I’m] the CEO of my life”.
So in one of my many self reflection periods this past
month, I realized that I hadn’t been looking at my 101 goal list and seeing how
close I was to any of the goals (with the exception of my step goal). I also
realized looking at the list, it was all jumbled together and that made it hard
to see which goals could “feed” off of each other in terms of the
daily/weekly/monthly goals that I should be setting to reach them.
Therefore, I took the time and rewrote my list—this time
grouping things into different categories. I’m going to be hitting restart on
the time, to where if I start on November 2, 2019—I should then be finishing up
around July 29, 2022.
So below are my goals—but broken up into different
categories (such as professional development/career, personal development, both
personal/professional development, travel, health & fitness to name a few
categories).
Professional development and career:
1.
Transition into an industry position (tied to latest self reflections post);
there will be several posts on this goal
2. Learn a
programming language
3. Finish
various e-courses that I’ve bought, but in particular:
4.
Dream Job Hack
5.
Medical Writers Organization
6. More
interacting on Linkedin
7.
Sharing articles from various biotech pages, and other science pages
8.
Commenting on posts
9.
Giving/Asking for recommendations
10.
Creating monthly/weekly/daily calendars for above goals
11. Go to
at least 1 scientific conference
12.
Present at a scientific conference
13. Go to
at least 2 professional networking events
14. Renew
professional memberships
15. Move to
a new (or maybe not new) city for job
Both Personal and Professional Development
16. Become
fluent in Spanish
17. Become
fluent in German (or maybe French)
18. Read at
least 100 personal/professional development books
19. Finish
the books on scientific writing
Personal development and hobbies
20. Paint
and frame at least one original painting
21. More
photography
22.
365-Day Challenge (aim for 365 different pictures)
23.
Update photography pages on blog
24. Make my
own jewelry
25. Learn
to cross-stitch
26. Finish
my latest afghan
27. Show
case crafts on blog (possibly a weekly update?)
28. Start
writing a book
29. Learn
Photoshop
30. Write
in journal daily (answer questions/prompts from journaling books and free
thought)
31. Create
my own coffee-table photography book
32. Learn
basic sign language
Finances
33. Create
monthly budgets
34. Credit
card debts down and hopefully paid off monthly
35.
Declutter the house (way of earning extra cash)
36. Savings
account up another 20K (hopefully)
37. Talk
with financial person about short-term investment possibilities
Travel
38. Visit
at least 3 new countries
39. Visit
at least one new national and/or state park
40. Visit
at least one new national and/or state monument
41. Visit
at least one new zoo
42. Visit
at least one new aquarium
43. Fly out
and/or land at 3 new (to me) airports
44. Visit
at least one new city
45. Visit
at least one new state
46. See the
northern lights
47. Attend
at least one blogging conference
48. Attend
at least one author-reader conference
49. Attend Beachbody
Coach Summit 2020
Fitness & Health
50. Get
into the best shape of my life
51.
Multivitamin and supplements daily
52. Manage
at least 250 days of Beachbody workouts
53. Manage
5 push-ups on my toes
54. Manage
10 push-ups on my toes
55. Hold a two-minute forearm plank
56. Hold a 90 second plank
57. Meditate nightly
58. 30-day Zumba challenge
59. 60-80 oz of water a day
60. Stretch daily
61. Go one
weekend a month with no social media (no scrolling through social media pages;
may still post on the sites)
62. Get at
least 14,014,000 steps (breaks down to 14K/day)
Blog and Social Media
63. Finish YouTube for bosses course
64. Finish YouTube course creation for bosses
course
65. Finish blog to biz course
66. Launch a YouTube channel
67. Launch
an online course
68. Get
blog traffic to 500+ views a day
69. Rebrand
myself (?)
70. Get
Instagram followers to constant 800+
71. Get
pintrest followers to constant 400+
72. Get
twitter followers to constant 1000+
73. Publish
at least two blog series
74. Editorial calendars (monthly/weekly/daily)
75.
Blog
76.
Instagram
77.
Facebook pages
78. Get Fit
with Jessi to 1000+ likes/follows
79. Get
becomingJessi (or new name if I change) to 1000+ likes/follows
80. Various
top 10 author lists
81. Various
top 10 book series lists
Spirituality
82.
Full/New Moon Goals
83. Create my own altar (wicca/pagan)
84. Weekly
tarot/oracle card readings
Others
85. Keep at
least 3 plants alive
86. Design
a science based board game
87. Create and update a digital vision board
88. Re-pierce
my ears
89. Reorganize
my storage unit
Once I move:
90. Get a
new sewing machine
91.
