Tag: GoalSetting

Breathe…self-care and productivity goals for the Leo New Moon

17
Aug
2023

So, while I will be a day late in posting my August new moon goals…it will be the second time this year that I’d done my new moon goals (last time was back in January or maybe February). 

It’s been a rough year…and I’m slowly getting back into a routine. I’m slowly working on a schedule/idea list of things I want to talk/write about on this blog…and also for the other blog (which will be possibly getting a little more attention to get it up and running this year).

The new moon is happening roughly mid-month (since at noon on the 16th marked the half-way point since there is 31 days in the month)..that means that there are roughly 137 days left in 2023, and it’s about five weeks until my 43rd birthday.

So, what are some things that one can do during the Leo New Moon? If we look to ‘Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles’ by Yasmin Boland—we’ll find suggestions such as:

  1. Show off–celebrate life
  2. Flirt
  3. Be creative
  4. Love thyself–self love, work on confidence, and leadership skills
  5. Spoil thyself

Well…I’m probably not going to be flirting with anyone…while the ‘pandemic’ has been downgraded to local ‘epidemics’—I’m not much for going out…

Celebrate life…yeah, I should do that this year…but I’m not one to show off…so this is a total maybe.

I’m still working on self-love, improving my self-confidence, and leadership skills; at the same time being creative, and possibly spoiling myself (well within reason).

Self-love is being kind to myself but at the same time working on setting a schedule for doing things—and keeping to said schedule. Improving my self-confidence includes publishing more on LinkedIn and interacting more on the site as well. Last year, I stated doing a video intro…but haven’t worked up the nerve to do one yet…maybe this year.

Why haven’t I done one yet?? Well…I could say that I don’t have the proper equipment, lighting, and so on…but truthfully while I’m not super vain–I just don’t like seeing/hearing myself on replay…something to work on over the next several months.

These are all good for being within the Leo constellation, but one should also look to see what house/zone the moon & Leo constellation are progressing through as well. For me, that means that Leo is going through my 10th house, or my career zone. This is about my career & reputation (professional brand).

So what are some of the things that one can do during this time in regards to the career zone? They include:

  1. Speaking to your boss about how you’re doing
  2. Helping a colleague out of a rut
  3. Check that you’re not becoming status mad
  4. Start a new business as close to the new moon as you can
  5. Apply for new jobs with confidence
  6. When you’ve earned it, take the credit
  7. Plot your next best career move

So, we get to focus (a little more) on our career zone twice a year (whenever the moon moves through our tenth house—which it does twice—new and full moon); not to say that one should be ignoring their career zone/reputation the other ten months of the year. My 10th house (via the new moon) always seems to be around the start of a new academic year…and it’s always fitting that I should be focusing on the career at this time. I’ve been on my reboot/career break for a couple of years (though I had plans of getting things up and going this time last year…and those fell flat)…and now I’m going to be putting more focus on getting the science/health/medical blog/website up and running.

So, I could talk to myself about how I’m doing (or better yet—schedule a chat with someone else)…I’m doing okay—but need to create that schedule and aim to stick with it (at least ninety percent of the time). Going to try to schedule more virtual water/coffee chats with people as well. I’m not status mad (never have been), and in regards to the last four things:

Starting a new business—I’ve got the domain for the science/health/medical blog/website already. I just need to start creating content, get two pages ‘rewritten’, and start posting.

Career move—ultimately, I want to do freelance work, but will also accept remote work. The reason(s)—I want location independence, time flexibility, and not having to answer (for the most part) for fluctuating productivity times.

Apply for jobs with confidence—I’m slowly getting there. I need to update my functional resume (mainly to reflect a shift to more science/health writing than medical writing), and continue working on optimizing my LinkedIn profile, in addition to getting a portfolio put together for the new website.

The science/health blog/website will be the current focus of the ‘new business’, but I will also be spending time with the creative blog, and doing crafts/photography (and figuring out the best ways of monetizing those areas).

So looking at these two lists, my goals for the Leo New Moon will include the following:

  1. Continue developing my self-care/self-love routine. This will include meditation, time outdoors (when the temperatures/humidity play nice), journaling, stretching, craft time, and getting back into lifting weights.
  2. Create an editorial calendar for the two different blogs, and possibly LinkedIn. While I created one for August, it was only really for this blog (and I have managed to stick with the schedule). Possibly create a calendar for other social sites as well…
  3. Create my September BINGO card for goals, and get my September calendar drawn up.

