Tag: slowprogressbetterthannone

Reflected and organized–planning still to be done: Review of Libra Full Moon Goals

24
Apr
2021

So April is almost over, and that means that we will be heading towards the fourth full moon of the year on Monday. It seems taht time dragged by this time last year, but is speeding by this year. I’m not sure if it’s due to having a competent federal administration (at least at the executive level) and/or getting the pandemic slowly under control. But before I can look ahead to the next full moon, I need to look back at the goals that I set for the Libra full moon and reflect on how I did with each of them.

While it wasn’t a ‘goal’ per-say, I did managed to get a picture of the moon with my camera and longer lens (not the greatest, but not bad for the first time either):

March’s Libra Super Full Moon

So now back to the goals that I set for the Libra full moon? They included:

Working on my focal points (idea from the book ‘The Renaissance Soul: How to make your passions your life–a creative and practical guide’ by Margaret Lobensteine). Either ‘focus’ them more (making them more specific) or at least have my ‘whys’ added to them.

Create the ‘April brain-dump’ page; basically try to get all ideas and thoughts for the month of April onto paper. Giving me some direction for the month, plus allowing me to see what posts/pages I would like to create.

Continue working through various personal and professional development courses. Probably wouldn’t hurt to develop at least a rough draft of a personal/professional development plan.

So how did I do with each of them?

In terms of working on my focal points, while I didn’t make them any more specific, I did add my current ‘whys’ to each of them.

My evolving focal points plan

While I decided to keep the focal points semi-vague, I added in my ‘strengths’, core values, and my current ‘whys’ for each fo the five focal points. Keeping the focal points slightly vague was an attempt to try and keep my inner critic/imposter syndrome in check. I had spent a couple of weeks staring at the focal points and trying to make them more specific, but then I remembered this passage from ‘How to be everything: A guide for those who (still) don’t know what they want to be when they grow up’ by Emile Wapnick:

“When you lose interest in something, you must always consider the possibility that you’ve gotten what you came for; you have completed your mission. […] That’s why you lose interest: not because you’re flawed or lazy or unable to focus but because you’re finished”.

I felt like this passage could almost sum up the past twenty years of my life, and I wish I had spent more time in my 20s trying to figure out my life, instead of just going with the flow. Going with the flow can either lead you in the right direction–or carry you so far off your path, you have no choice by to start foraging a new one. Truthfully, I find myself in the second category–having to forage a new path to try to connect back to my ‘original’ path that I deviated from decades ago.

I created my ‘April brain-dump’ page almost as soon as I finished writing the Libra Full Moon post. In terms of making use of it–only a few things have actually been crossed-off/highlighted. I think this was due in part to the weather slowly warming up–I like to spend time outdoors when it is nice, and the other part were the more subtle ways of my inner critic/imposter syndrome pulling me back into my comfort zone.

While I have noticed different ways that I ‘self-sabotage’ myself at times, and with even having ideas on how to deal with those issues–I still fell into those habits this past month. I spent way too much time either surfing social media and/or amazon, plus reading various fiction books (I was pretty much binge reading the Fatal series by Marie Force to get ready for State of Affairs that came out on the 20th).

I’m going to actually try and make use of the one ‘time-management’ app that I downloaded earlier this year (it is called Self Control), and see if I can get more things accomplished in May than I did in April. As I sit here writing this post, I realize that I probably should have been making use of the app for a couple of months–but I allowed my inner critic/imposter syndrome to keep me from activating it with their best ‘lie’: ‘what if there is another webinar or whatever being announced, if you have the site ‘inactive’ you’ll miss hearing about it’. Well–I’m going to take that risk that I will miss out on hearing about something right away.

In terms of working through any personal or professional development course–yeah, that didn’t happen this month. Again it was a combination of the weather getting nicer (therefore wanting to be outside more), and having managed to work myself in a decent anxiety attack with trying to develop a personal/professional development plan (therefore having then ‘shut down’ for most of the month).

I’ve realized that I’m still struggling with trying to define any type of long term goal (basically where do I see myself in ‘X’ years), both professionally and personally–which makes trying to create any type of long-term plan difficult. While I can keep most things vague–I realize that I should try to make a semi-focused long term goal of say 5 years (which is something that I’m slowly working on), and also realize/embrace is the fact that the goal can (and probably will) slowly start changing as I really start figuring out what I really do enjoy doing on a daily basis.

