By this time of year I’m usually over goals… and this year is no different! But I don’t like giving up on things, or at least not everything. So I am continuing on and hoping for a second wind…
I was sick in some way, shape or form for all of August and still am not 100% with whatever is going on with my ears. But I’m definitely doing better now than I was during the month. Nevertheless, still did fairly well with my goals. My Google sheet has tabulated a 66% success rate! I’m amazed, especially given the circumstances.
So what wins did I have in August? I slayed my recreation goals! Checked every one of them off. And honestly, for the last full month of summer I’m totally good with checking off these easier achievements! It was fun. I also had a no spend on Amazon month and didn’t use my AmEx at all (usually reserved for bigger purchases), so I think that’s good too. And I did some home and car maintenance stuff that had to get done and/or was already scheduled so those were easy wins as well.
I still haven’t ventured to the gym on a weeknight (or at all) so shocker, will see that again in September. Avoided going to a new restaurant in town, participating in communities online or getting quotes for my upstairs flooring (no surprise, all things that require interaction with people); and also doing any kind of tedious computer work. But that’s what winter is for, so no biggie there.
My personal curriculum plan was basically completely abandoned, but I’m going for it full steam in September. I’m doing a self guided sleep study unit, getting into mixed media mark making again with a course bundle I purchased in July and a banned book unit from Mind Body Mel’s Patreon– though I’m already behind on obtaining my materials (books and movie) so we’ll see how that one goes!
What else is up my sleeve for back to school season?
Personal
- Self Improvement
- Read Gwyneth Paltrow’s It’s All Good cookbook
- Do routines 80% of weekdays
- Health & Fitness
- Go to the Y at least 1x on a Wednesday evening
- Do morning pages 80% of weekdays
- Wealth Management
- Save $1500 (automated = check!)
- Set and stick to budget
- Buy more bonds to continue rebalancing portfolio
Relationships
- Friends & Family
- Lunch w/ Fran and the Moms – re-scheduled!!!
- Work on basement
- Send September birthday cards
- Community
- Try new to me restaurant in town
- DO more of what I enjoy at work
- Consume and participate in content
Environments
- Home & Auto
- Figure out deep clean cadence
- Get quotes for upstairs flooring
- Digital Devices
- PARA on computer folders
- Low Scroll Challenge! More on this in an upcoming post…
- Online Presence
- Unsub from emails as needed
- Change compromised passwords
Recreation
- Hobbies
- Read 3 Lucy Score books
- Start Laura Horn courses
- Write 1 haiku
- Experience
- Do 3 things from Fall fun list
- Entertainment
- Watch Love Hypothesis
- Watch Season 5 of Emily In Paris
- Listen to Noah Kahan
Mixed Media
- Practice writing cursive s-l-o-w-l-y and accurately
- Continue using serums I have (before buying more)
- Get Jeep washed
- Start Fall curriculum
- Plan Q4 and October and setup Google sheet
- Continue brainstorming 2027 goals and projects
Projects
- Schedule all the appointments for fall…
- Do 1 thing from Project Punch List
- Continue collage/art journaling
- Continue Project 180!
Reading List
I read A LOT in August, wow I didn’t realize it until just now. I did read my two Lucy Score books for the month (just not the two I had planned), so I’m still on track for that annual goal of reading through her backlist. I also read a couple of 5 star books (Into the Blue by Emma Brodie, Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn and Our Secret Summer by RS Grey). Also read the last two books of KL Walther backlist, an unofficial reading goal I added recently.
On the TBR for September is:
- Holding Onto Chaos by Lucy Score
- Books 1 and 2 in Riley Thorn series by Lucy Score
- Rules for the Summer by Meghan Quinn
- It’s All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow
- Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
- Stop Lying To Yourself by Lester Clowes
- My Next Breath by Jeremy Renner
- Mythos by Stephen Fry
- To Kill A Mockingbird and/or The Catcher In The Rye
This post is going live a little later than most of my monthly goal musings, and I feel like I’ve already made a pretty good dent in what I want to achieve this month. I’m hopeful I’ll make some more progress by end of month. We’ll see during next month’s check-in!
How’s your September so far?
Photo by Ricardo Arce on Unsplash