So the moon will be transitioning into Aquarius this week, and marking the second new moon of 2021. While the year may not be totally mellow (the second impeachment trial of the orange waffle started this week), I’m hoping that it may start mellowing out more and be more tranquil than 2020 was.
So before I look ahead to the Aquarius new moon, it is time to look back at the goals that I set for the Capricorn new moon and determine how well I did with each of them.
So what were my goals for the Capricorn new moon?
Work on developing my vision of where I would like to be in say 3-5 years and what I would be doing. In the same note, write out very specific goals/milestones that will help me achieve said vision.
Read (or finish) at least two non-fiction books that I have on my curated 2021 to-read list.
Finish at least one e-course from my curated 2021 e-courses to-complete/watch list
Work on getting better at self-compassion.
So how did I do with each of them?
In terms of my vision–I decided that to have an evolving vision for two reasons: 1) I’m still working my way out of my ‘burnout’ hole, and 2) I’m still not ‘locked in/on’ an path for my industry transition. Currently my long-term vision moving forward is:
I’m moving forward in life with vitality, inner harmony, and openness. I am achieving those goals through curiosity in spirituality, creativity in learning, and knowledge that I’m embracing growth and transformation in both personal and professional aspects of my life. While I know that I still have more ‘stairs’ to climb to totally get out of my ‘burnout’ hole, I’m making progress and steadily climbing upwards (sitting to catch my ‘breath’ as needed so I don’t go tumbling back down).
To project a vision further than the next staircase is to almost undo the work I’ve put into the journey from the bottom of the ‘burnout’ hole to my current position–resting after making up the first staircase.
When I shared this vision in an group, I was asked what I would write/construct for a vision for the present, and after thinking on it I came up with the following:
If I had to think of a vision for the present, it would be knowing that I’m making my way up the staircase, but taking a ‘rest’.
The ‘rest’ is sitting at a table, surrounded with books, paper, pens, and a laptop. I know that to continue going up the staircase, I need a direction as I see several different staircases around me. I’m researching my options, and leaning towards one of the two that look to both converge at the next ‘rest’ area.
As I’m thinking of what I would like to do with my life–I’m leaning more towards the remote/freelance aspect, but as more of a generalist with a slightly touch of specialist sprinkled in. Therefore I’m pondering the different things I like and attempting to see what type of puzzle or picture I can make out of them that will keep me learning, engaged, but at the same time bring in money to pay the bills.
In terms of the reading, I managed to finish 3 non-fiction books from my curated 2021 to-read list and they were:
Burnout: The secret to unlocking the stress cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
Secrets of Six-Figure Women: Surprising strategies to up your earnings and change your life by Barbara Stanny
Badass Habits: cultivate the awareness, boundaries, and daily upgrades you need to make them stick by Jen Sincero
I should hopefully be getting small book reviews of all three up on the blog within the next two weeks.
I also managed to watch 3 short e-courses off of Skillshare and they were:
Powerful Storytelling today: strategies for crafting great content
3 ways often overlooked to get traffic to your blog
Finding your inner creative
Reviews for these three can be found here: on December 2020’s review of Cancer Full Moon goals.
Improving/increasing my self-compassion is something that is always ongoing and evolving. There is never a one-and-done with any aspect of self-care. I’ve been trying to catch and reword/rephrase any negative self-talk. This has been difficult (as I’ve realized that most of my negative self-talk is on such a quiet loop), that unless I actively pay attention–I miss most of it. I have been trying to be more understanding with myself, and once I realize that I am doing something that is not helpful (such as looking for split-ends constantly), I start figuring out a way to reduce doing that habit/mannerism (such as braiding my hair).
So in terms of the goals–the quantitative ones were the easiest to keep track of, since I have a list of both books and e-courses that I would like to finish this year. The other two were a little harder to measure and keep track of.
I decided that it was easier to create an evolving vision currently, since I don’t have a job position (or even title) that I’m currently leaning towards. I wanted something that showed I was moving forward, but at the same time acknowledging that I am still a little uncertain of the path forward.
I have also realized over the past year that self-compassion and self-care are two things/areas that I’ve always slightly ignored growing up, going to school, and trying to set out on my career path. I also realized that once I decided on graduate school–I started ignoring different aspects of my life (the parts where I enjoyed doing various things and learning about various topics), to focus on an single aspect–getting my advance degree and trying to set out on the academic path.
Everyone’s idea of self-care/love is different. I’m trying to incorporate typical ideas (such as reading a good book, taking a bubble bath, and working out) with some of my own ideas (such as meditating by candle light, reflecting on oracle cards, deep breathing/stretches before bed). While some of these I do daily–they’re not done with the idea of taking care of mental/emotional or spiritual health–they’re just something I did. Now I’m trying to be purposeful in doing them–honoring my health (in all aspects).
Now I’ve realized that I can’t ignore those parts of my personality–that I actually do focus better when I can make the choice to put one project down and pick up another-or just pause one while working on the other. This is what I’m going to be focusing on moving forward in 2021–growth, creativity, curiosity, which will lead to happiness and hopefully prosperity.
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.
