So tonight is the last full moon of 2020–that means there will only be two days left in the year. This has been a very long year with everything that has happened, especially the SARS-CoV2 pandemic that we’re still in the middle of; while there have been two vaccines that have been granted emergency use–I’m not eligible for either of them until probably the summer time (I’m currently in tier four for OK in terms of need). Therefore I’m probably not going to be making any major plans for any type of traveling until maybe sometime in 2022 going towards 2023.
So the full moon tonight will be moving through the Cancer constellation. Looking within “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland, there are several questions that one can reflect on during this time:
Have I been insecure, clingy, and no fun this month?
Have I been coming at what I want sideways instead of tackling it head-on?
Have I been sulky, moody, brooding, or manipulative?
Have I been secretive, and possibly even a tad paranoid?
Have I had enough family time, or time with people who feel like family?
Well, if I were to number the above questions 1-5, my answers this month would be as follow:
I don’t think that I’ve been insecure or clingy this month. While I’m still not 100% certain of what I want to do with my life–I have several ideas, and need to fine-tune a plan/schedule to be able to devote enough time to each potential project. In terms of not ‘being fun’–we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and therefore there really isn’t anything to do, if one is listening to the health officials and staying home. Finding time for hobbies, in addition to the different ideas for my career are on the agenda–I’ve realized over the past year or so, I do have the tendency to be laser-focused on one thing to the determinate of other things (for example–laser-focused on career/job/school and ignoring health/fitness/hobbies).
Yes, I probably have been going at what I want sideways instead of tackling it head-on. I think I found it a little easier to do it this way, since I’m not 100% certain of what it is I want to be doing.
No, I have not been sulky, brooding, or manipulative. Yes, I’ve been a little moody–but hello, we’re entering the tenth month of this damn pandemic–everyone is getting a little moody.
No, I have not been secretive or paranoid.
Yes, I have been having enough family time (again–there is a pandemic and I’m self-isolating at home with my parents; and we’ve seen my younger brother twice since it started. We’ll probably be seeing more of him once he moves back into town). I would love to spend more time with friends, but again–pandemic, and it really isn’t safe to be getting together with people who aren’t in your immediate family/household.
In addition to the above questions, the full moon in Cancer is also entering my ninth house. The ninth house is the “Big Picture” zone. Basically this zone deals with all things in terms of personal growth, professional growth, travel, religion and philosophy, and so forth.
There are actually two questions you can ask yourself in terms of the above topics:
Have you been fussing too much over the details of your latest problems or tasks?
Is your life and mind expanding or narrowing?
If I were to number the above questions 1 and 2, my answers would be as follows:
This is both a yes and no answer. Yes, I have been fussing too much over the details. I like lists, and I also like to basically have an outline (or at least rough draft) for various projects before starting things. This is more difficult to try to do when you’re thinking of switching directions career wise–especially, if you’re still uncertain about the direction. So instead of doing various things like networking, reading, listening to podcasts, and so forth I’ve been trying to make lists of skills, jobs, companies–but always second guessing and asking myself–“is this really the direction you want to be going”, and more often than not the answer comes back “I have no idea”. I don’t think I’m fussing over the tasks, but that is mainly because I’m not certain of what those tasks should be.
I think that I’m slowly getting back into a learning mindset, and therefore I am slowly starting to expand both my life and mind again. I fell into a ‘closed’ mindset for awhile, more out of self-preservation since I didn’t know what I was wanting to do with my life. I now realize that instead of investigating things and asking questions, networking, reading and trying to figure things out (basically where I am now)–I narrowed my focus to just getting through the day/week to the weekend, and that isn’t the best way to live one’s life.
So the goals for this full moon period may look like a long list–but a couple of them are hopefully going to be checked off the list before the New Year (as they’re part of another goal series that I’ll share in another post).
The goals for the Cancer Full Moon include:
Continue with my night tarot/oracle card reading and brief meditation.
Update various goal posts (150+goals in 2002 day [next installment will be in Feb]; Level 10 life)
Develop a fluid schedule/planner
Make a list of books (mainly non-fiction) to read in 2021 and e-courses to finish in 2021
Read at least one personal/professional development book from said list
Finish one small e-course from said list
Renew one professional membership
And as always the following quotes are going to be coming with me into 2021: “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”.
