Posts Tagged ‘life goals’

Life has settled down and with it, a most lovely event:  the last of the asshole neighbors moved out over the weekend, leaving the building 100% asshole free (aside from myself).

My apartment is still tiny, covered in stupid blue office carpet and today, I saw a trash bag go flying by my window (I’m on the top floor) because whoever lives in the building next to mine decided throwing trash out a window to land mid-sidewalk is a good enough effort on garbage pick-up day.  But I can deal with these annoyances now that the “enemy” vibe is gone.

This is good because it’s doubtful I’ll be able to move by September.  I’m holding steady money-wise (seems I build one area up and another loses steam) so no big income improvement yet and it looks like replacing my car will be all I’ll be able to handle this year.  Maybe it’s time to hang a picture.

More important than money though, it’s time to tackle the social aspect of life – something I’ve been reticent to face since I will always be my favorite company, but I need to shake things up  and start making an effort to get out and about, maybe stop turning down invitations from friends and even make some new ones.

To that end, I’m writing this here so I have witnesses:  This Saturday, I’m going to run with a local running group for the very first time.  There,  I said it and now I have to do it.  Shit.

I’m such a solo runner that the idea of talking to strangers on a run freaks me out, but I know it’s a good thing to do and the local group seems pretty cool from their message board, so I’ve really got no excuse.   In fact, I’m quite sure I’m going to like it quite a bit.  I think.  I hope.  eek

Yesterday was a run I really enjoyed, even if it was a reality check.   It was 12 miles with Higdon’s 35min Tempo in there (which amounts to a little over 20 minutes actual tempo since he includes 15-20 min warmup).

On this run, I discovered my Half and 10K pace are no longer what they used to be, in fact, I was working hard at 7:20 pace!  The good thing is, I’m totally cool with it.  Why?  I looked back at my log and saw that for the last 8 weeks, I’ve averaged 46mi/week.  This included a taper week and race week.  That’s a 35% reduction in average weekly mileage!  And except for a couple short jabs at speed (a crappy interval session, one fartlek and last week’s 3MP), it was all easy miles.

I have no regrets about taking it easy – I worked so hard the last cycle, the step-back was necessary for my mind as much as my body.  This is all undiscovered territory though, since by this time last year I’d spent a month working on 5Ks and continued that push until the Half in May.  I’ve never taken such a sizable “vacation” so it’ll be interesting to see how fast it comes back.  I don’t suppose it’ll take too long but if it does, no problem, I’ll just change my goal.  It’s lovely having nothing to prove.

On the financial marathon front, after months of working on this one ginormous project (a music t-shirt/gift site) I am finally about two hours away from putting in the last few products – no small feat considering it has over 11,000 items!  If it wasn’t for my new-found determination, I’d have been working on this for the better part of the year, but thanks to Firefox iMacros and some huge dollops of elbow grease, I’ll be done after dinner.

Speaking of the financial marathon and the universe providing blah blah blah, it seems to be continuing in a positive manner.  I lost a voiceover this month because they’ve stopped production on the drug, but the woman in charge recommended me for something else and spent a good deal of time discussing my putting together a medical/narration demo and exactly what she’d like included.  I’ve already done all the characters on assorted jobs (doctor, patient, etc) so I just need to compile it.  My laziness with getting VO work has been utterly stupid because it’s so lucrative and I’m good at it,  yet I truly dislike marketing myself.  But after that conversation, I’ve got no excuse, she basically laid it out on a silver platter.

Also, there’s an Internet Marketing forum I frequent (lurk at actually, because the people there scare me – it’s hard core).  Anyway, a regular there posted an offer for free mentoring of 10 people for 90 days, which includes twice-a-week webinars with question/answers after.  You had to PM him and explain why you should be chosen and I got picked!  I’m thrilled beyond belief because I’ve been dabbling in some of that stuff the last few months but really need guidance to understand some key ideas.  And I’d never have written the guy if it hadn’t been for the financial marathon.

So 2010 looks good so far:

Running-wise, I’m learning more about myself and relieving a great deal of the pressure I created, trusting that this is a long-term process and that it doesn’t have to be one huge tidal wave, that there’ll be ebbs and flows.  Also, the UPS guy just dropped off some Mizuno Inspire 5′s from RunningWarehouse, on sale since the 6s came out, so I got two pairs (ah, excess!).