Make a new quilt
92.
Get fabric and foam and make new cushions for chairs
93. New
couch & chair for living room
94. New
dresser for bedroom
95. New
mattress & box spring for bed
96. New TV
& stand
TV shows to binge watch
97. Hawaii
5-0 (latest remake)
98. Grimm
99. The
Librarians
100. Once
Upon A Time
101.
Blacklist
So that is my update and “organized” 101 goals in 1001 days.
This time I’m trying to balance things out—personal and professional
development, career and then just odds and ends. Hopefully with it being
organized, I will be better at tracking how close I am to completing certain
items and which items when completed will flow into another one being started.
Well October is officially over, and there are only 61 days
left in the year. As I’m writing this I realize that my reboot break is going
to be starting in a few weeks, and that I’m a month into my last year of my
thirties—so I should really try to figure out what the hell I’m doing with the
second half of my life. In addition I realized that I only met one goal (in
total) for the month of October.
We’re officially a third of the way through the fourth
quarter of the year, and I’m thinking that is where some of the change is going
to take place, and the seeds for change in 2020 will be planted.
I didn’t really change my October goals that much, so they
were basically the same goals that I’ve had for the past few months, including
the goal of working on my “reboot break” plan.
October was a difficult month in general—as it marked the
one-year anniversary of losing both Chewi and Piranha.
The goals for October included:
At least 434,000
steps
Photography challenge
(if there has to be a recap session to make up for a few days—oh, well—I’m only
human)
Read at least 2
non-fiction books
Continue working on
my reboot break & start reworking my transition plan
Aim for one week no
spend
Continue working out
(hybrid LIIFT4/Country Heat/Yoga Booty Ballet)
Set up the monthly
calendar (can start with November as a trial run)
So how did I do with each goal?
At least 434,000 steps
This was basically the only goal
that I was able to reach this month, even with a few days below the target of
14,000 steps. I managed to get 487,754 of steps, which was 53,754 over the goal
of 434,000 steps. This has me at a yearly total so far of 4,535,054 and that
means to reach exactly 5 million steps, I only need to reach 7,623 per day for
the rest of the year. This is nice to know that I can have several days that I
don’t reach my total—but even with the reboot break coming up—if I walk around
Boomer Lake every day, that will get me to at least 10,000 steps. So unless it
is raining or snowing—I’m going to be getting a daily walk in on my reboot
break.
Photography challenge
(if there has to be a recap session to make up for a few days—oh, well—I’m only
human)
Well this
didn’t really happen. I have been taking pictures on the weekend—but currently
the area of my photography shots is Boomer Lake. I feel like I’m sharing the
same theme over and over again—though they’re all slightly different. So I’m in
the process of trying to develop a nice long list of photography topics, so
that I can start the challenge over once more. Though this time around I did
make it a little over 200 days before falling behind.
Read at least 2 non-fiction
books
I don’t think that I managed to
finish any non-fiction book this month. One thing that I’ve noticed is that
there are numerous books that I’ve started at some point, but then started
reading another and never went back and actually finished. So, therefore moving
forward I’m not going to jump between books—but pick one and finish it before
going to the next non-fiction book. I will probably go between that non-fiction
book and my fiction books.
Continue working on
my reboot break & start reworking my transition plan
I’m slowly working on both
plans, and actually made a little headway this month by “naming” one of my
biggest hurdles—movement paralysis. The first week of my reboot break is
probably going to be spent just relaxing and decompressing, especially since it
is also going to be a holiday week (Thanksgiving). The major work is going to
start during the first week of December.
I have
several different areas/titles that sound interesting picked out—I just need to
fully determine what type of professional lifestyle I want, and which would fit
it the best. I know that I will need to make a choice and therefore a plan of
action for the early part of 2020—but hopefully I can narrow down the choices
before than and not feel totally overwhelmed.
Aim for one week no
spend
This didn’t
happen—I spent money on campus more or less daily during the month of October.
The only good thing is that towards the end of the month it may have only been
once a day. I figured that once I’m on my reboot break, that will be the
easiest time to curb the spending—I won’t be on campus, and I’m going to more
or less shut down the WiFi connection on the kindle (with exceptions)—that way
I will save money two ways—no buying snacks on campus daily, and no mindlessly
buying e-books on the kindle.
