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.