Ikar

I'm using the template I used the last time. 14/2/26 - 12/3/26 "L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term. I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period. Books/Reading articles/Learning: L: I had a good string of finished books in autumn, unfortunately I managed to kill my momentum by reading a book that wasn't up my alley. Regardless, I've read dozens of articles from the White Coat Investor website and Morgan Housel's book - "Psychology of Money". All this had a practical effect of me making an investment plan (!). I've invested my money consistently for the past five years, but I've never really set any goals, except not to gamble and pay unreasonable fees. Suffice to say, I already have enough savings to last several years, perhaps a decade on my current spending levels. I also added some milestones to celebrate on the way; it least I'll have a reason to perhaps spend some more money on fun stuff! T: Read up on finblogs again - WCI and Nick Maggiulli. I've also been reading "Six Easy Pieces" by Feynman, but I didn't have much time to do that at the army training. Possible direction/goals/habits: (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Read daily (a few times a week). Reading (and crosswords) are a good way for me to relax. Drop a book whenever I don't look forward to reading it. CHECK HERE EVERY MONTH. (While this is technically just a hobby, I like to keep it separate, because it's a big one.) Family: L: My mom and I had to go to the hospital with my grandma at the start of January. We installed some flat improvements to help her get around and also a new washing machine. She also gets daily visits from health keepers and various other assistants, so I am happy my mom doesn't have to carry most of the brunt anymore just by herself. My grandma is (unsurprisingly) opposed to going to an assisted living facility. I really have no idea to what extent she needs help, but granted she can't climb into the bath to shower herself, it's hard to argue she doesn't need any. It's frankly difficult to visit her, when the apartment smells like urine. I honestly don't know how long this can last and whether it makes sense to hope that it will get better in the future. Other than that, my mom had a birthday celebration and I also met my brother for sushi. T: My grandma oscillates between being relatively OK to just straight up shit-talking all other family members (Who knows if she doesn't shit-talk me behind my back?) Either she's despicable for consciously behaving that way; or if her illness is to blame, she should be institutionalized to save everyone the pain and trouble. My girlfriend said it best: getting old is ugly. Especially when you lose your faculties faster than you realize. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma. Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Keep in contact at least once a month. Business/English: L: Very few days off in both January and February mean that I can get a lot of lessons done. I'll just have three work days off due to my army reserve involvement. That written, I've had more headache with it recently, just because of the way the bureaucracy works. I can say I've met some great, interesting and inspiring people there, but the admin is just a PITA. My point is not to "survive it", but to derive some positive meaning from this mission. Free shooting range practice and motivation to keep fit can help it. I know the worst case scenario is to just do one exercise per year or none at all, but I don't want to do it just for the money or out of necessity. I'll review this part of my career regularly, just to make sure I've got my thinking straight. When I compare the experience to my smooth running business with my students, I can say I'm truly grateful for both my business and my students. Had a meeting with my web-designer, mostly out of curiosity than any specific plans for the future. Managed to have 15 lessons on average per week, which is great! T: I had to write a price offer after an interview for a company that is looking to start a few courses. I also did some testing and evaluations for my company courses. I found a new resource for real-life English. I also intentionally cancelled a lesson when my girlfriend's friend flaked on their trip to the mountains. I went with her instead :) - The army training was better this time than the last time. I got better sleep, the weather was amazing for the whole duration and perhaps we did more stimulating activities than last time. I feel a bit tired after it, but I'm slowly catching up on sleep. I should have the next training in September. NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid. Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered. Current projects I'm working on: Website improvement project - since August 2024 - finished August 2025 with some small upgrades in autumn 2025 lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 55 minutes F2F lessons (+ online reminder too); pricing updates I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting. Find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission). Areas to work on continually: English table update - check every now and then for improvements. Keep classes at around 15 hours a week. Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. CELTA colleagues calls. Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course. Exercise/Movement/Health + 10-13 break: L: Thanks to my 10-13 break, I managed to exercise 23 out of planned 28 days so far. Feels good! I have a new pillow as well. I also visited the urologist, again without an issue. I noticed that some of my exercise sessions are quite short (depending on the length of the YT video), but as mentioned above, I managed to do 23/28 days. I also cram whatever appointments and housework I need to take care of into this window. T: I managed 8/12 these past four weeks or so. I missed out about half of the possible days due to the army training and I also tried not to push it before going there. That said, I hit 10k steps every day of the training, but there was little true structured physical "exercise". I should also say the meals there were rather terrible - mostly just sugary snack bars and a lot of second-grade canned meat. Feels good to be home to have some real meals. I had no visits to the doctors this month, but I have some lined up in the next few weeks. NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes. Have a session every weekday from January. Start flossing regularly. Incorporate balance and spine exercises. Keep on using the Oura ring to track vitals. Keep having the 1000-1300 break. Social + Personal Hobbies + Free Time (cool things I've done): L: No holidays this period, as the weather isn't really optimal for hiking or cycling. Met my FIRE friends, the quiz group, my best friend. I also met my brother for sushi and went to a hockey match with my family. Of course, met my students too. T: Met my FIRE friends again, met my friend. I also went to the shooting range as a part of my army training. I also got in touch with one English lecturer and we talked about finance and money, which inspired me to write an article on my blog. Possible direction/goals: Keep in touch with my friend groups (FIRE, quiz, best friends). Relationship with my girlfriend: L: So we've lived together for almost two years and I can say it's still a nice experience. I don't think we've had any really heated arguments that would span days or even weeks. Last year, I often got a bad headache during the holidays/trips and was a bore to be with. So staying hydrated and fed during trips is my top priority these days. We spent time together my going to the planetarium, having lessons together, going to the café and for walks as well as the few trips. We also spent some time next to each other watching films or the Olympics. T: We went to a book festival, watched hockey and went to a nice restaurant. We also had some lessons together. Didn't manage to do more due to my absence for almost two weeks. Possible direction/goals: Make time to talk every day. Keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities. --- For thought: Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. This might change with the late morning exercise lessons. 10-13 change works well. I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping. No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless. I like these reports, because they take me back in the calendar and let me see if there's something I've missed or something I need to check on again.

I'm using the template I used the last time. 3/1/26 - 14/2/26 "L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term. I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period. Books/Reading articles/Learning: L: Finished "The Richest Man in Babel" and "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out" by Feynman. T: I had a good string of finished books in autumn, unfortunately I managed to kill my momentum by reading a book that wasn't up my alley. Regardless, I've read dozens of articles from the White Coat Investor website and Morgan Housel's book - "Psychology of Money". All this had a practical effect of me making an investment plan (!). I've invested my money consistently for the past five years, but I've never really set any goals, except not to gamble and pay unreasonable fees. Suffice to say, I already have enough savings to last several years, perhaps a decade on my current spending levels. I also added some milestones to celebrate on the way; it least I'll have a reason to perhaps spend some more money on fun stuff! Possible direction/goals/habits: (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Read daily (a few times a week). Reading (and crosswords) are a good way for me to relax. Drop a book whenever I don't look forward to reading it. CHECK HERE EVERY MONTH. (While this is technically just a hobby, I like to keep it separate, because it's a big one.) Family: L: There were two pretty serious incidents regarding my grandma this past month. There was more nuance to it, but in both cases, she fell down in her flat and couldn't get up. Oddly enough, I was the one to detect both incidents just by calling her (she didn't pick up) and then alarming my parents, who live a few minutes by car from her. My grandma has a few neighbors who visit her and my mom visits her a few times a week as well, but I'm thinking it might not be enough. I had a burger with my brother and his girlfriend and I also met my parents yesterday. T: My mom and I had to go to the hospital with my grandma at the start of January. We installed some flat improvements to help her get around and also a new washing machine. She also gets daily visits from health keepers and various other assistants, so I am happy my mom doesn't have to carry most of the brunt anymore just by herself. My grandma is (unsurprisingly) opposed to going to an assisted living facility. I really have no idea to what extent she needs help, but granted she can't climb into the bath to shower herself, it's hard to argue she doesn't need any. It's frankly difficult to visit her, when the apartment smells like urine. I honestly don't know how long this can last and whether it makes sense to hope that it will get better in the future. Other than that, my mom had a birthday celebration and I also met my brother for sushi. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma. Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Keep in contact at least once a month. Business/English: L: I did my biannual questionnaire with my students, but this time I changed my approach and gave the students the option not to do it. I also carved out the 1000-1300 time for myself. Had a end-of-the-year taxes meeting to inform myself and to optimize. My latest group course has been a tough nut to crack, but so far I can say I've been probing and using slightly different techniques each lesson. Now I've got the experience and feedback, I decided on the next steps. I'll also try to find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission). I have options for online, but I have nobody for F2F replacements. T: Very few days off in both January and February mean that I can get a lot of lessons done. I'll just have three work days off due to my army reserve involvement. - That written, I've had more headache with it recently, just because of the way the bureaucracy works. I can say I've met some great, interesting and inspiring people there, but the admin is just a PITA. My point is not to "survive it", but to derive some positive meaning from this mission. Free shooting range practice and motivation to keep fit can help it. I know the worst case scenario is to just do one exercise per year or none at all, but I don't want to do it just for the money or out of necessity. I'll review this part of my career regularly, just to make sure I've got my thinking straight. When I compare the experience to my smooth running business with my students, I can say I'm truly grateful for both my business and my students. - Had a meeting with my web-designer, mostly out of curiosity than any specific plans for the future. Managed to have 15 lessons on average per week, which is great! NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid. Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered. Current projects I'm working on: Website improvement project - since August 2024 - finished August 2025 with some small upgrades in autumn 2025 lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 55 minutes F2F lessons (+ online reminder too); pricing updates I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting. Find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission). Areas to work on continually: English table update - check every now and then for improvements. Keep classes at around 15 hours a week. Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. CELTA colleagues calls. Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course. Exercise/Movement/Health: L: Went to the gym, for a run or a hike about four times a week, including on my holiday in Spain with my girlfriend. Feeling a little sick after coming back, but I assume I'll be fine by Monday. Went to the ear doctor, all is good. T: Thanks to my 10-13 break, I managed to exercise 23 out of planned 28 days so far. Feels good! I have a new pillow as well. I also visited the urologist, again without an issue. NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes. Have a session every weekday from January. Start flossing regularly. Incorporate balance and spine exercises. Keep on using the Oura ring to track vitals. Social + Personal Hobbies + Free Time (cool things I've done): L: Went to Spain for a holiday with my girlfriend and hiked there. Watched some shows and films together. I'm very happy with and proud of the gifts we exchanged. Baked Christmas sweets together. Called with a friend from another city, went for a burger with my brother and his girlfriend. Went to watch a basketball match with my girlfriend's father. Attended a few game nights with friends. Met my high-school classmates at our annual meeting. Read a lot and had good fun with it (Feynman mostly) too. T: No holidays this period, as the weather isn't really optimal for hiking or cycling. Met my FIRE friends, the quiz group, my best friend. I also met my brother for sushi and went to a hockey match with my family. Of course, met my students too. Possible direction/goals: Keep in touch with my friend groups (FIRE, quiz, best friends). Relationship with my girlfriend: L: So we've lived together for almost two years and I can say it's still a nice experience. I don't think we've had any really heated arguments that would span days or even weeks. Last year, I often got a bad headache during the holidays/trips and was a bore to be with. So staying hydrated and fed during trips is my top priority these days. Still, these days I have a feeling I'd like to do more things with my girlfriend. It sometimes feels as if we are next to each other rather than together. I gave her a voucher for English lessons to help with that (which she enjoyed having a few years ago). T: We spent time together my going to the planetarium, having lessons together, going to the café and for walks as well as the few trips. We also spent some time next to each other watching films or the Olympics. Possible direction/goals: Make time to talk every day. Keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities. Time off for myself (1000-1300) break: L: - T: This has been pretty successful so far. I noticed that some of my exercise sessions are quite short (depending on the length of the YT video), but as mentioned above, I managed to do 23/28 days. I also cram whatever appointments and housework I need to take care of into this window. Possible direction/goals: Keep having this break. --- For thought: Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. This might change with the late morning exercise lessons. 10-13 change works well. I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping. No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless. I like these reports, because they take me back in the calendar and let me see if there's something I've missed or something I need to check on again.

