Looking back on the last ten years: moving forward, growing in my field, and considering non-traditional markers of success.
How do you measure success?
Take 5 minutes to write what you did in the last ten years, you’ll probably surprise yourself.
MENTIONED
Smart Podcast, Trashy Books, Episode 386: High Fives and Forget ‘Should:’ Talking Goals and Resolutions with Scarlett Cole
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Guys, it’s been a MONTH. And we’re only 9 days in. But first, a recap of August…
Made some progress on the rewrite. Not as much as I’d like, but maintained a relatively consistent schedule.
Read some good books. Didn’t finish others. (video on Friday!)
Booked a flight for a November trip to California (yay! Non-work related vacation!).
Started “running” again (running for me looks more like intervals than steady state runs).
The rest was kind of a blur. Too many migraines.
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I plotted my next writing project, and adopted a new method to take control of the middle before it becomes messy (one of my greatest issues as a writer).
Sent out my first batch of queries. And received my first batch of rejections. It’s a learning experience and I received valuable feedback. (ta!)
I’m still working the #ootd tag and maintained a steady stream of posts @lifeingminor despite less than ideal lighting conditions. Such is the curse of the early morning riser.
Received some disappointing news – I have a confirmed cyst (actually, I have more than one, but only one is concerning). Had an MRI and await results.
My #projectpan is going strong – I measured my Kosas and Besame lipsticks and have seen some real progress. Meanwhile, my eye shadows are starting to show a dip and I’ve been playing with various eye looks for daytime.
Went to Knoxville for a conference. The city was lovely and the food was great. Fun times (and too many impulse buys).
Personal finance books
2019 is the year when I focus on building wealth. Yep. That’s the plan. I have a solid relationship with money and live relatively debt-free (which means, I pay off credit card debt within a reasonable amount of time, generally 1-3 cycles, depending on my budget). I have an emergency fund and committed to using a cash budget for regular expenses; now it’s time to focus on investing, so I’m reading all the things.
Video on my favorites coming in March.
Project Pan 2019
More on this to come, but if you watched my makeup capsule, you’ll know that I want to use up what I own and pan at least 2-3 of my products. I have two lipsticks that I’m rotating at the moment (about 80% of the time), and a small eye shadow palette that I would like to hit pan on in the coming months. My goal is to use up what I have and repurchase what I love.
Using my French press at work
I’m a millennial. I’m destroying my future one latte at a time. (ha!) Jokes aside, $5 a day for my latte habit is not sustainable. To make up for it, I’ve been brewing my own coffee and adding an indulgent creamer (because this is also the year I stop caring about ingredients and start living my best life). Being on a cash budget certainly makes it harder to part with those $5.
Project management
In library land, I always say instruction doesn’t make sense until the point of need. That’s also how I feel about project management tools. I tried to use Trello a few years ago and found it incomprehensible. Now that I’m trying to balance blogging, youtube, podcasting, and writing, it suddenly makes sense. I am addicted and the customizable backgrounds make me happy.
We’ve been busy with a season of sci-fi favorites 🙂
Our most recent episodes include:
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I started a cash budget and managed to stick to it. I also learned that I needed to be more realistic and budget for expenses beyond groceries and outings. The result is a much better sense of where my money is going.
I was insanely busy! Between work commitments, writing goals, working out, and making time for blogging, podcasting, and going out, it’s a miracle I had any time to myself.
I read. A lot. Mostly because all my library books came in at the same time and I had a review to write.
I started documenting my outfits in an effort to get a better sense of my closet and find new ways to pair my clothes. Follow me @lifeingminor (this is the most curated I will ever be)
I started wearing eye shadow again. There is something my skin does not like, but I think I’m closer to finding the culprit after nearly a year without eye product.
How was your January?
If you want to learn more about any of these projects/goals/etc. and how I manage them, let me know.
Happy New Year! It’s time for the obligatory New Year’s goal post. But, first, let’s celebrate what went right in 2018.
All good things indeed.
I keep my goals simple. #1 and 4 will definitely affect my ability to accomplish 2 and 3, but I’m optimistic.
Things are looking up at last (fingers crossed, as always), so I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on my goals for 2017 and revise some of my original plans.
Still getting things figured out, my PCOS diagnosis is pretty much official, and I’ve started a new fitness regimen! Lots happening in June, and it’s almost my birthday: time to revisit my goals for the year.
Just checking in to say hi and catch up on what’s been happening in my slightly hectic life.
It’s never a “good” time to apply for promotion… not when it’s academic and requires a sh*t-load of documentation, writing, and compiling of letters. But I applied, and now I’m in it to win it (she says with a strained smile). I’m nothing, if not committed. But it does mean that my lofty writing goals are going to become a bit more down-to-earth. Namely, there’s no way I can reach my current word goal, while also putting together a promotion file, keeping up with reviews (something I do professionally, outside the blog), and grading essays. It’s crunch time! And some things are going to have to wait. I’m glad I’m between drafts with project #1, because there’s no way I was going to get any work done. I’m going to keep writing, but I’m going to scale back. Take things slow and steady, rather than rush and try to meet some arbitrary word count (it’s a rough draft, after all, there’s always Camp NaNo in July).
Things may be a bit quiet around here, but I’ll continue to check in from time to time. Wish me luck!
I’m on a sort of “no buy”… mostly because I spent more than I should’ve during the months of November-January, but also because I have enough stuff and it needs to be used! Kind of like a “project pan” (for makeup), this is “project use it up”. There are lots of areas that I have to work on, but I’m all for manageable, small goals.
Here are four categories I want to work on:
I’ve had the Body Shop’s Moonflower since the early days of grad school (circa 2006). They don’t make it anymore, but I’ve held on to it long enough and just need to use it.
Tokyomilk’s Honey & the Moon is a little too warm for me on most days. It’s one of those scents I should’ve sampled on my skin before adding it to my wishlist, but I do enjoy it sparingly. I’m going to try to finish this one up as well.
I stopped buying candles recently and have made a good dent into the ones I currently own. I always go back to IKEA’s vanilla candle (it’s my happy scent). Just want to use up the scents that are a little too warm for the coming months, and stop buying candles that I don’t love.
I have a lot of tea. More than I can drink, especially since I spend more time at work than at home during the week. I have a similar collection at work and I’ve started using that one up, so I’ll migrate some of the basics to the office once that selection dries up.
This is really just a snapshot of the full collection. I’ve gotten better at keeping track of use by dates, but I still have more products than I need. I’ll review these again and give away whatever isn’t working, while aiming to use up the rest.
marginalia and such 