Only three goals…but one is open-ended (self-care/self-love routine), and the other two are tied together somewhat.

I will accomplish these goals, and at the same time remind myself: progress over perfection, and done is better than perfect.

Based on the house that Leo is passing through for you–what is one of your Leo goals??

PS…if you have kids returning to the classroom (K-12 or college)–good luck, remember to breath, and reach out if some science help is needed….

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Scorpio Goals in Review: slow, steady, & continuous progress on all fronts

22
Nov
2022

So the moon is going to be transitioning through the Sagittarius constellation in a day or two—which means it’s time to look back at the goals that I set for the Scorpio new moon and to see how I did with each of them.

The goals that I had set for the Scorpio new moon included:

  1. Working on healing my relationship with food and movement. This includes having random dance parties in the living room on a 15-minute break between task, or getting out of the house with my dog for a quick 20-minute walk through the neighborhood.
  2. Work on getting the second website up and going (focusing on science/medical/health communications), in addition to also focusing on trying to get a remote communications position as well.
  3. Start working through various finance e-courses that I’ve bought over the years
  4. Continue to unplug at night (putting the computer to ‘sleep’ by 8pm)
  5. Continue figuring out my personal/professional brand

So how did I do with each of them?

Healing my relationship with food and movement:

Well, healing one’s relationship with food and movement is an ongoing process. Since colder weather is slowly settling in—I’m mixing up breakfast by also having oatmeal (with fruit) or waffles (not the healthiest—but hey, progress); and I’m thinking it could be more solo random dance parties in the living room this winter than walks…

I’ve always been more of a fair weather person—though I will go for nature walks in the winter with my camera (to try to get pictures the winter birds that are around), so I do find it difficult at times to get in a workout in the winter. Though there is always yard work that needs to be done—though we’re going to be leaving more of the leaves on the ground this year instead of mulching them (mainly because we’re in the middle of a drought—so currently no reason to try to put down grass or clover seeds).

I’m trying to find that ‘sweet point’ between not working out and overdoing the workout. I find I do sleep better after doing some type of workout—but if I overdo it, my sleep cycle is crap…so yeah—I’m still working on this as well…

Working on getting the second website up and going:

I’m still working on the second blog/website. For whatever reason—my inner critic/imposter syndrome has been derailing me (especially when it comes to writing the about me page)…but I managed to write my functional resume two weeks ago—so I’ll be using my professional summary as a jumping off point for the about me page.

Working through various finance e-courses:

I still need to start some of the finance courses that I’ve bought over the years—currently I’m focusing on the writing courses that I’ve bought.

‘Unplugging’ at night (by 8pm):

I’ve been fairly consistent at putting the computer to ‘sleep’ by 8pm—and usually it’s by 7 or 7:30pm. There may be one or two nights when I put it to ‘sleep’ past 8pm.

Figuring out my personal/professional brand:

In terms of the personal/professional brand—I’m still working on this as well.

I’ve been told that I shouldn’t be too much of a generalist, as I won’t get as much organic traffic to the blog(s), so I’m still working on figuring out both the ‘niche’ and the ‘generalized’ topic(s) that I want each blog to focus on. Then I need to work on posting to both sites (and other social sites) in a more consistent manner.

Then I will need to figure out my logo, fonts, colors, and all those other fun things.

The temperatures are bouncing all over the place—last week we were in the 30s, and this week we’re going to be in the 50s/60s—which means I can try to get outside to do something (aiming for at least a partial walk at Boomer Lake this week), without having to bundle up due to the weather.

I did okay with these open-ended goals…while I didn’t start a finance related e-course—I did start watching a business writing/editing one. Progress currently is coming down to trying to silence my inner critic/imposter syndrome daily so that I can get some work done.

There is less than 40 days now in 2022—which means I also need to start looking ahead to 2023 (and beyond) and figuring out the different personal/professional goals that I would like to accomplish over the next 365+ days.

Slow and steady wins more races than pushing to the point of burning out.

Curious question for the week—are you a fall or winter person?

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Progress…Not Perfection: Review of Libra New Moon Goals

24
Oct
2022

So we’re heading towards the next new moon—which means there is a week left in October, and then only sixty-one days left in 2022. The end of this year is going to be turbid, up-and-down, and I just need to figure out the time blocks that will work best for research/note-taking, writing/editing, reading, crafts, and everything else in life.