Continue working out
(hybrid LIIFT4/Country Heat/Yoga Booty Ballet)
Well I
managed to start the hybrid calendar, but that has been about it. I’ve realized
that even though I’ve had a couple of months to figure out the getting home
after 5 schedule—I still haven’t; I get home, do the few chores and then I sit
and relax for awhile. If I was prompt—I would then change into my workout
clothes and get my workout done before dinner, but that isn’t what I end up
doing—I sit and relax until dinner. Then after dinner I have my evening routine
(and I don’t like working out on an semi-full stomach either—I’d rather workout
on a semi-empty stomach), and I have so far only fit in stretching and
meditation.
So this is
a workout calendar that I’m hopefully going to follow much better once I start
on my reboot break (I really won’t have any excuses not to follow it).
Set up the monthly
calendar (can start with November as a trial run)
Well, this semi-happened—at
least workout wise, but I haven’t followed it that well. I’m going to be
setting up another calendar, hopefully this weekend for the rest of November
(as I’d only be missing one or two days) that I will hopefully then follow.
I’ve realized that when it comes to trying to figure out my life—I need to do
in such a way that the anxiety and depression don’t realize that I’m trying to
move out of the do nothing zone and into the positive and constructive zone.
So not that much progress on most of the goals for the month
of October—though admitting that there were problems is progress in and of its
self. There are two months left in 2019, and there can still be quite a bit of
progress in those last sixty-one days—I just have to play mind games with
myself.
So what are my goals for November going to be?
At least 420,000
steps
Making a nice long
list of possible photography topics
Slowly start the
hybrid LIIFT4/Country Heat/Yoga Booty Ballet workout calendar
Reading two
non-fiction books
Making my November
monthly calendar
Working on my reboot
break plan & transition plan (revamping this one)
Keep reminding
myself: Progress over perfection, and that I shouldn’t fear failure, but fear
being in the same place next year as I am today.
Well August is officially over, and there are only 122 days left in the year. I’m also a day late in posting this as well. As I’m writing this I realize that my birthday is now in less than three weeks, and then I will be looking down my last year of my thirties. I also realized that I fell short on some of the goals for August.
There is only a month left in the third quarter of the year,
and while that is scary, depressing, and slightly invigorating—I’ve realized
that is just how time goes now—in an instant. Though there is still the fourth
quarter of the year, and I’m thinking that is where some of the change is going
to take place, and the seeds for change in 2020 will be planted.
August goals were basically the same goals that I’ve had for
the past few months, including the goal of working on my “reboot break” plan.
The goals for August included:
At least 434,000
steps
Continuing with the
photography challenge
Reading (or
finishing) at least 3 non-fiction books
Working on my “reboot
break”
Aim for two weeks of
no spending (keeping a money log)
Get back into a
workout schedule (either a full program or a hybrid program between two
different programs).
Work on creating more
content for the blog (and potentially posts for linkedin).
Work on getting in a
routine of reading business & scientific articles.
So how did I do with each one?
At least 434,000
steps
I was down less
than 9,000 steps for the month of August—my final total was 425,266 steps. This
was mainly due to the hot temperatures on the weekends, and me not getting my
steps in on those days (plus one or two days during the week, when I fell short
as well). Though for the year I’m at 3,579,549 steps, which means that to get
to 5 million—I only need to aim for a little over 11,500 steps a day. So, I
think it is safe to say that I’m going to make the goal of 5 million steps. It
is nice to see that by the time I take my reboot break, I don’t necessarily
have to aim for 14,000 steps a day (though I probably will—just so I’m not
constantly sitting on my butt).
Continuing with the
photography challenge
I took a
week off from the photography challenge this month. This was partially due to
the heat and not having done a walk for a week or two (therefore I felt like I
was running low on photographs to share), and partially due to my mood—I just
wasn’t in a good mind space that week.
Reading (or
finishing) at least 3 non-fiction books
I managed
to finish one book this month and it was “The Self-Care Prescription: Powerful
solutions to manage stress, reduce anxiety, and increase well-being” by Robyn
Gobin.
One thing
that I have realized is that while having a kindle is nice—all your books are
at your fingertips, at the same time it can be detrimental if you bounce
between books a lot (like I do at times). There are numerous books that I’ve
started to read in terms of personal/professional development and then I
decided I wanted to read something else. So now I’m actually going to go back
to some of those books and start from the beginning, as it’s been at least six
weeks (if not longer) since I read anything from that particular book.
Working on my “reboot
break”
I have an idea of how the first
few weeks will go—as those are the weeks that I’m going to dedicate to getting
my storage unit in order and starting to try to get rid of things (either
selling or donating).