So we’re going to be entering the last full moon of the year (and December) on Tuesday. That means there will literally be only two days before the end of 2020, and the start of 2021. This is one of the few years that I’m actually looking forward to staying up late to see the year out—and hopefully 2021 will be a lot more mellow, laid back, and more productive.
But before I can look the next full moon, or even start trying to look back on the month or year—it is time to look back at the goals that I set for the Gemini full moon and see how I did with each of them.
What were my goals for the Gemini full moon? They included:
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’.
So how did I do with each of the goals?
In terms of reading/finishing two non-fiction books—I managed to start two new ones, but haven’t really finished any of them. I think that one part of my problem this year in terms of reading non-fiction books, I have SO many of them on my personal/professional/non-fiction reading list that at times it’s hard to choose which one to read at any given time. Another part of the problem is that sometimes I’m not in the mood to read non-fiction, so I will go read a fiction book instead (and I have managed to finish at least five fiction books during the Gemini full moon).
I am still improving my evening meditation routine. If I can manage to get my tarot/oracle card reading done prior to taking the dogs outside for their last romp—I can then meditate after I bring them in, instead of trying to get the card reading done and then meditate. Though this hasn’t happened as often as I like—therefore I may try to meditate and then do the card reading.
In terms of trying to develop an schedule/calendar, I’m going to be doing a couple of different things as we head into 2021. For starters I’ve created two ‘bingo cards’—one is a 2021 goal bingo card and the second is a 2021-2023 fitness program bingo card. I’m also going to be making a shorter list of books to read and e-courses to complete—and if I manage to finish everything on the lists, I will go back to the master lists and select some more to add to each list. I’m also going to start working on ‘channel switching’ (more on this in a later post); that once I get bored (or have reached a particular time limit) with something I will go do something totally opposite. This means that if I’m doing a lot of computer work—I will go do some chores, or a walk, or play with the dogs; and if I’m doing chores, I’ll take a break and read or just sit and be for a while.
It may not have been perfect this past month in terms of meeting these goals—but this is the last month of 2020, holidays, and lets just say that December 2020 is a month that I’m more than willing to ignore for the rest of time.
I am still going to be using the following quotes as we move into 2021: “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”.
So November is over—the presidential election went the way I wanted (though I was quite shocked at the number of people who thought the last four years were good and wanted four more years of the same shit). The Electoral College will meet in less than two weeks to finalize the vote, then on January 20th the new president and vice-president will be sworn into office.
I’m still working on figuring out the type of fluid schedule that will have me getting stuff done, but at the same time not feel like I’m being stuck in a rigid schedule.
The US still hasn’t gotten the virus under control—when I published ‘October in Review’ I noted that the US had over 9.4 million cases and now the US is just under 14 million cases (that is an increase of over 4.5 million cases in a month). This means that we’re starting to double in cases a hell of a lot faster than we were even a month ago. While there are several vaccine candidates that are being pushed for emergency use—it will still be awhile before the general population will have access to it (I’m hoping that the first series will be going to the front-line workers—the doctors, nurses, and emergency staff that have to deal with daily; and the two main vaccines require two shots a month apart). While the election went the way I wanted–it will still take a while to get the virus under control and then travel may be possible by sometime late 2021 or early 2022. I’m still planning on at least (hopefully) one mental health trip somewhere.
So as we head into the last month of 2020, I should look back on the goals that I set for November and see how I did with each of them.
Goals for November included:
At least 130-150,000 steps—I’ve realized that as it gets colder, I’m less likely to take my dog out for a walk and I usually am sitting more than anything during those days. Therefore I’m going to have to figure out something to do (possibly put on movies or something and march in place to get the steps).
Finish up the combo calendar of Yoga Booty Ballet & LIIFT4; then start 10 Rounds (which is 6 weeks and should take me right up to Christmas), with a little Yoga Booty Ballet tossed in here and there
Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books
No spend days/no spend weeks/no spend month
Finish the Medical Writers Organization program
Get half way through either the Management Consultant Firm or the Project Management Consortium programs
Start working through at least one e-course that deals with Python
Complete at least two other short e-courses
Start refreshing Spanish
So how did I do with each one?
