Tag: projectmangement

Health, time and project management: Goals for the Virgo New Moon

17
Sep
2023

So, we’re going to entering the Virgo New Moon this weekend, and I’m a couple days late in posting my new moon goals. That means the month is literally halfway over, and there are only a few days until my birthday. It also means that we’re almost through Virgo season as well.

While I’m not counting down the days until my birthday (I have too many things that I’d like to get done before hand…that if I start counting down the days—I may have either a nervous breakdown, or just turn off the computer and read), I will try to focus on what goals I can set and achieve during this time.

So what are some of the things that one can do during the Virgo new moon?

Take an inventory of your life. Figure out what is working and what isn’t and then figure out what needs to change for the things that aren’t working.

Be of service—help out more at work (if able), do the little things that can help make someone else’s day a little more bearable.

Be healthy—see what is and isn’t working in your health and fitness routines and then figure out what to fix—what new habits to start working on.

Avoid nitpicking—this is where the motto “progress over perfection” really comes into play

Get organized—pay bills, figure out the monthly schedule (workout, eating, so forth)—things that can make life a little more bearable going forward.

While most would think that the new moon would be moving through my first house (since my star sign is Virgo), it actually moving through my 11th house (or friends’ zone), since I’ve been going with my rising sign (which is Scorpio). 

Last year I wrote that my ‘new normal’ was social distancing (with a few exceptions—meeting a friend for lunch), wearing a mask, and just trying to be considerate of others. That is still part of my ‘new normal’, but now it also includes trying to figure out life post-trauma (death in the family back in May, and loss of a couple of pets in June).

Some of the things one can do in regards to their 11th house include:

Sign up for an evening class in something you’ve always wanted to do.

Ask your friends to introduce to friends of theirs you’ve never met.

Wish on a star every night for a month.

Introduce a childhood pal to a friend from your life now.

Say ‘Hi’ to someone you see nearly every day but never talk to.

Thank your best friend for being there for you.

Even though the pandemic has been ‘dialed’ back to epidemic status—I still don’t get out that much, therefore about two-thirds of the above list won’t be getting done.

The only things I could do in regards to my 11th house is: wish on a star every night for a month (would help improve my astronomy—as I’d probably be wishing on a satellite or a plane), and thank my best friend for being there for me (especially this past year).

So, since I’m still in semi self-isolation, my goals for the Virgo New Moon period will include:

  1. Take inventory of various aspects of life (research/writing/editing, crafts/hobbies, fitness, and mental health/spirituality) and develop a working schedule that will help me increase my productivity throughout the week.
  2. Create a fitness schedule that includes weights, shadow boxing, and getting on the exercise bike.
  3. Continue with the evening meditations, oracle card readings and journaling.

.

Goals are similar to last years—but I removed two of them. One didn’t add anything to the list, and in theory should have just been combined with the first goal (which I did here). The second one I removed was the list of outlines/drafts that I had planned for last year. I still need to make outlines/drafts/lists for both blogs, but I don’t need to do them all at once.

September is now over halfway over, and that means that there are only 105 days left in 2023. I’m more than ready for those 105 days to fly by…while at the same time wanting them to drag (mainly to ensure that I get things accomplished before 2024 gets here).

Progress is being made—I hit ‘publish’ on the science, health, medical blog website, and am working on getting it linked to my LinkedIn profile and the ‘business’ page I made for it on LinkedIn as well.

While I want to say that things are mellowing out—I also don’t want to jinx things, so I’ll just raise a toast (my cup of sleepy time tea) to the last 105 days of the year. Now, off to get some more planning done for the last quarter of the year.

What is one big goal you have for the last few months of 2023?

No Comments AstrologycareerfitnessHealthNew Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional developmentReflectionsspirituality

Pisces New Moon in Review: Reflections and a Writing Goal

02
Apr
2022

So the moon has transitioned into its fourth new moon phase last night—so I’m going to be a day or so late in posting the April New Moon goals. I talked about how the first quarter of the year was my ‘testing’ quarter—hopefully will get back into some type of consistent posting this month.

But before I look ahead to the April new moon, I should look back at the goals I had set for the Pisces new moon, and see how I did with each of them.

So what were my Pisces new moon goals?