As I had
posted earlier, I’m thinking that the first week (and it will probably be the
week of Thanksgiving) will look a little like this:
Get
up, have a cup of coffee (or tea), and feed the dogs
Go
for a morning walk at Boomer Lake (morning zen time and photography time)
Breakfast,
shower (probably), then to the storage unit to rearrange and/or repack boxes
Home
for lunch
Computer
time: **Make use of apps that allow blocking of certain sites for a certain
time frame (remove social media temptation—mainly facebook & instagram).
At
least one e-course (I have numerous ones bought covering a wide range of
topics)
Read/share
at least two articles from a biotech/biopharma news site on Linkedin and
twitter
Spend
at least forty minutes responding to messages and/or sending out connection
requests on linkedin
Spend
at least thirty minutes reading through other people’s posts on linkedin, and
hopefully commenting on at least two or three of them.
Read for an hour
(personal/professional development) and journal for an hour (answering
questions from personal/professional development book)
Workout
Feed
the animals
Dinner
and evening routine
Then after
getting my storage unit in order, and other things taken care of I can use that
time for other things (such as craft time, or more reading/journaling time).
This is one thing I’m hoping to improve upon during my reboot break—time management
and spending time doing things that I enjoy and things I need to do.
I’ve
realized that I’m not aiming for “balance” per say—just having the ability to
say today is a day that I need more “me” time or today is a day that will be
heavy workwise, therefore after work this is going to be my recharge plan. It
has taken me almost thirty-nine years to realize that I really never have had that
type of “balance”—I go all out one way or the other, and therefore it isn’t
surprising that I’m basically burnt out on life.
Aim for two weeks of
no spending (keeping a money log)
I think I managed about one day
a week of not spending money on campus. I’ve gotten into the bad habit again of
going to the student union at lunch and grabbing candy (my excuse is that it’s
a walk to help me get in my steps). Hopefully other than a few scheduled
purchases (such as pre-ordered books, one lunch out with friends, and one order
from Amazon), I can avoid spending money this month.
I don’t see
spending money as bad—but considering what I’m currently buying (namely
candy)—I think that I should try to cut back on that spending. Now if I end up
buying some fruit or veggies to snack on while on campus—I will make note, but
still try to avoid “careless” spending (i.e. spending money on things that I
could very well bring from home).
Get back into a
workout schedule (either a full program or a hybrid program between two
different programs).
This is one thing that I’m
struggling with currently. There have been new “hours” required at work (they’re
not really new, but they’re very concrete—can’t leave until basically 5 pm on
the dot), which has messed up my evening routine and I have yet to get into the
groove of a new one. Hopefully this is something that I can get straightened
out over the next few months.
Work on creating more
content for the blog (and potentially posts for linkedin).
Well, other than the photography
challenge (and I took a week off from that), and a few other posts—I didn’t get
that much content created for the blog, and none that would be shared via
linkedin.
I realize
that sharing things via linkedin, they’ll be more of the scientific posts (and
I don’t have that many of those done), plus I haven’t decided on the niche/area
I would like to focus on. Though to be truthful, for the blog I can be a little
more of a jack-of-all-trades, but they would need a central theme.
Work on getting in a
routine of reading business & scientific articles.
I have read several articles on
biotech/biopharma business pages, and even shared them on linkedin and twitter.
It isn’t totally consistent—but it is a start. I’m still trying to figure out
my niche, as everything/one has said that it is better to be an expert than a
jack-of-all-trades (which is what I currently consider myself).
This is
currently one of the problems I’m having with my transition plan—trying to
narrow down what it is I want to do with my life. One thing I’ve realized over
the years—once I master a skill, I start to get bored. Therefore I’m going to
need to choose an area, where I will be challenged consistently, and that could
even mean working my way up the ladder—more responsibility, more challenges.
Or, I may need to look towards smaller companies, where I may wear more than
one “hat” in terms of responsibilities.
Therefore the goals
for September will include:
At least 420,000
steps
Continue with the
photography challenge
Determine some type
of workout routine (hopefully more than just walking)
Aim for two weeks of
no spending (keep money log)
Read 3 non-fiction
books
Continue working on
the reboot/pause plan
Try to set up a
monthly calendar (getting organize) for various things
Continue reading on
various industry websites and sharing interesting articles via
linkedin/twitter. Plus notes for weekly recap on the blog
Keep reminding
myself: Progress over perfection, and that I shouldn’t fear failure, but fear
being in the same place next year as I am today.