At least 130-150,000 steps—I’ve realized that as it gets colder, I’m less likely to take my dog out for a walk and I usually am sitting more than anything during those days.
I managed to hit and surpass my step goal this month. I managed to get a little over 218,000 steps (218,813 steps to be exact). I managed this because I took four walks up at Boomer Lake (and the total walk usually gives me about 10-12,000 steps).
Finish up the combo calendar of Yoga Booty Ballet & LIIFT4; then start 10 Rounds (which is 6 weeks and should take me right up to Christmas), with a little Yoga Booty Ballet tossed in here and there
So I finished up LIIFT4 mid-November. The rest days were either used as rest days or I did a walk, or yard work (because we did have a ice storm at the end of October). I managed to do Yoga Booty Ballet during the first half of LIIFT4—I may add in a week at the end of month (December) since finishing up 10 Rounds will be around Christmas and I can either start a program a week early, or possibly do a week of Yoga Booty Ballet and then start something new after Jan 1st.
Started 10 Rounds on the 16th, and currently I feel like I have two left feet in terms of the foot movement and no rhythm at all for the slips and rolls. But it’s only my first time through—I may do it again sometime in 2022 (as I have most of 2021 already planned out).
Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books
This month I managed to finish reading the following books:
Quit your job and follow your dreams by Michelle Klup
This book basically gives tips on how to get various things in order (finances being the big one), how to transition to part-time, and how to just go about trying to figure out how to translate your dreams into a career, or a hobby.
No spend days/no spend weeks/no spend month
I managed to have a couple of no spend days—but they seldom stretch to no-spend weeks, and it didn’t stretch to a no-spend month. One reason—my impulsive habit of buying e-books, and if the synopsis of the book sounds interesting I’ll purchase it and may or may not get around to reading it for awhile.
Finish the Medical Writers Organization program
I’m almost through the fifth module of the program—I just have to do the writing and editing assignments, post them in the group and get feedback. Then finish up the 6th module. I have realized that while I’m thinking of going writing—I probably want to focus on either science education/outreach and/or writing for a nonprofit (such as Nature Conservatory, Sierra Club or a zoo/aquarium).
Get half way through either the Management Consultant Firm or the Project Management Consortium programs
I think I watched the first two videos for each program. Having the basics for consulting will be good; even if that isn’t the path I currently want to go on. I have no problems with long hours for a job—I just don’t want to be adding in huge amount of travel (which consultants do, depending on the company they work for and the area they may be assigned). I’m thinking that one way to showcase my project management skills will be to have a better posting schedule for the blog, posting regularly on different social media sites, and creating/posting original content on Linkedin as well. All-in-all two rather large projects I need to start planning out.
Start working through at least one e-course that deals with Python
Nope, this didn’t happen this month. I realize that in addition to trying to relearn/refresh a language, I will also need to consider this goal also as a ‘class’—schedule in the time or I’m not going to get it done.
Complete at least two other short e-courses
Watched the short course on skillshare: Capture your writing ideas: how never to lose track of blog or book ideas.
Basically this short course just talked about different ways of keeping track of ideas: either analog (paper and pen) or digital. I’m basically a hybrid—I like writing out on paper, but I also like to have a list of things digitally as well. I would give the course probably 4 out of 5 stars.
Start refreshing Spanish
Nope this didn’t happen again. I’m actually thinking that I need start thinking of this challenge (refreshing my knowledge of a language or learning a new language) as an actual class. I probably will need to write down that I will spend ‘X’ amount of time per day working on this task—otherwise I know that it isn’t going to get done.
So a little progress was made (namely on fitness) this month. In part, I will admit to being ‘glued’ earlier this month to the news to find out who would be declared the winner of the US presidential election, and the various stupid lawsuits that the outgoing president had launched to try to change the outcome.
I have to remind myself that the only person that I need to be in competition with is myself—and who I was yesterday. I’m working changing my mindset and self-talk. As I had stated last month—it took me awhile to realize that the all-out and full-speed ahead mentality/push basically brought me to that brick wall and burnout. I wasn’t using my strengths the way I should have been using them, and I was trying to meld myself into someone else.
The ‘reboot break’ may not be going as planned—but it has been beneficial. Now all I need to do is figure out the best methodology that will work for me to achieve my goals. The biggest question for me going into 2021 will be—what do I want to be doing in five years, and where do I want to be at that time.