But before I fall down that rabbit-hole, I should look back at the goals I set for the Libra new moon and see how I did with each of them—before looking ahead to the Scorpio New Moon.

So what were the goals that I set for the Libra new moon? Well, they included:

  1. Unplug at night
  2. Continue working at both regaining my identity and developing my personal/professional brand
  3. Facing a fear–specifically work at getting my freelance/remote/contract science/medical/health communications/consulting business up and running

So how did I do with each of them?

Unplug at night:

I managed to do this one fairly consistently. There were some nights that I didn’t ‘unplug’ right at eight, and then there were other nights that I unplugged earlier than eight.

I actually started a new cross-stitch project a couple of weeks ago–and when I unplug at night, this is what I’ve been working on:

Latest cross-stitch project

The cross-stitch project is turning out to be an abstract microbiology project…or just a bunch of shapes. Should hopefully have it finished in a couple of weeks.

Regaining my identity and developing my personal/professional brand:

This dual ‘project’ is still in the early ‘stages’.

I know who I’m ‘not’—I not the bench scientist anymore, I’m not the person counting calories, containers, or the person who’d mentally beat herself up if she didn’t push play on a workout.

I’m a science/medical/health communicator who is still looking for her group of people.

I’m that multipotentialite individual that needs to have at least two projects going to be happy—but at the same time I’m that anxious individual who is worried that she isn’t giving full attention to anyone project.

I’m working on giving myself grace and catching the negative stories that I tell myself—and also reminding myself that life currently is going every which way—so it’s perfectly fine that I’m not getting in a huge workout—if I can manage at least 4k steps a day—I’ll be happy.

So–yeah, now it is a matter of still trying to define my ‘brand’ and then merge everything into something ‘cohesive’.

Facing a fear:

Fear: getting my freelance science/medical/health communications/consulting business up and running.

Status: Ongoing.

I’m still working on getting the website up and functioning (it is ‘live’—just currently as a skeleton website). I’m figuring out the direction of possibly niching (cancer biology) in terms of the portfolio, while contemplating keeping the ‘blog’ portion more eclectic (different science/medical/health topics).

I’m also working on the always dreaded editorial calendar for both blogs and LinkedIn (because that is part of my online portfolio after all)—which would mean actually looking at something other than my to-do list—as I told someone the other day, I’m more of a paper and pen kind of person in terms of organization—I can use the computer versions—I just don’t like them.

So, all in all it was a good Libra ‘season’—all of the goals were ‘open-ended’, and all were focused on during the past few weeks. While it is nice at times having a cut and dry goal (something that can easily be stamped as ‘finished’)—having the open-ended goals also give you that daily sense of accomplishment and knowing that you’re slowly turning things into a habit (like unplugging from the computer at night).

Therefore—there has been ‘progress over perfection’. Could I have gotten more accomplished? Probably—but I’m granting myself grace and acceptance with acknowledging my inner critic/imposter syndrome did come out to play for awhile this past month—but I’m slowly making that forward progress.

These goals aren’t just going to be fading away—while they may not be ‘front-and-center’ as we move into the next new moon—they’ll still be around.

One big goal for the last two months—getting the website up and running, and hopefully landing either that remote communications position or possibly my first one or two freelance clients.

How are you moving towards accomplishing that one really large ‘fearful’ goal?

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Leo goals: organization, goal-setting, self-care, in addition to reading & writing

28
Jul
2022

Looking at past posts—I didn’t set any goals during the Leo new moon in 2020 (not surprising considering we were still in the beginning stages of the pandemic), and I did set some goals last year. The moon will be moving through the Leo constellation either tonight (or possibly last night-depending on where you are in the world), marking the seventh new moon. There are also only 156 days left in 2022…that means I really need to focus on certain goals…

But, what are some of things that one can do during the Leo New Moon? If we look to ‘Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles’ by Yasmin Boland—we’ll find suggestions such as:

  1. Show off–celebrate life.
  2. Flirt
  3. Be creative
  4. Love thyself–self-love, work on confidence, and leadership goals
  5. Spoil thyself

So there are two things I won’t be doing (mainly because we’re still within the pandemic, and I’m trying to figure out my life)—and those are showing off and flirting.

I will work on self-love, my confidence, and leadership skills while being creative and spoiling myself (within reason).

