Goals

Update and Goals for March 2011

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A lot has happened since I last updated what is going on in my life. I decided to delay taking the bar until July. I just didn’t feel I was ready for it this month and I’m not sure if I will be able to prepare for it with self-study alone. I’m going to start reviewing again in May and if I don’t feel like I’m making sufficient progress on my own I’ll shell out the money for a review course. I’ll definitely be taking the bar in July since you are only allowed to postpone the exam one time after that you are out your exam fee. I’m not going to pay another $1000 to take the exam again so this time will be it.

I also have started a new medical study. For this study I’m basically gone a week then back home for a couple weeks three times. There are two visits this month and one in March. It is a bit of a hassle but it is worth the money.

I’m also going on a short trip to Dallas next week with my wife. This is just a getaway trip. I had a $200 credit from Southwest that I got for being bumped from a flight last year that was about to expire and I decided to use it for this. A short getaway should be good for my mental health.

I’ve not done very well on getting things done so far this year. Therefore I’m going to set some goals and try very hard to keep them.

My first goal is to make at least $500 in income from sources other than my blogs and the medical study by the end of March. This should be fairly easy to meet. Most of the money will probably come from mystery shopping but I am hoping to sell a few things as well.

My second goal is to have my ebook finished by the end of March. I’m hoping it will be closer to the beginning of March. I am going to write at least a page a day until I’m done. I’ve outlined most of what I want to write and I think the material is all in my head I just need to get started. I’ll post again at the end of March with some new goals and how I did on these goals.

2011 Goals

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I once again didn’t meet my goals in December. Part of the reason is because I was busy at my job and doing mystery shops so I don’t feel too bad about not getting them done. I’m not going to set any goals for January since I will be busy with my job and studying for the bar. I suppose you could call passing the bar a goal but I’m somewhat ambivalent about it.

I’m not setting any goals for 2011 at this time either. A couple of things I would like to accomplish this year are losing weight and writing a book. Until I come up with a specific plan for achieving those though they will remain wishes rather than goals. Another wish is that both my wife and I will make enough self-employment income to support ourselves, pay off debts, and build up our savings. These wishes are achievable and I will make them goals later this year.

December 2010 Goals

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I didn’t accomplish any of my November goals so I am rolling them all over to December. If I don’t get my goals accomplished this month then I am going to get a job in January. My December goals are as follows.

My first goal for December is to sell $200 worth of stuff. This will require a bit of work but since I don’t have a job I should be able to find the time to do this.

My second goal for December is to write at least 100 articles – for everywhere I write, not just for this blog – or write an ebook. If things go really well I will do both.

My third goal is to finish my niche site. Although I have done very little work on the site it is already ranking well for some keywords. I need to finish it and monetize it soon because I’m losing out on money I could potentially be making.

Running a Marathon and Goals for September

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My progress at losing weight has been nonexistent. Therefore, I have decided to try another tactic for losing weight. I have registered to run a marathon in November. I’ve run four previous marathons before so I know I can do it. That being said with the condition I am now in it will take some work to be able to run a marathon in November. It is actually easier to run a marathon than most people think but only giving myself two months to prepare is going to make it more of a challenge. My goal will just be to finish. My time is usually around 5 hours which is not fast but I still consider it an accomplishment. Weight loss should be a nice side effect of training for the marathon.

I’m also going to register for the February bar this month. Based on what I have seen this process will take quite a few hours. There is a $950 registration fee which I am going to hate paying but I’m hoping it will pay off in the long run. There will also be more expenses after that but since I spent thousands of dollars and four years going to law school it make sense to actually become a lawyer. And I do have some ideas for using my law degree.

Update: I forgot about one of my goals. I’m also making a goal of keeping my monthly spending – other than the bar registration fee – under $1000. I haven’t kept my spending under $1000 for a few months and I need to get my spending back to that level.

July 2010 Goals

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As June draws to a close it seems like a good idea to set some goals for July. I have been especially unmotivated lately and perhaps some goals will motivate me. My first goal is to lose weight. I need to lose about 50 pounds. That is more weight than I can lose in a month. I’m going to set a goal of losing eight pounds. I weighed 218 pounds even this morning so that would get me down to 210 which is a nice round figure. In order to achieve this goal I intend to give up soda, exercise at least three times a week, and only eat out for mystery shops or dates with my girlfriend. If I do all of that I will definitely lose some weight.

My second goal is to cut back on my driving. I put about 2400 miles on my car this month. My goal for July is to cut that amount in half. I made several long drives for mystery shops this month that I don’t plan on doing in July. There were some other longer trips that I probably won’t make this month although I might still need to make one trip to KC. With a little planning a lot of the driving I do around town can be eliminated as well.

My third goal is to cut my spending for the month of July. Not eating out and reducing my driving will both help with this goal. I am getting married this month though and there will be some necessary expense associated with that although most of the wedding/honeymoon expense has already been paid. I’m not going to skimp on my wedding just to keep my expenses down so if necessary I won’t count the wedding expenses when considering whether I met my goal.

I think that should give me some things to improve on in the coming month. Now I just need to stop procrastinating and get things done.