So while I only had three goals set for the Libra full moon, I managed to meet (at least in part) two of the three goals. I added my ‘whys’ to my focal points, and did a ‘brain-dump’ of ideas for the month. I also realized that I tend to start having ‘problems’ getting more things done once the weather starts getting nice and I want to be outdoors more than I want to be indoors. This means that I will need need to try to get all the computer work done in the morning/evenings, or set up an ‘outdoor’ space for working. I will also start making use of the ‘self-control’ app to keep me from scrolling through various sites all day instead of working. Though as I look at what I’ve managed to accomplish (and what I had hoped to accomplish) this month (and year) to date–I realize, that I can ‘start’ the year over at any time. So that is what I will be trying to do: I will use this last week of April to reflect and plan for a ‘new year’ and May will become the new starting point.

This is allowing me to keep with the following quotes: ‘Progress over Perfection’ and ‘You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last chapter’. Progress, no matter how small will add up over time, and will carry one forward–the biggest hurdle is just getting started.

No Comments AstrologyFull Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional developmentReflections

Review of Aries Full Moon Goals

12
Nov
2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

And always remember: Progress over Perfection.

So how did I do with each goal?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No Comments AstrologyFull Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional development

Review of my Leo New Moon Goals

31
Aug
2019

So the moon is making its transition into Virgo (either today or tomorrow depending on where you live). The transition today will make it a new moon in August (and fairly late at that—since tomorrow is the 31st). This also means that there are only four months left in the year. It also means that it is time to look back at the goals that I had set for the Leo new moon and see how I did with them.

So what were my goals for the Leo new moon?

  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).

So how did I do with each goal?

In terms of my reboot/pause break—the only thing I know for certain is that I will be spending a good week or so going through my storage unit and getting it in order. I started doing it last year, when I rearranged everything—but I know that I have at least half a dozen boxes that need to be repacked. I’d also like to maybe go through a few of the boxes and maybe get rid of some stuff if possible.

I’m thinking that for at least the first week or so my day may look like this:

            Get up, have a cup of coffee (or tea) and feed the dogs.

            Go for a morning walk at Boomer Lake and take some nature/wildlife photography shots.

            Breakfast, and then up to the storage facility to work on my storage unit (for at least an hour or two).

            Then back home for lunch.

            Go through at least one e-course (taking notes).

            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.

            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

In terms of planning a trip—I haven’t quite decided if I’m going to try to make it the ASCB national meeting in December or not (and that would take a minor chunk of money). If I decide not to go, then I’ll probably start planning a trip (or two) for the spring (towards March or April), when hopefully there isn’t as bad of weather (blizzards and such) that could wreck havoc with air travel.

In terms of writing more—this is something that I feel short on this month. I’ve realized that my “writer’s block” is partially procrastination, and then partially being tired all the time and poor time management (see being tired). As I told someone the other day—I’m not an early bird, or night owl—I’m a perpetually tired day pigeon. I need to get my sleep schedule worked out and once that is on an even keel, I’m sure everything else will fall into place. Though with the reboot break coming up—I should also schedule in the time for writing and brainstorming.

I took a mini hiatus from the photography challenge this month—I just couldn’t decide on photographs to share, and it was one of the weeks when I was just really irritated with the world in general. But I got back to this last week, and I think as long as I get a weekend walk in—I should have photographs to share (though the themes are repetitive—the pictures aren’t), but I am also going to try to do some architecture photography this fall as well. That means hopefully some new pictures/themes.

In terms of meditating nightly—I’ve managed that, though most nights it has only been for two to five minutes. I’m still quite a bit off from doing nightly five to ten minute meditations. When I was doing my five to ten minute meditations—it took me about two to three months to get up to that time. So I’m on target to get back to five to ten minutes a night—I just have to keep up with the routine (and some nights that is a challenge).

So I was probably at about fifty to sixty percent on hitting my goals during the last new moon phase—which is on target with how I’ve been doing all year. I’ve been able to meet at least half my goals (sometime more, and once or twice a little less). But the motto for the last few months has been: Progress over perfection.

No Comments New Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional development

A review of the Capricorn Full Moon Goals

15
Aug
2019

So tomorrow marks the full moon for August, and just like that we’re halfway through the month. I’m actually liking how time is going “quicker”—that means that pretty soon I’ll be starting my reboot break, and then readjusting, reorganizing, and restarting my job search/transition as well. So that means that it is time to look back on the goals that I had set for the Capricorn full moon, and see how I did with each one.