It’s time that I start to draw my own map to my own destiny instead of relying on the maps of others. Therefore–
Goals for December will include:
At least 130-155,000 steps—December is probably going to be fairly cold and I’m not sure how often I’m going to be able to make it up to Boomer Lake for a walk.
Finish up 10 Rounds and then either do a week of YBB, or start one of the following combos: Muscle Burns Fat/Muscle Burns Fat Advance or 21-Day Fix Live/21-Day Fix Extreme Live.
Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books
No spend days/no spend weeks/hopeful no spend month
Finish the writing/editing assignments for the Medical Writers Organization program.
Get halfway through one of the other advanced Cheeky Scientist programs
Complete at least two other short e-courses
Brain dump/organize/create a rough draft for a editorial/to-accomplish calendar/list
And finally 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”.
So the moon will be transitioning into its next full moon phase in a day or two at the end of November. That means that there is literally one month left in 2020—30 odd days left. Then there will be 20 days until the new president and vice-president are sworn into office here in the United States.
While I will be happy to see 2020 come to an end—because lets face it, it has been a very difficult year for everyone; I’m leery about how 2021 is going to go/start. I mean, I hope that 2020 wasn’t a prequel to show how the decade was going to go—because if it is, I want a time machine NOW!
Anyway, before I can look ahead to the next full moon, it is time to look back at the goals that I set for the Taurus full moon and see how I did with each of them.
The goals for the Taurus full moon included:
Finish up LIIFT4/YBB and then start 10 Rounds/YBB
Start trying to dial in my nutrition a little (try to eat a few more fruits/veggies and a little less candy)
Continue working on my life handbook
Start being a little more active online (commenting, liking, posting) in various groups on Facebook and LinkedIn
Meditating nightly (yes, this is focusing on me a little—but if I keep myself in the right mindset, I’m more polite and easier to be around other people).
So how did I do with each of them?
In terms of the working out, I did finish the LIIFT4/YBB mix—though towards the end it was mainly LIIFT4. I have started 10 Rounds, and I doubt that I’m going to add in YBB constantly. One thing I’ve learned over the past few months is that it is perfectly fine to take the rest day (or days), and know that I’m not going to just quit working out (like I had earlier in the year).
In terms of dialing in my nutrition—this has been a little more difficult for me. One thing I’ve realized is that with the various eating plans I’ve tried to follow over the years—they’ve burnt me out on fruits and veggies. Now I love fruits—but I don’t like having to eat them constantly if I don’t want to (hence the reason why I’m currently not following any type of eating plans). In terms of veggies—I’m very picky on both the veggies I eat, how they’re cooked, and whether or not they should be stored and then reheated. So this is something I’m still working on.
In terms of making my life handbook—this is also a work in progress. As someone who is still trying to figure out what the hell they want to do with their life, trying to make the ‘blueprint’ at the same time is a little daunting. Ongoing task.
While I’ve been a little more active online, it was more on the main LinkedIn and Facebook pages; though I did post a few other things on a group page on Facebook. So this is again something of an ongoing task.
Meditating has usually ended up with me doing it right before going to sleep (so I’ve been in more of a prone position than a sitting position). Also I’ve realized that unlike others I don’t have a problem of ‘quieting’ the mind—my thoughts are obviously running around in the background whispering, because when I sit (or lay in a prone position)—thoughts are sparse. Something though to continue working on—possibly trying to do it multiple times during the day, just to lower the blood pressure.
So some things went better than others—finishing up LIIFT4 and starting 10 Rounds (though currently it isn’t one of my favorites, but that is because I feel like I have two left feet, and I’m having to figure out the modification moves myself since there is no modifier).
Nutrition will always be a work in progress, and some things will go better than others—I can probably add in fruits more easily than I can add in veggies to my daily/weekly routine. One thing I’m going to try to do is work towards having at least 3 servings of fruits throughout the week (yes, I know that should be a daily goal—but baby steps). A okay week will be 1 serving, a good week will be 3 servings, a better week will be 1 serving fruit/daily, and the best week will be 2-3 servings of fruit/daily.
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 others people think is the best choice you will ever make’
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.