Working on my confidence may be as easy as publishing more on LinkedIn (posts/articles), or even trying to do a video introduction to the Facebook page for the blog/website or something like that.

These are all good for being within the Leo constellation, but one should also look to see what house/zone the moon & Leo are progressing through as well. For me, that means that Leo is going through my 10th house, or my career zone. This is about my career & reputation (professional brand).

So what are some of the things that one can do during this time in regards to the career zone? They include:

  1. Speak to your boss about how you’re doing
  2. Help a colleague out of a rut
  3. Check that you’re not become status mad
  4. Start a new business as close to the new moon as you can
  5. Apply for new jobs with confidence
  6. When you’re earned it, take the credit
  7. Plan your next best career move

So, we get to focus on our career zone twice a year (whenever the moon moves through our tenth house—which it does twice—new and full moon). This is fitting that the Leo new moon is happening right now, though since I’ve been on a reboot/career break fro the past two years there is one thing that I really can’t do, and that is speaking to my boss about how I’m doing (unless I want to talk to myself), I can try to help ‘colleagues’ out of ruts—as anyone who is job-searching is truthfully a colleague.

Plot my best career move—I’m looking for remote positions within science/medical/health communications (writing or marketing), while also being open to remote data analyst positions (that don’t require a vast knowledge of coding).

New business—I’m working on updating the blog/website (will probably be changing the url within a few weeks) to showcase both my creative and analytical sides. Having a freelance business up and running full time—is my long-term goal.

Apply for jobs with confidence—I’m slowly getting there. I almost have my LinkedIn profile optimized for writing (or data analysis), and I’m working on that ever-dreaded resume. In addition, I’ve been slowly working on creating a portfolio—I have a decent chunk of the molecular cloning project written up, and have outlines for two other ‘basic’ science series almost fleshed up, in addition to working on an outline for several oncology topics.

The writing won’t be the only part of the ‘new business’; I’m also going to do some crafts, photography, and other things as well. The look and organization of the blog therefore change over the coming months.

So looking at these two lists, my goals for the Leo New Moon will include the following:

  1. Continue developing my self-care/self-love routine. This will include meditation time, time outdoors, journaling, stretching, and getting back into weight traning.
  2. Create an editorial calendar for the blog and possibly even LinkedIn to help streamline projects and have an idea of waht I’m talking about different platforms. Also should think of creating an editorial calendar for Instagram as well. In addition to finish editing some pages on the blog.
  3. Create my August BINGO card for goals
  4. Continue working on filling out the job search spreadsheet.

Above all else: progress over perfection, and remembering the following words: growth, creativity, and curiosity.

So what is one of your Leo goals?

Namaste.

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Aries New Moon Goals: making plans: personal/professional and intentional movements

03
Apr
2022

So the Aries new moon was actually this past Friday (April 1st). Looking forward, I realize that I need to call one of the many local pharmacies in town and see who is offering free booster shots and go get one (since the omicron variant is still running around, along with its sibling).

Looking back at what I wrote last year, we’ve been dealing with the viral pandemic for over two years now (at least in the US—we’ve entered year three), and I’m not sure how I feel about everyone thinking we can ‘downgrade’ from pandemic to endemic—but that is another post.

I had previously mentioned in an earlier post, that I decided to treat the first three months of 2022 as my ‘tester’ quarter. I did not publish as much as I’d wanted (or even planned on)—I let my inner critic/imposter syndrome get control and only posted a few posts each month (the month in review, new/full moon in review for the previous month, new/full moon for the current month, and possibly a book review or two).

So, while I’m trying to figure out a writing/editing/posting schedule for the blog and other sites, it is also time to look at the various things that one can work on during the Aries new moon.

So what are some things that one can work on during the Aries new moon? Those things include:

  1. Taking action on dreams and plans
  2. Make a 12-month plan
  3. Be courageous in moving towards achieving your goals
  4. Have some fun
  5. Focus on you

Then if one looks to see what house Aries is passing through—for me it’s passing through my 6th house or my daily work and health zone. This means that I really do need do develop a ‘fluid’ daily schedule that will let me focus on things of importance: health/fitness, personal/professional development, career, and so forth.

So what are some of the things that one can do during this time to improve things in their sixth house?

