2019 Third Quarter Review

I thought it would have been fun to review what has happened since I began this year writing more, focusing on some other things, and generally attempting to be intentional. Sad to say I flopped on it some because I didn’t think to write this post in the middle of the year – a mid year review, as it were. That’s the reason for the title; I have to call it a third quarter review since it is in the middle of August I am writing this. Oh well, better late than never I suppose.

I planned on writing a simple review of the goals I had set in the beginning of the year but I have additional material I want to write about also. Without further ado, let’s dive in to the goals and review for 2019!

                                                     

Goal number one: Start working out and running. Status: Unless you count the physical work done on the job, this is a massive fail on my part. I make plans, have goals, but life happens to wreck them all. Oh well, at least I have good intentions, right?

One of the main reasons if not the main one is because I work – A LOT. I have probably worked 60+ hours a week consistently since the beginning of 2019. That compresses my time into even smaller nuggets I get to use for other things (like write content for this website or in this example, work out) and as such it seems something has to give. Thinking back, it looks like this was the first goal I didn’t really think about after I set it. Sounds bad, I know, but hey, at least I’m honest. I’m sure it will remain a goal for the foreseeable future and when the time comes hopefully I will act upon it. Grade: F

Goal number two: Start saving more; MUCH more. Status: I’m happy to report this has been a success – at least as far as the goal is set here on this website. I had laid some alternative goals inside this one for finances and I’m behind on them but overall I have done as I hoped. I haven’t kept track of every dollar put aside but thinking on it I’d say we are somewhere around $14,000 give or take some. I had intentions of maxing out our respective Roth IRAs by the end of the year but I’m not sure that’s feasible now. I suspect that by the end of the year we should be close to $18,000. While it isn’t exactly what I had hoped for it is far more than I put away in the previous years ($7,000 range). Grade: A

Goal number three: Track my personal spending. Status: I use Personal Capital for this. I downloaded the app sometime back and have become used to looking at it just about every payday and at the end of the month. Oddly enough, however, I don’t use it the way it could be used if it were maximized. I have a confession to make: I don’t budget – at least not the way many people do. (There is a post coming soon on that; for now, it’s hanging out in my drafts waiting to be posted). Tracking every single dollar certainly helps those who are spenders but overall I think we live very frugally. That being said, Personal Capital is a wonderful tool and we don’t maximize it nearly to its full potential. I suppose if I did, I could REALLY see and compare. As is, I’ll have to add this goal to the perennial list. Grade: C

Goal number four: Spend less in takeout. Status: This has been very successful for us and for one major reason: we hardly eat out as is. It’s easy to curb a habit when it was never really a habit for you in the first place. I’d say we are averaging a meager 1 time a month of eating out. That’s us as a family. Me by myself, however, is a different story. I probably average 3 to 4 times a month, what with working so much, certain evenings I had meetings, class, etc. All in all though, I don’t feel like enjoying the occasional wawa sub is a terrible thing when non mortgage debt isn’t a factor and we are saving at the amount we are. Grade: A

Goal number five: Write more. Status: Success as far as I’m concerned. My time is limited already and with the hours I have been working (60 +) coupled with other timely commitments I have I feel my free time is such a small sliver. At the beginning of the year, I thought it would be difficult to write on a continuous level – especially at the detailed level I have been thus far. This hasn’t been the case, though, and for one main reason: I now write A LOT from my cell phone. It really was one of the best decisions I made for this blog; well, besides actually deciding to start it, that is.

I seriously increased my content probably by 3 times as much just by writing from my phone and let me tell you: I write just about anywhere. When I’m riding (not driving) in the car, at break time and lunch time at work, while waiting for people (like my family); seriously, I cannot stress enough how much I try to utilize downtime. It has been quite the game changer.

By now I imagine someone wants to know if that’s true why have I posted on average once a month. The answer, is really three fold. First, I have just as many articles in draft mode as I have published and almost all of them are ready to go. I’m only spacing them out because I fear a time when I may not be able to write as prolifically as I would like – and that is where those in draft form come in. They are in the dugout, waiting in the wings, ready to be posted in the event I cannot write to my hearts content.

Second, almost all of my posts have meat to them, a high word count backed by in depth study of the topic which the post is about. That takes time. I have to research, compile, write, and do all of it in the small free time I have.

Third, and perhaps the most time consuming, is editing and polishing. Content is king, of that there can be no doubt; editing and polishing, though, are wildcards, which can prop you up or sink your ship soundly. Don’t believe me? Why do the most popular websites have astounding graphics and the ones which get glossed over are simple and lack flash? (This is a broadbrush but we typically are attracted to fun and flashy). There is a balance to be made for sure and I’m struggling to find it. There is so much more to crafting a quality post that merely putting words on paper and I have a lot to learn still but hey, I’ll continue on – even if it seems like the pace of the tortoise. Grade: A

Goal number Six: Cut Back and Organize. Status: I’m happy to report this is working out even if it is a slow process. For the most part my wife is tackling the inside (she was de – cluttering some of the upstairs today as a matter of fact) and I have stalled when it comes to outside. Hey, I’m blaming work on this one. It’s hard to have motivation for the task when I work as much as I do. And then there is the heat of the summer which, in case you didn’t know, SUCKS. I hate summer with such a passion and it zaps energy and motivation right out of me. (Yet another post I have in the works). So no, I haven’t made hardly any progress with the backyard. Grade: C

Overall I’d say I have a C-. Perhaps some of these goals can be modified to ensure they are getting adequate attention while others can be cut out altogether. Goals have a way of changing as time ticks by and life throws you curve balls. People should be wiling to reassess not just their goals but also the direction they would like to head periodically. That is precisely what I have tried to do and plan to continue doing it as I write content for this website.

There are a couple things I would like to add extra I am doing which are not listed above. They may not be goals, per se, but they are taking up some of my time (which I can never get back, by the way) and warrant listing. Check out this article  for more detail on time.

 

First up is I have been taking some classes in the evenings – some in person and some online. I will write a separate post about this later but for now let me just say I have purpose and direction in this.

Second, and even more importantly, a very very dear friend of mine passed away just the other day. I have been not only trying to deal with his loss but trying to grasp just how different things are going to be now that he is gone. His wife and three daughters have a very difficult road ahead of them and some of my time will be spent helping them.

You see, I have quite a lot going on (like many of us) and have to prioritize accordingly. I cannot, in good conscience, post content that is lacking in substance to merely check a box. I would rather not write at all if that were all I could come up with. Instead, I intend on focusing on ways to increase my writing time and more importantly, overcome my deficiency in the more intricate parts on building this website.

Trying to find a balance between family, work, school (teaching and taking), writing, and everything else has been a delicate process, one that finds me fluctuating one way or another. Then, when you distill writing down, I now have to balance it again with content, editing, rewriting, polishing, jazzing it up and all that goes on behind the scenes of a good website with good content. You read about how much work goes into building a good website and you think you know – until you actually travel down that road – and then you REALLY see. It takes hard work, dedication, and time. It’s been a slow go for me but in the end I have come too far to merely stop and give up. It may take me a lot more even still but hey, I’m in it to win it.

And that’s my August review – or, my third quarter review, anyway. Happy reading!