Well, they included:

  1. Work on indulging in more creative work during the day
  2. Spend at least part of the day mind-mapping different ideas (creative writing projects plus expanding the writing portfolio)
  3. Create an intentional movement board game (include weight lifting, yoga, Pilates, cardio, dancing, walking, and so forth)
  4. Continue with an evening meditation routine and also try to meditate in the morning as well.

So, how did I do with each of them?

I would like to state, that only two (creating mind maps and the board game) are ‘one-and-done’ goals, while the other two are ‘continuous’ goals.

Therefore, I would say that the only two that I was semi-consistent were the evening ‘meditation’ (which is currently just sitting quietly for a few minutes at night), and managing some photography throughout the month (though it wasn’t on a day-to-day basis).

While I like my personal/professional development board game, I decided that trying to d a fitness one wasn’t really going to work. I couldn’t decide on how many squares—did I do one for each type of lifting workout, how spaced should they be (one square, three, or more?), and how many of the other workouts (yoga, Pilates, cardio, walking, and say dancing) should be added?

Therefore, I decided I’d copy down (and modify) the tracking sheets from a fitness program I’ve done a couple of times (leaving off the pushups and lunges). I could dedicate several pages within the journal to the tracking sheets, and then I’ll make a list of different cardio, yoga, Pilates workouts that I can choose from for the non-lifting days.

Then I will simply charge the iPod, put it on shuffle and do a workout each day (also taking into account rest days and ‘active’ recovery days [yoga and Pilates]).

I have at least one mind-map completed for a rather large ‘omic’ writing project that I’m going to start on this coming month—in addition to the other large writing project that I’m toying with (melding the ‘troubleshooting tips for molecular cloning’ with the topics of GMOs, biofuels, and vaccines).

I’m still debating on the oncology topic(s) that I’m going to write on (currently I’m thinking focusing on pathways that are ‘disregulated’ by different cancers), and work on the mind map for those topics.

So, I can possibly say I ‘managed’ possibly half the goals? There was time sitting quietly, and there was some craft time, and some mind mapping—just not always constantly or consistently.

As I mentioned last night in my ‘March in Review’ post—I’d let my inner critic/imposter syndrome drive the ‘fear’ train during the first quarter of the year. Changing directions is difficult, and when you live in the ‘analytical’ side of your head for years—its slightly difficult to move into the ‘creative’ side and get things up and going (such as writing, photography, crafts, and learning).

One thing I’m going to do is write everyday. Whether or not I ‘publish’ what I write daily—well, that is a whole other question (and will depend on what I’m writing). But currently I’m thinking of at least a biweekly (possibly weekly) photography page with its accompany blog post (currently would be focused on birds), and then possibly a biweekly travel page with its accompany blog post (currently would be focused on ‘throwback’ vacations, though may add in ‘wish list’ travel blog posts [places I’d like to travel to and things I’d like to see]).

When it comes to my ‘why’—I think I’ve figured them out: I want to help improve science communications between the general public and the science community, I want to help improve science education (show that it isn’t boring or dull), and share my story as I’m rediscovering my enjoyment of learning, writing, and sharing it with others.

So, I will be also be starting a weekly science series within the next few weeks—I just need to make sure that I have enough written ‘before’ hitting ‘publish’. The current two ‘large’ series I’ve already mentioned above (the ‘omic’ project and the molecular cloning/GMO/biofuel/vaccine project).

So, I digressed a little on the topic—but that is the ‘joy’ of free flow writing—you just write, and possibly go back and edit out what doesn’t make sense. Since this is a post on goals and reflections—I think I’ll leave the few meandering paragraphs on how I’m going to work on improving things.

Therefore, I can say that I’ve been embracing the phrase ‘progress over perfection’.

The Pisces ‘new moon season’ has come to an end, and it is now time to embrace the Aries season–which is also the ‘start’ of the astrological year. This means, that I can ‘reset’ my long-term, yearly, monthly, and weekly goals to match the ‘new future’.

What is that future: A future where I’m a both a content creator and a copywriter all rolled into one.

What are some of your tricks for dealing with your inner critic when it gets totally out of hand?

Namaste….

No Comments AstrologycareerCraftsfitnessHealthNew Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional developmentReflections