  1. Recommit to some type of exercise program
  2. Think about (correct if need be) your eating habits
  3. Help someone out this month
  4. Talk to your boss about any work concerns you might have
  5. Read a book on positive thinking
  6. Eat healthy lunches or dinners for one month–no expections
  7. Learn to meditate

So I always find it a little uncanny at times how accurate the moons transition is through the houses (especially when I know there are certain things I should be focusing on). While there are things that listed that are ‘mainstream’ (such as correcting eating habits or eating healthier)—I’m working on developing a better relationship with food, and am starting to listen to my body more. I’m also going to be moving to a more intentional movement ‘calendar’—to where I’m doing something daily for at least five to fifteen minutes each day.

So which things am I going to try to focus on over the next few weeks?

  1. Making a 12-month plan. I know what I want to be focusing on in terms of my career transition (remote writing and/or freelance writing/copywriting), and I have my other focal points (personal development, health, and hobbies) to also focus on—now I just need to turn those points into a yearly plan, and then break it down to quarterly, and then weekly and daily goals.
  2. Start with my intentional movement program (weight lifting four days a week, cardio once to twice a week, with a walk and possibly yoga or Pilates thrown in there as well).
  3. Start having yogurt with fruits and nuts for breakfast again, and possibly have some more veggies throughout the week as well.
  4. Read a book on positive thinking, positive psychology, relaxation, or mindset
  5. Continue to meditate nightly

I noticed last year, that I ended my Aries New Moon goals with the assumption that the insanity of the world was slowly starting to come under control—but this year the insanity is snowballing out of control.

I’m going to focus on what I can control (my reactions), which may mean less time with the news and social media.

I will send happy vibes, thoughts, and good feelings to the people of Ukraine who are still fighting for their country. I would have thought that by now we’d be past the slaughtering of innocence—but we’re not.

Happy, safe, loving, thoughts, vibes and prayers sent.

Namaste…

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End of 2021, December in Review: BINGO cards and other goals

02
Jan
2022

Well, 2021 is officially over. We’ve entered 2022, and I’d like to please ask everyone to keep their hands to themselves for at least the first month. Be polite to each other, nod hello, wear the mask, wash your hands, practice social distancing, and possibly this year may go ‘better’ than the previous two years.

While I may not have stayed off social media as much as I should have the past month or so—I am trying to still stay away from mainstream media (to help control my stress/anxiety levels). Though, 2021 could have ended nicer—I mean really Betty White??

We’re now about two months shy of starting year three of the pandemic (things in the US started to close down roughly mid-March 2020), and I’m hoping that people will be kind and considerate of their family and friends and get the damn shot for themselves and their children. In terms of the total number of cases of the virus within the US, when I published ‘November in Review’, I noted that were a little over 49.4 million cases and as of midnight—we had reached almost 55.7 million cases (an increase of 6.8 million cases during the month of December). The numbers are going up—mainly because the omicron variant is more contagious than the delta (or other) variants, and not as main adults are getting their shots (or possibly booster shots).

I’m hoping that the clinical trials for the younger children (under the age of five) has as good of results as the other children clinical trials and those shots are available come summertime. The only way this pandemic is going to get under control is vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate, and also listening to those who have decades of experience working with infectious diseases.

Again, I didn’t get as much work done in regards to the blog/website during the month of December—and I will totally blame it on the games that I’d downloaded on my kindle over the past few months (though they’ve both been ‘removed’). I’m aiming to make the transition to a remote medical/science writer this year, update/organize/rebrand the blog/website, and create a part-time freelance business by the end of the year (with the goal of it becoming full-time within the next two to five years).

But before looking too far into 2022, I need to look back at the goals I set for December of 2021 and see how I did with each of them.

The goals for December included:

  1. 130-155,000 steps
  2. Continuing with my second round of morning meltdown 100
  3. Setting up my ‘master’ plan/outline for 2022-2025
  4. Read at least one non-fiction book
  5. Read two to three fiction books (and possibly have small book reviews written adn published on the blog and other sites)
  6. No spend days/no spend weeks/limited spending month
  7. Time outdoors, meditation/sitting quietly, and daily gratitude journal entries
  8. Craft time (finish the fourth cross-stitch project)
  9. Work through at least one module of a personal/professional development course

So how did I do with each of them?