2025 yearly report Reading, learning and books: Facts: Read about 8 books this year - fun books, but also about money and psychology. Also spent some time reading financial reddits, but very little. Feelings: This is really a hobby;, but it has its special place here, because I like to read and I consider learning important, otherwise I'd just put it to the bottom with the rest of my hobbies. Plans: Read a book a month. Habits to help with plans: Read daily (a few times a week). Reading (and crosswords) are a good way for me to relax. Drop a book whenever I don't look forward to reading it. Family: Facts: It seems to me my grandma's health got pretty bad pretty quickly, at least in terms of her physical condition. After getting sick and going out less during summer, she had two pretty serious falls in December. She likely also has hallucinations every now and then. My mom needs to assist her when going shopping or to the doctor etc., for which I am quite grateful. Add-on: Had to solve an emergency with my grandma again this Friday. Her legs started to fester due to a heart failure. It's exhausting. Regardless, I'm also quite grateful to my girlfriend for informing my views with hers. There are issues in her family as well, and sometimes we share the news and have a laugh, because there's nothing else to be done :D Also, the rest of the kitchen project was finished in June. For whatever it's worth, I'm happy my grandma got to use it. Feelings: Compared to last year, turns out it wasn't my mom succumbing to dementia, but my grandma, and fast. Again, it's a label and maybe not even that accurate, but it captures the essence of things. As for the kitchen, I think it was a mistake to not have it done by somebody else. It would have been done much faster and with much less emotional stress for everybody. And even if something had been wrong, at least the contractors would have been to blame. The lesson is: pay money for the kitchen, pay money for the wrapping of gifts, pay money for stuff I really hate doing. Plans: Finished the kitchen this year as planned. I don't have any specific plans for my family. I don't want to get alienated from my family. Habits to help with plans: Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Keep in contact at least once a month. Business/English: Facts: I have a new website, got PPC working on it, attended the lecturer course, worked on pricing, played around with the comprehensible input method. Implemented the 10-13 daily break and decided to work less (and for more money), as I think I'm already doing well financially. Eliminated the last language school course. Also, I got back into the army and I'm there as a part-time reservist. Roughly the same amount of lesson count, but 15% increase in profits, year-on-year. Feelings: So the web-building and PPC ads are finished. My business expenses this year were roughly the same size as last year. Education-wise, I got the lecturer course for free and it was a nice change of pace with some benefits. The lessons with the students have been nice overall and even a little more challenging towards the end of the year. I also decided there is no need to go overboard with money. I don't make a ton of money in the conventional terms, but I prefer to have more free time and work less. I also make pretty good money from the part-time army job relative to the time spent, on top of it being meaninful. Over the last two years, I actually didn't save that much as I did in the years before, but I traded that for more time and spending on things that matter (better quality food, budget traveling with my girlfriend, health etc.) Plans: Stick to the plan of roughly 15 hours of lessons per week. I'm gonna continue with the part-time army job. I've already scouted for an interesting English/lecturer course, without luck, but I'll keep looking. Habits to help with plans: Find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission). I'm gonna continue with the 10-13 break daily break. Be receptive to students' needs. Exercise/Health: Facts: I think I can say I exercise most days of the week, meaning roughly 4x a week. I exercise at home with weights, at the gym or go running. I also go hiking or cycling. I get headaches always after being in situations when I don't eat or drink regularly. I just lose sense of hunger and thirst during a stressful or fast-paced part of day. No other health problems. Feelings: It was a good year with growing amounts of exercise over its course. No serious health problems. Plans: Pass A on army exams. Keep on exercising most days of the week (4x a week, including hikes, cycling trips etc.) Keep hiking and cycling. I don't want to become fat. Habits to help with plans: Start flossing regularly. Incorporate balance and spine exercises. Keep on using the Oura ring to track vitals. Relationship with my girlfriend: So we've lived together for almost two years and I can say it's still a nice experience. I don't think we've had any really heated arguments that would span days or even weeks. Last year, I often got a bad headache during the holidays/trips and was a bore to be with. So staying hydrated and fed during trips is my top priority these days. Still, these days I have a feeling I'd like to do more things with my girlfriend. It sometimes feels as if we are next to each other rather than together. I gave her a voucher for English lessons to help with that (which she enjoyed having a few years ago). Plans: - Habits to help with plans: Make time to talk every day. Keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities. Social + Personal Hobbies + Free Time: Again, I took part in various social activities and hobbies: playing board games, FIRE (financial) meetings, going to the shooting range (now somewhat retired because of my army part-time job), playing table football (though not so much anymore), doing crosswords, visiting an improvisation show, going to the sauna or playing billiard. I can also say students socialize me quite often. That strikes me and perhaps weirds me out, but my girlfriend told me she also spends a lot of time at work with her colleagues. She basically spends as much time with them as she does with me. And of course, she spends much less time with her friends or her sister. I don't have colleagues, but my students. Most of the time, they look forward to the lessons and so do I. Plans: Keep in touch with my friend groups (FIRE, quiz, best friends). Habits to help with plans: Meet.

Oh yeah, in that case, I do it the same way really. At this moment, I have a lot of small notes/tasks piled up with no set deadline, because I was away for two weeks and I need to prioritize. I'll start working on those when I finish writing my yearly reports here.