So my goals for the Capricorn full moon period will include:

Continuing to work on my drafting my “reboot break” and also working on my transition plan to move from academia to industry.

Read (finish) at least one personal or professional development book.

Finish my second round of Country Heat.

So in terms of my reboot break & transition plan—I have ideas for both. I’m planning on spending most of the first month dealing with my storage unit and slowly try to declutter and get rid of things. I’ve realized that I probably won’t be looking to buy a house any time soon—therefore I shouldn’t have a lot of stuff, and also whatever I do keep will need to fit in an apartment (or a condo). In terms of the transition plan, I’ve been going through my notes and I also have some ideas there as well.

I’ve managed to finish several books over the past full moon period:

            “Outer Order, Inner Calm: Declutter and organize to make more room for happiness” by Gretchen Rubin

            “Pause: Harness the life-changing power of giving yourself a break” by Rachael O’Meara

            “The Self-Care Prescription: Powerful solutions to manage stress, reduce anxiety and increase well-being” by Robyn L. Gobin, PhD.

All three books dealt with one of the two areas that I’m currently trying to work on—decluttering and getting my mental/spiritual health back on an even keel.

Though now I’ve fallen into my reading for enjoyment more than reading to learn. Tomorrow, though I go back to reading at least 10% of a personal/professional development book before going back to an “enjoyment/escape” book.

In terms of the fitness goal, I did not make it through a second round of Country Heat. This was due in part to the weather—it’s been either hotter than hell, humidor than hell, or both—and after a long day at work wearing shoes & socks, I’d rather not once I got home. The other part, is that I’m still trying to adjust to the fact that I can’t leave work until 5 o’clock on the dot—when you have numerous things to do once you get home—something falls off the list.

I’m hoping once the temperatures drop a little, I will feel like putting shoes and socks back on at the end of the day and doing a workout—I use to do it after dinner, but then tried to push it before dinner (that way there wasn’t a little lag room for letting it settle before working out).

Well I managed to get two out of three goals this past full moon. Even though I didn’t make it through a second round of Country Heat—I did manage to basically hit my step goal at least Monday-Friday (weekends are something else, to where if it isn’t cool enough for a walk, I usually only hit about fifty percent of my steps). So I am making slow progression towards my goals. Now it is also time to sit and plan out the goals for the next full moon (which is tonight—or maybe tomorrow or last night depending on where you are in the world).

No Comments AstrologyfitnessFull Moon GoalsRebootBreak

12 month plan update: starting slow and trying to stay moving

13
Apr
2019

So I had posted earlier this week that I was in the process of developing a new 12 month plan that encompassed several different areas: health and fitness, career, finances, and spirituality. These areas were picked because they can more or less feed off of each other and once you have some of these areas under control everything else can then hopefully fall into place.

So I know that starting out I probably won’t reach 100% on each area, and that there will be some weeks when I subconsciously focus on one more than the others. The purpose here is to keep moving forward (even if it seems to be at a snail’s pace).

I decided that each week I’d set two to three goals per area, and then on Saturday and Sunday review how I did the previous week and then adjust the goals accordingly for the following week. Today’s review/check-in will cover my goals for health and fitness, and finances. Tomorrow will be career and spirituality/personal development.

Since my main fitness goal is to get into the best shape of my life.

So my goals for fitness and nutrition this week were:

            Set up a new workout schedule for the week.

            No sweets at work.

            Hitting my step goal daily.

So how did I do with each one?

My workout schedule for the week was to do the following workouts:

Monday—LIIFT4: Chest & Triceps

Tuesday—LIIFT4: Back & Biceps

Wednesday—Country Heat: Country Swing

Thursday—LIIFT4: Shoulders

Friday—LIIFT4: Legs

Saturday—Country Heat: Giddy Up

So today I will be probably doing a double workout (as long as the internet/wifi behaves) of Country Heat: Giddy Up followed by LIIFT4: Legs as I took yesterday off as a rest day. Also for full disclosure, Wednesday’s workout was only 20 minutes of the 30-minute workout (because the wifi in the house blinked out and then reset itself—and I wasn’t in the mood to do the entire program again or try to get it back to where it was). But I have managed to do a workout basically daily—which is a lot better than what I’ve managed to get done the past couple of weeks. I’m also starting back a little light on the weights and hopefully working my way back up to where I was when I finished my first round of LIIFT4—my NSV goal is to be able to do bicep curls with 14-20 pound weights.