Work-wise, I’m learning that specific goals and making interim steps to achieve them rocks!  Put it out there and opportunity will come to meet you.

Hygiene-wise, I finally laundered my fleece jacket this morning, which has been on too many runs without a wash.  The geese on the bike-path were becoming offended, now they can breathe.

All is right with the world.

Last week, the title of this post found its way into my head.  It was a couple days after I’d written that Financial Marathon post when I got a last minute voiceover for the following day.  I’d already figured December would be pretty sucky on the VO front with only a couple on the schedule, so that was a nice unexpected shot of dough.  Then, in the last few days, I booked 3 more (2 for tomorrow and one for the first week of January).  Considering it’s the holidays when that kind of work tends to go deadsville, this is pretty dang good.  So once again, the phrase “The Universe Will Provide” popped into my brain.

Today however, it graduated to becoming my new mantra.

For the last 4 days, I’ve been worrying about the wall of snow my car’s been sitting behind.  Since tomorrow morning’s job is a 40-minute drive away, I had to do something about it.  Sweet Nick, who’s been getting me out of tight spots for the last 5 years and continues to do so, even though we’re no longer an item, said “let’s dig each others cars out together and if mine is easier, you can borrow it to get to the job” which instantly made me feel better, since there was no way I could have done it alone.

So this morning, we look at my car and realize it’s worse than I thought, there was just too much hardened snow to even try clearing it.  While I could borrow Nick’s car to get to my job, it meant my Xmas plans (driving to upstate NY to my best friend’s annual sleepover party) would have to be canceled.

The Universe Will Provide.

We’re standing there, looking at it, realizing it’s a lost cause, when that funny old guy I mentioned in the last post, the one who lent me his shovel, appears with that same huge grin on his face and starts chatting with us.  He’s been working over there the past couple days removing snow from the Union Hall parking lot, a few yards from where my car was parked.

A mere $25 later, he and his Toro snow blower had cleared all the snow around the car but not before showing me his handgun (kept under 4 pairs of pants which entailed an amusingly tame strip session), telling me about his colon cancer in ’03 and his wife who has Alzheimer’s, and sharing with me a few joyous philosophies on life.  I couldn’t help but hug the guy in thanks and that 73 year-old hugged me back so hard, he picked me up off the ground!  Then Nick helped with the finishing touches (because my battery died, too, so when we got his car out, Nick saved my ass with a charge).  Suddenly, my worries from the last 4 days evaporated and in its place, an incredible feeling of inner peace.

The Universe does appear to be providing, and just when I need it.  I also love saying it because “The Universe” is such a profound, infinite thing, it makes me feel there are positive forces at work.  But don’t worry, I’m not going all New Agey on you all, I’m too pragmatic for that, but it doesn’t hurt to have a positive outlook right now. I think it’s making me more receptive to whatever opportunities arise.

Off topic, I wanted to say that it never fails to amaze me how many people comment on this blog. I feel the love and want you to know I’m sending it back in waves.  But sometimes I feel guilty because while one day I might be in talky mode and reply to everything, or at least a few comments,  often I don’t even have the energy to reply to anything.  That’s totally my weird hermit ways and why, though I’m technically on Facebook, I only log in fast enough to check out whatever it is I’ve been told to go see, before logging off within seconds.  So if I don’t reply to your blog comment please know that it’s not because I don’t cherish it and sincerely thank you for contributing, it’s just because I’m a hermit freak sometimes.

I’ll leave you with something from my apartment building that made me laugh.  There’s a new sign on the inside of the front door, I guess in case you can’t remember how you got in the building in the first place or for those who think that the street and cars seen through both outer door’s glass panes might be a mirage.

Technically, a day early but because Philly got its second heaviest snowfall yesterday ever with 23.2″ reported, the season has officially begun.

