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.

2009 Expenses – $12,090.99

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My total expenses for 2009 were $12,090.99.  That does not include the purchase price of my car although it does include all other car expenses associated with the car purchase such as the sales tax and registration.  It doesn’t include business expenses either as those are deducted from my business income.

I’m fairly satisfied with that total although I want to do better this year.  I had a goal of keeping my expenses under $10,000 last year which I obviously did not meet.  I did come close to my backup goal of keeping my expenses at $1000 a month.  Considering I spent over $1000 on travel and over $1500 on entertainment it is surprising I came as close to meeting my goal as I did.  I do plan to cut back on my entertainment expense this year but I will probably spend just as much on travel.  That means I am going to have to be extremely disciplined in all other areas of my budget. Considering I didn’t have a car most of last year it will be hard to keep my expenses in 2010 below the 2009 level but I am making that a goal.