Posts Tagged ‘life goals’

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.