I woke up on Saturday to a glistening white morning with a lot of wind.  The winds calmed down a bit by the time I got out, though a windchill of 11 with blowing snow required all my cold-weather accessories; glasses with the clear lenses snapped in, homemade neck gaiter from the leg of a pair of stretch pants, 2 pairs of socks and my headband with a billed hat instead of the knit hat so the snow wouldn’t pelt my face too badly.  Clothes-wise, I wore my UA mock, a shortsleeve over that and my Asics storm jacket with thick tights below.  Fabu.

The parks commission is the greatest, they had already plowed the path, so I was running on mostly packed snow.  I had intended to go 5 or 6 but it was so astoundingly beautiful and I figured Sunday would be a real mess, that I extended the run to 12 miles to get the weekend’s LR out of the way.  It stayed lovely until the last 1/2 mile when the winds got nasty, so I was happy to get home when I did.

Today, as expected, was a total mess of ice and snow.  The mile getting to the park required tip-toeing, jumping and sliding.  Once there though, it was even better than yesterday, they plowed it so well I was running directly on the asphalt.  I just went 6, finishing off a second week of 53 miles, all easy.

Meanwhile, my car is behind a 5′ wall of snow thanks to the plows.  I attempted to clear some off, but lacking a shovel, I used my plastic kitchen trash can which was working pretty well, but then some funny old guy who was shoveling halfway down the block came over laughing saying, “I’ve been shoveling snow since 1958 and have never seen anyone use a bucket.  Here, use my shovel for awhile.”  Honestly, the trash can worked better than the shovel, but it was so sweet of him, I used it for about 20 minutes.  Then I got tired and bored and said screw it.

So I hope the snow magically disappears in the next couple days because I have a job on Wednesday that I have to drive to, but with the forecast remaining cold, I think I’ll be out there with my trash can on Tuesday, only then it’ll be iced.  Fun.

Speaking of jobs, I just found an odd one online that I did for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  I’m the brown dog. Then, at the end, if you click the link for the Gallery, there are links on the left under Galleries and Activities that say “Watch a story” – I’m in those, too (though they’ve switched our voices to opposite dogs, lol).  ‘Twas an odd character piece, but a nice change from the usual dry stuff I do.

In other work news, I just completed my first week of the aforementioned Financial Marathon cycle and LOVED it!  My usual method of working is 12-14 hour days until a project is finished, then I take way too much time off to regroup.  No more, now I’m steady as she goes. Parceling my time out in smaller increments is a lot more appealing  and will ultimately be way more sustainable.  I did 31 hours of hard-core work, plus more that I’m not counting because it’s research and reading and I find that to be purely fun.

And my boss (who is at this moment stunningly beautiful in her uniform of PJs, robe and fuzzy booties) is turning out to be a real gem.  She’s already mulling over bonuses of a high-quality graphics monitor and an iPhone but hasn’t decided yet how to implement it.  Maybe for a string of 40-hour weeks for the iPhone and if the June 30 goal comes in a month early, the monitor.

It’s all hugely fun, but also a major life change that couldn’t have come at a better time.  Running consumed me this past year and while it was meaningful and so rewarding, there’s been a serious lack of balance.  Now that I’m headed toward some non-running goals, I can see how much room I have to grow in other areas of my life.  Though it all goes back to running, because without its impact, I’d never dream of the plans I have now or know I could achieve them without question.

I could go on about the discoveries I’m making and my magic motivational notebook which is becoming a life force unto itself, but I’ll save it for another time…or not.  This is, after all, a running blog and motivational stuff might be a yawn to most of you out there.  If you feel one way or the other, let me know in a comment, I’m happy to oblige either way.

Have a happy Monday, kids.

So my plan to increase my income by a few hundred bucks has evolved into something bigger.  New plan is to double my income by June 30.  And I can do it.

I was thinking about what running has brought into my life;  structure, determination, acquiring of goals, self-esteem – all things that can be transferred to anything you want to motivate yourself to do!  So the last couple days I’ve been devising a plan and getting as motivated as I would for any new training cycle, only this time, it’s for life stuff.

I’ve often said that the reason training plans appeal to me is that I have little structure in my days.  Being free and easy is fab, but knowing I waste copious amounts of time is not something that brings me happiness.  There is something soul-infecting when you’ve finished reading all your pertinent news sites, forums and checked all your stats 10 times, only to end up on TMZ or People.com.  I can do better.