  1. In terms of 130-155,000 steps, I managed to meet and surpass the goal with a total of 170,166 steps. There were several walks at Boomer Lake and a couple of walks with Chaos through the neighborhood.
  2. In terms of continuing my second round of morning meltdown 100–I’ll be restarting it at the beginning of the year, and probably following it four to five days a week (so it will possibly stretch a little longer than just 100 days). I wasn’t up to pushing play all that often during December.
  3. In terms of setting up a master plan/outline for 2022-2025; I have a ‘master habit tracking journal for 2022 mostly set up (I just need to put in the boxes for almost every page for April-December). Since I’ve decided to go int eh direction of remote/contract/freelance writing and blogging I know that there are several things that I need to focus on this year for that to occur and I’m slowly working on that plan/outline (probably will be its own post within the next two weeks or so0
  4. In terms of reading at least one non-fiction book–I only read fiction books during December.
  5. In terms of reading two to three fiction books–I read the following:
    • My Bad Decisions (On My Own #4) by Carrie Ann Ryan (this is the only one that I wrote a review on last month)
    • Billionaire Unnoticed–Cooper (The Billionaire’s Obsession #17) by J.S. Scott
    • State of Grace (A First Family #2) by Marie Force
    • Snow Dragon (Dragon Knights #16) and Gatekeeper (Dragon Knights #17) by Bianca D’Arc
  6. In terms of my no spend days/no spend weeks/limited-spending month–I did better towards the end of the month (especially after removing a couple of games from the kindle), but still spent more that I should have. I’ll be ‘restarting’ the challenge again come January–so this will be a monthly goal for several more years to come.
  7. In terms of my ‘mindfulness’ activities (time outdoors, meditation/sitting quietly, and daily gratitude journal entries) the only one that I was consistent with was being outdoors (even if it was only 10-15 minutes at night with the dogs). I’m going to try to get back into the habit of meditating at night and doing a daily gratitude journal entry.
  8. In terms of craft time–I did a few color by number pictures, some photography, but did not finish the fourth cross-stitch project. I think that currently I’m going to stick to abstract/fantasy things and not try to landscape images for awhile.
  9. In terms of working through at least one module of a personal/professional development course–while I didn’t get any ‘modules’ completed during December, I did join another accountability group for working my way towards my transition to a remote writing position (one of the really pricy purchases in December).

I would say that I managed to complete a fifth of my December goals, and also made a little headway on aother two–so in total I managed two-fifths of the goals for December 2021.

Some goals only had minor progress throughout the year (limited spending challenge after January for one), while others were met on a somewhat consistent basis (step goal being within the range set)–but the important thing I didn’t just stop I continued going even if it was only little steps that might look like staying in place to others.

‘Pam’ managed to derail me this past month, but at the same time I was ‘willing’ to be derailed. The first week or so of 2022 will be spent creating various lists for things I want to get accomplished during 2022 (landing that remote writing position, reworking/branding the blog/website, and so forth). I’ve realized that one of my major problems has been trying to throw everything on a list and then struggle to get everything accomplished (or written) in say over the course of a month.

So the goals throughout 2022 are going to be similar to the goals that were set during 2021—mainly because striving for the same goals (especially once you achieve them consistently) makes them habits—and then one can start adding in ‘new’ goals.

Therefore the goals for January 2022 will include:

  1. 130-155,000 steps; hoping to be able to get at least one walk in at Boomer Lake and hopefully at least one or two walks through the neighborhood with Chaos as well
  2. Continue with a second round of Morning meltdown 100 (possibly on ly M-F)
  3. Read at least one non-fiction book from my 2022 non-fiction BINGO card
  4. Continue setting up my ‘master’ plan for 2022-2025 (and beyond)
  5. Read two to four (if not more) fiction books and write mini-book reviews to be posted on the blog and other sites
  6. Continue with the no spend days/no spend weeks/limited spending month
  7. Daily mindfulness activities: time outdoors, meditation/sitting quietly, daily gratitgude journal enteries, and daily oracle drawings
  8. Craft time
  9. Continue working on updating the blog/website
  10. Assignments for the diamond group
  11. Work through at least one module of a personal/professional development course from my 2022 e-course BINGO card

I’m focusing on making 2022 the year of ‘changes’—landing that remote position, and getting other items check-off the list. ‘Pam’ may still try to derail me, but if I sit and chat once a month with her—maybe, just maybe we can come to a ‘truce’ on the balance between ‘doing nothing’ and ‘doing too much’.

Last year I chose the words growth, creativity, curiosity, happiness, and prosperity as my words of the year.

