SotR 2008-08-20

Overview:

Two-plus years ago, I wrote down a series of goals. I was in the hospital at that time and I saw just how badly I was running my life. I reviewed those goals two months ago . . . and I'd made very little progress toward any of them.

After that review, I made up my mind that every couple of weeks, I need to spend the time in meditation on the many personal foibles and weaknesses I need to work on and what to do about them. This is entirely an internal process. Part of this process is spurred by my inching ever-closer to the age of fifty. Part of the spur is that there are things that have been part of my life for several years that simply need to no longer be a part of my life.

The most important single personal foible / weakness: I am sick and tired of dealing with the consequences of the open wounds on my legs. I'd like to be able to swim for the first time in five years . . . to go to the doctor once every three months, not every couple of weeks . . . to be free of wound odors. I'm almost there; maybe a couple more months and I'll be swimming.

To that end, I've made some adjustments: limiting my sodium consumption (diet soda mostly), drinking LOTS more ice water, elevating my legs, getting a full night's sleep, eating more salads and less meat, playing a lot less WoW and cutting caffeine intake by 75%. All of these things help the wounds heal faster.
The "reward goal" I set here is to remain wound free for a year.

My next series of adjustments is financial. So far, I've started my 410(k) at work and started researching the various funds in the plan with an eye toward understanding how they fit into a coordinated plan to make me enough money for my old age. Once I turn 55, I can accelerate my donations, since at my age the lever called "the time value of money" is a little short. My next adjustment is to finally get my oversize ass onto a realistic budget. I found some great Mac software that is NOT published by Intuit and used that to set up a budget that includes putting some cash into savings that is NOT my 401(k). I want a cushion against emergencies.
The "reward goal" here is to have $5k in a savings account for a year. Since I did not envision having the 401(k) then, I'll include 50% of that account (after all, Apple is matching my contributions!) toward the goal. I started the 401(k) a year ago or so, and as of today "my share" is around $1k.

My last "reward goal" is to lose 100 lbs and keep it off for a year. I have not done much in this area; a soon as the legs are healed, I'll be directing my efforts toward weight loss.

One year with all three goals met . . . the reward is a trip to GenCon.

I'm also working on a few other goals, namely work-related ones like "break the career stasis I've been in for three years." My manager says I'm heading in the right direction.



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Listening to: Echo's Children - No Quarter
via FoxyTunes