Thanks! I can say I worked for it 😄 I think there can also be "proto-habits"; maybe they're not exactly where we want them to be, but it's clear we're trending upwards. For example going from 0 exercise to 1-2x a week, even if at random times. That's how it was for me in the second half of 2024. I think it sometimes takes some time to "convince" ourselves we need to start/work on the habit in general. If I believe exercise is important, I will do it; if I don't believe it, I might will through it for a week or two, but ultimately fail. By the way, my first 10-13 block today worked perfectly, managed all the things I needed and wanted to do (exercise, shower, lunch, walk). @Yan , I can definitely recommend planning for the week, as some stuff doesn't need to be done daily and can get lost in the daily routine. Depending on how often you deal with other people, I also think it's relatively difficult to plan a meeting with somebody from 0 in X hours, rather than in X days. (By that I mean organized people normally won't be available on a whim, unless it's an emergency, because they have their rhythms and habits.)

If you want a low-commitment starting point, I linked a newsletter about freelancing below. I think they send it out every month and there is always a list of interesting articles. I'm also sure you'll have a few interesting events and organizations in your area to help you out at the start too. Do you actually have the possibility to reduce your workload for your employer? I'm asking, because I think it's extremely difficult to run two jobs at the same time. World-class freelance news and insights from Freelancing....We monitor countless quality sources on freelancing and choose only the best content to save your time. Subscribe to our monthly Freeletter with a curated selection of world-class freelance news and s I have to write that it's nice that your wife cares about sleeping next to you :D Anyway, I'm sorry, but I probably missed something. I thought you wanted to get into circuit board repairs as a freelancer. I actually know nothing about building a business with other people. The thought of becoming a manager or a CEO never really appealed to me, but it might change in the future. I just built a job around doing something I liked :D

I've added these paragraphs you quoted some time last year, so I can glace over them every time I write these reports. Happy they've inspired you! I know specific time-blocking and being precise works for some people (I can think of @Yan here). It's also why I wanted to experiment and carve out the 1000-1300 time for myself, to be more consistent with exercise. I will start with it next week, so I'll see how it goes, but I'm optimistic, as I'm already quite strong as far as getting to exercise goes. That said, my day today was unstructured today. I didn't plan anything. I slept in a little, did some household tasks, went for two walks, spent time with my girlfriend, did some financial planning, reading for fun and my monthly report. I just did it in the order I wanted to. I managed to eliminate a few tasks from my Google Calendar, so I'm happy. Now it's true I'm back to my computer after almost two weeks I have some more urgent things to do, but these things were near the top of the list too. I find that these things (which are in the 2nd quadrant - important, not urgent) are the hardest to get done. I know the most urgent thing is to get my lesson preparation done for the next week, but I also know I have until Monday morning and that I wouldn't dare to go to the lessons unprepared. To connect to your second paragraph, I think my analysis-paralysis disappeared over time. I shook the thought of trying to be "productive" all the time. I can now recognize when I'm reading for fun and maybe some inspiration, but I already have a working business and a functioning life for that matter, so there's probably a good chance I've been doing it fairly right after all. I like the idea of having fun too, as Feynman did. He did some high-level theoretical physics about elementary particles, but also cracked safes and played the bongos. He didn't just grind the problem (and life) every second and minute, he let his imagination recharge. I really like his holistic approach, of having fun and having an interconnected life. To get back to the point, my business is also my lifestyle. During my holiday, I made around 10 points of what I wanted to do when I get home, but it came naturally, so I just made a quick note and continued with my holiday.