I’m going to be keeping those this year—mainly because creativity and curiosity are strengths, and growth is needed to ensure happiness and prosperity.

Part of the ‘master’ plan is to determine what my actual ‘definition’ of prosperity is—in other words, what will make me ‘happy and fulfilled’.

In addition I’m keeping the quotes: ‘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’.

In terms of the last quote—I should state that is isn’t so much ‘not caring’ but ‘not giving’ preference to someone else’s opinion. I’m the only one who can live my life—therefore, I will give preference to my own opinion and needs over the opinions and wants of others.

Have you chosen any word, words, or phrases for 2022 yet? If so—what are they?

No Comments careerfinancesfitnessHealthMonth in Reviewno spend challengesPersonal Developmentprofessional developmentReflections

July’s second new moon: goals for the Leo New Moon

31
Jul
2019

So the moon is making its transition into Leo (either today or tomorrow depending on where you live). The transition today will make it the second new moon in July (and a super black moon at that). This also means that the month is over, and there are only five months left in the year. I’m getting better at not asking where the time is going, and I’m trying to get better at time management.

So what are some of things that one can do during the Leo New Moon?

            Show off—celebrate life.

            Flirt.

            Be creative.

            Love thyself—self-love, work on confidence, and leadership skills.

            Spoil thyself.

These are all good for being within the Leo constellation, but one should also look to see what house/zone the moon & Leo are progressing through as well. For me, that means that Leo is going through my 10th house, or my career zone. This is about my career & reputation (professional brand).

So what are some of the things that one can do during this time in regards to the career zone?

            Speak to your boss about how you’re doing.

            Help a colleague out of a rut.

            Check that you’ve not become status mad.

            Start a new business as close to the new moon as you can.

            Apply for new jobs with confidence.

            When you’ve earned it, take the credit.

            Plot your next best career move.

I finding it reassuring that the career zone and new moon are falling within this period again this year. It seems like the universe is nudging me to leave my current position—when I need something ordered for my job, the item is on backorder for months (and now there are two items). Last year, it was a computer issue—this year it is a technical issue. I am currently plotting my next move—it’s going to be a reboot break/pause. This way I can figure out what the hell I want to do with the second half of my life (as I’m looking at entering the last year of my thirties pretty soon).

So looking at these two lists, my goals for the Leo New Moon will include the following:

  1. Continue planning/outlining my reboot break/pause time.
  2. In part with #1—plan at least one trip (either total mental break or a combination mental break/networking/job searching).
  3. Work on creating more content for the blog and getting back into creative writing.
  4. Continuing with the photography challenge
  5. Work on my daily meditation practice (try to get back to meditating 5-10 minutes a night).

As always my current motto is: Progress over perfection. Right now slow is the pace I need to be going, as I try to focus on both my health and moving my career forward.

No Comments job searchingLifestyle ChallengesNew Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional development

Update on Scorpio New Moon Goals

04
Dec
2018

So we’re down to less than thirty days left in 2018—there is one moon cycle left before we enter 2019. The moon will be entering its “final” new moon of 2018 in a few days.

Now it is time to try to reflect back on the goals that I had set for the period that the moon was moving through the Scorpio constellation.

So what were my goals for the Scorpio new moon?

They included:

  • Get back into a meditation routine at night. This goes with the Scorpio mood of making inner peace & breathing.
  • Work on my transition plan—try to figure out both my “why” (or purpose) and my professional lifestyle that I want to live.
  • Continue with the second round of LIIFT4; and then finally
  • Work on ideas for more blog posts (and pages) for the website.

 

So how did I do with them?

 

In terms of meditation—it is still something that I’m struggling to get back into a routine with. I had been good for awhile, and then something happens to disrupt the routine and it takes me probably three times as long to get back into the routine (but I’m still working on it).

In terms of my transition plan—I’m still trying to answer the questions of both what is my why and what is my purpose. I think in terms of a professional lifestyle—I want a job that may not be a total 9-5 job, but it also isn’t a 14hr day 7-day a week job either. I think that currently I want to get back into the lab and do research (it is something that I enjoy—I just think that I’ve been in the wrong environment), and I also thinking of possible science communication—right now namely trying to get some more science posts/pages up here on the blog. I don’t want a job that requires a huge amount of travel (I’m fine with going to an occasional conference or meeting [even twice a year], but I don’t want to be on the road four out of five days a week), and I also don’t really want a customer service job either (my current position has shown that I really don’t have the attitude to deal with that type of position).