With this in mind, I’ve devised a 28-week Financial marathon cycle.  While it doesn’t have much in the way of LT runs or VO2 sessions, it does have checkmarks each month for where I want my financial “fitness” to be.  I believe it’ll only require a mere 30 hours of solid work a week to achieve – though I’m not including voiceover work in this (currently, more than half my income) – this is all for the stuff I can do without anyone else’s intervention: my t-shirt sites and affiliate sales sites.

A major realization moving forward  is that I could never get motivated when the goal was “to have more money”.  I’ve tried that before, but money without a reason is meaningless to me, so this apartment situation is like a gift because suddenly, I have a pressing goal with a timeframe attached.   I also have a car goal, but that’s secondary since my ugly car still works, though if all goes as planned, I’ll be able to have both, anyway.

So I’ve got a beautiful picture on my computer desktop now with the apartment I want and the car I want along with June’s monetary goal written across.  It’s beautiful!!  I’ve also got a fancy notebook where I’ve written out my plan and motivational thoughts to keep me on the steady.  I could write the plan and motivational bon mots in the computer, but I think there’s something to be said about writing goals by hand, it feels warmer and more immediate. Add to this a little visualization and I am pumped!

And that’s the scoop.   I’ll keep you guys posted when anything worth mentioning arises, and maybe some of you can think about ways to incorporate your own dedication to running into something tangible for 2010.  We’re strong people, us runners – we know how to follow through.  And I firmly believe this sport can bring us more than fun in the sun, medals and PRs, it has the power to change our lives.

Interesting last couple of days, though not in the scary interesting way that seems to have plagued me recently.

I’ll get the running stuff out of the way quickly, since it’s uneventful and will be for the rest of the month.  Like everywhere else in the US, it was a cold and windy week.  Mon-Sat, I ran 7,9,11,7,off,11 and tomorrow will be 8, giving me 53mi for the week.

Now, on to the subject of Life:  I’ve been offered first dibs on the upstairs apartment.

I thought about it a lot.  On one hand, the idea of living in their space was somewhat disgusting to me and would likely require burning 3 tons of sage to dispel the negativity they’ve left behind.  Additionally, I’d be paranoid about walking around for whomever moves into this place, even with carpet, since Real Estate lady told me you can hear me in the unoccupied apt below (no surprise as I hear it myself when I walk).

On the other hand: it’s the top floor, so I wouldn’t have to deal with another tenant above my head.  Moreover, talk about your ultimate show of one-upmanship, I’d have loved their friends in the apartment below to report that I’d moved into their place, that would have been deliciously fabulous.

But then Real Estate lady told me they want more money for it and when I did the math, it wasn’t worth it, I could get a better place without the crappy floors and even crappier memories.  So now I have a goal for 2010 that doesn’t involve running:

I’m going to increase my income by $500/mo and move into a doorman building when my lease expires. There, I said it.  I’m announcing this like a cigarette smoker announces their intentions to quit, so they have an extra layer of guilt should they not succeed, though in my case, should I not succeed I’ll be stuck in this hellhole.  If that’s not motivating, what is?

The great thing is, it’s completely within my power to make more dough.  My web businesses are beautifully scaleable: do more=make more, so I simply have to do more.  The problem has always been that when it comes to money, I am incredibly lazy, I make just enough for what I need and then I sit on my ass doing nothing.  It’s fun!  Or was, anyway.  Now what would be fun is living in a solid place with an elevator and someone at the desk to accept UPS packages.

I measured my apartment yesterday and it’s under 400 sq ft (my, that was embarrassing to admit).  Turns out those doorman apartments are almost $1 less per sq foot than what I’m paying for this dump!  And they have dishwashers, washing machines & dryers in the apartments, some have swimming pools and gyms, free buses to downtown, the utilities are mostly included…oh god, I’m salivating just thinking about it.

I wouldn’t even need $500/mo to cover the difference, $300 would do it, but because I want to train myself to embrace excess, $500 sounds like a good start.  So here’s to More in 2010 – may it bring more money, more happiness and a whole lot less freaky shit.