In terms of no sweets at work—I managed to go three out of five days (60%) of not getting any sweets at work. I had bought coffee and breakfast on Thursday (which included a candy bar—that I ate with my lunch on Friday), and I guess I bought some candy Tuesday afternoon as well (though I had forgotten about that candy splurge). While it short of my goal of five days it is a lot better than what I’d been doing the previous couple of weeks.

In terms of hitting my step goal daily—yesterday was the day that I fell short of the goal of a minimum of 14,000 steps (I finished with 11,518; which was 82% of my daily step goal). But every other day this week I managed to get at least 14,000 steps; so even though I didn’t hit yesterday—I’m still close to my weekly goal of 98,000 (Sunday-Saturday).

So I managed to hit the goals 75% of the time—rest days are important so I’m not going to beat myself up on the fact that I took one yesterday instead of doing my workout. I also know that stress/anxiety and having a bad night sleep are usually the culprits for me going to look for sugar fix on campus during the week. Know what the triggers are is helpful—but now I need to find a different way of reacting that doesn’t include sweets or spending money.

I am also trying to get back into the routine of writing down what I eat daily (usually at the end of the day; though sometimes I remember to start my daily food journal at lunch). This is just so that I can maybe start trying to determine if certain foods are also making me feel uncomfortable and then adjust what I eat accordingly.

So my goals for the coming week in terms of fitness and nutrition, are going to be more or less the same (as I’m happy with being at about 75% for all three):

Set up the workout calendar again (LIIFT4 with either Country Heat or Yoga Booty Ballet)

Trying to avoid buying sweets on campus (this also helps with the no spend challenges)

Hitting the step goal daily (this way I can work towards my monthly and yearly step goals).

In terms of my finances—I realize that I’m going to be 39 this year, which means that I should be thinking about making sure that I have enough money when I retire (in basically 25-30 years; or possibly sooner if I can swing it). Currently my finances are okay (mainly because I’m living at home and have very few monthly expenses).

Finance goals–broad, but currently better than not having any.

 I have managed to get my credit debt back to down to basically zero from the astronomically high amount that I owed when I moved back home six years ago. I probably could have had it paid off sooner, but I was also trying to build my savings account back up at the same time.

By the end of twelve months I would like to hopefully have my savings up another 10-15K (or at least steady—which means having saved hopefully an additional 6-8K to cover any moving expenses for when I get an new job and have to move out of Oklahoma). I always want to start getting my retirement account a little higher (which means having some money set aside that I can put into another type of retirement account that is separate from my current one).

My goals for this week were:

Fill in my money log for the first part of the month (I know that I’d spent money during the first part of the month—but I didn’t fill in the sheets; so I need to have gotten that done).

No spending money at work.

Check all credit card accounts and readjust my monthly budget accordingly.

So how did I do with each one?

I filled in my monthly money tracker. This was more of trying to keep track of money spent on campus—so there were one or two things that I had forgotten to put on it (like the e-book that I bought or the two journals that I’d bought for note taking).

I did spend a little money on campus this week—two out of the five days (but that is one day better than the week before where I spent money three out of five days).

I’ve done my credit check, and my monthly budget that I set up is looking like it is still good—I’ll probably readjust it after the next biweekly paycheck comes in so that I can set up for my May budget.

One thing that I will be doing is making a list of monthly re-occurring fees and looking to see which ones I might cancel. I know that I do support a couple of non-profits via monthly donations that I charge to a credit card; plus I have several other things that come in monthly that are charged to a credit card as well. My goal is to try to have a monthly sum (via all credit cards) of less than $750 dollars—that way it can also get paid off monthly as well (and there will be no interest charged). So we will have to see how this goes.

My goals for the coming week in terms of my finances are:

No spending any money at work (keep money log up to date).

Transfer about half a paycheck to the savings account.

Resubmit the declutter order and sell quite a few DVDs back for a little bit of money.

So overall I’m pleased with the first week’s progress for both my fitness and nutrition journey and getting my finances back on track. I realize that there may be weeks that I have a set back in both areas—but I need to remember that small setbacks are okay (and even expected)—I just need to keep moving forward and not allow them to derail me like I have in the past.

No Comments 101 GoalsfitnessHealthPersonal Development