I’m still struggling to get back into a fitness routine—I’ve realized that there are times that I want to be “surprised” by the workout—what I mean is that I don’t want to have everyone’s lines memorized—I want to be challenged. So I think that I’m going to have to do a hybrid workout for a while until a new program comes out. I’ve also realized that there are times when it’s nice that everything is on DVD—that way if I decided not to turn on the laptop, I can still do the workout.

I am slowly starting to generate a list of topics for blog posts and ideas for more science posts (and pages) as well. The biggest challenge at times is actually sitting down and starting to write (or type). I know for a fact I have at least ten book reviews that I need to write (and those are just the non-fiction books that I’ve finished so far this year & I haven’t written a review over yet).

So while I didn’t make 100% progress with my goals during this new moon phase, I did make a little progress. That little progress made is better than no progress made—I’m trying to adapt the motto: progress over perfection (especially in terms of fitness and my career transition). Also we need to remember that the only person that we should be in competition with is ourselves–so if I’m trying to be better that means I’m trying to be a little better than I was yesterday.

No Comments fitnessHealthNew Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional development

Update on Aries Full Moon Goals

24
Oct
2018

Well Halloween is in a week, and that means that there are only two months left in 2018. I can’t say that I will be sorry to see the year-end; it has been a rough month and year. I know that in theory those moments are meant to be “growing tools”—things to learn from, and when I can reflect back without the tears—I might try to do that. Currently I’m out in Boston to attend a couple of networking events, so we shall see how this goes in terms of networking & trying to move into an industry position. The moon is going to transition into Taurus next—a lovely earth sign.

But in terms of my goals for the Aries full moon, how did I do?

I totally fell behind on starting a workout routine. I managed a week of LIIFT4 earlier this month before everything fell down the drain. Also with traveling, I’m counting my walking as my workout, though I have the room in my hotel room to try to do PiYo or some other low impact workout.

Still working on my transition plan; I have an idea of the positions—but never wrote any posts on why I picked certain positions over others. This is something I still need to work on.

Have totally failed lately at trying to mediate nightly. I know that it is helpful with trying to manage stress & anxiety—I just have been in a slightly depressed mood & wanting to “escape” with reading at night instead of trying to calm my mind for a while and then read.

I’ve been trying to be more active in the various groups (both fitness/nutrition and the science side of things). I know that I’ve posted several times in one group asking for suggestions on my linkedin account and in another with hopeful non-scale victories.

One thing I’ve realized is that I also am going to rework my 101+ goal list with a “new start” & “finish” date. This isn’t to say that I’ve given up on trying to reach the goals by the first date (9/28/2020), but I’ve realized that I’ve fallen behind on a lot of them and if I want to have a good finish (not necessarily perfect, but better than half) I need to take another look at the list and rework things.

No Comments AstrologyFull Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional development

Monday Motivation

30
Apr
2018

Well today is the last day of April (my review of the month will be coming tomorrow), and I still would like to know where all the time has gone?? How is it, we are already through a third of the year??? Well with that being said, I know that I’m going to have to kick my job search into high gear during the coming summer months, which is why I think this motto is so fitting for both today and this week:

                         Monday Motivation

There have been times when I have either talked myself out of something that I wanted to try or into something that I wasn’t a hundred percent confident on–always by saying something like “what else were you going to do? or you don’t have enough time to find something else.” But there is always a way to get to the solution–sometimes its a straight shot, other times it’s like that really curvy road that you can find yourself on and you hope that your carsick pills still work.  Right now I’m thinking that my life is that really curvy road, and while it looks like I’m back at the beginning–its only because the road has curved back–it’s going to curve forward soon–I just have to stay on the path (not jumping off and actually having to start “X” number of steps behind where I’d initially started.

I know that for my fitness and health journey–I need to start cutting back on the highly processed foods, and getting in at least a twenty minute workout daily. If I keep track of my calories (and try to keep them below 2000 [preferably below 1800]) I should be able to start seeing some of the weight fall off again as long as I’m also doing some type of workout.

As far as my job search is concerned–I have an idea of how to proceed–all I have to do is turn it into an action plan, and then actually execute that plan, and then hopefully by October I’m settling into an industry position on the east coast.

No Comments fitnessHealthPersonal DevelopmentPhotographyprofessional developmentQuotes