I'm using the template I used the last time. 3/12/25 - 3/1/26 "L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term. I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period. Books/Reading articles/Learning: L: Read on Reddit about finance. I managed to read "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" from the same guy. I also started reading "The Richest Man in Babel". Had more time to read at the army training. T: Finished "The Richest Man in Babel" and "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out" by Feynman. Possible direction/goals: (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Family: L: My mom, brother, his girlfriend, my girlfriend and I went to a standup show. It was OK. I also went to sushi with my brother, after a long time. The health of my grandma is more or less still the same. Our family collectively managed to convince her to go to the doctors. Turns out she hasn't been to her GP in four years, though she did visit eye, internal or other specialized doctors. My father is organizing the care these days; he delegated a lot of the tasks onto my mother, who is retired. My brother and I are on standby and involved in some of the smaller tasks. I'm not sure whether that is the best (and fastest) course of action, but something's being done and that's the main thing. I hope it turns out well. Last time I saw grandma, she was doing better, so that's good news. T: There were two pretty serious incidents regarding my grandma this past month. There was more nuance to it, but in both cases, she fell down in her flat and couldn't get up. Oddly enough, I was the one to detect both incidents just by calling her (she didn't pick up) and then alarming my parents, who live a few minutes by car from her. My grandma has a few neighbors who visit her and my mom visits her a few times a week as well, but I'm thinking it might not be enough. I had a burger with my brother and his girlfriend and I also met my parents yesterday. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma. Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Business/English: L: I got a few new courses, so my hours are a bit up, but it's still manageable. I also got some nice feedback from my students. I had a more hectic week last week, as some students wanted to catch up on lessons that they didn't have because of my army training. The two week army training was both relaxing and challenging at the same time. Relaxing because all I needed to do was to just be ready and do the next thing. Challenging because I caught a cold and we pulled two night shifts. The guys there were overall nice and I'm planning to go there for the next training in February/March. Important: From next year, I'm planning to have a late morning break every day, roughly from 10 until 12/13. I will use this break for exercise, lunch, shower and the walk with my girlfriend. The main thing is to take the exercise seriously and that's fairly difficult if my day and lessons look different every day. Check this next month and inform the students. T: I did my biannual questionnaire with my students, but this time I changed my approach and gave the students the option not to do it. I also carved out the 1000-1300 time for myself. Had a end-of-the-year taxes meeting to inform myself and to optimize. My latest group course has been a tough nut to crack, but so far I can say I've been probing and using slightly different techniques each lesson. Now I've got the experience and feedback, I decided on the next steps. I'll also try to find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission). I have options for online, but I have nobody for F2F replacements. NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid. Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered. Current projects I'm working on: Website improvement project - since August 2024 - finished August 2025 with some small upgrades in autumn 2025 lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 55 minutes F2F lessons (+ online reminder too); pricing updates I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting. Find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission). Areas to work on continually: English table update - check every now and then for improvements. Keep classes at a stable 20-25 hours a week. Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. CELTA colleagues calls. Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course. Exercise/Movement/Health: L: I didn't have much exercise at the army training, paradoxically. I was also sick the week after the training, so I went to the gym just twice in the last two weeks or so. Gonna exercise today, as I have some time and feel better already. Went to the dermatologist to check up on my skin marks. T: Went to the gym, for a run or a hike about four times a week, including on my holiday in Spain with my girlfriend. Feeling a little sick after coming back, but I assume I'll be fine by Monday. Went to the ear doctor, all is good. NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes. Have a session every weekday from January. Social + Personal Hobbies + Free Time (cool things I've done): L: I read a lot, had a FIRE meeting, had another meeting with friends and a call with one of them. Had a lunch to celebrate the anniversary with my girlfriend. T: Went to Spain for a holiday with my girlfriend and hiked there. Watched some shows and films together. I'm very happy with and proud of the gifts we exchanged. Baked Christmas sweets together. Called with a friend from another city, went for a burger with my brother and his girlfriend. Went to watch a basketball match with my girlfriend's father. Attended a few game nights with friends. Met my high-school classmates at our annual meeting. Read a lot and had good fun with it (Feynman mostly) too. --- For thought: Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. This might change with the late morning exercise lessons. I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping. No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless. I like these reports, because they take me back in the calendar and let me see if there's something I've missed or something I need to check on again. --- Plans for 2025 (check each month and color - red, orange, green): Family: I don't have any specific plans for my family, besides finishing my grandma's kitchen. I also don't have any plans of starting my own, although I've always said I'm ready after finishing the uni. The main thing for the success of that would be to manage time and money correctly. Career: The last year was successful business-wise. I got the confirmation for the new lecturer course running from February to May. The main goal is to get the website finished, so I want to actively cooperate with the other freelancers. I'm not going to set any arbitrary goals, except keeping my lesson work-hours around 20-25, and to managing the other admin stuff (preparation, mails, trainings) in another 10 hours. That makes the total of 30-35 hours worked a week. Friends, community: I am part of more friend groups and communities. I don't have any big plans in mind regarding this area of my life. I expect to naturally drift towards more libertarian, financially educated and entrepreneurial/self-employed communities. I find the most inspiring people there. Relaxation, hobbies, creativity: I intend on continuing the hobbies I currently do, including writing, working out or going to the shooting range. I also want to remain curious about things and keep on traveling to break out of the cycle to unwind completely sometimes. Maybe I'll get around to blogging again. I think the line between work and relaxation is blurry for me. Physical health, fitness: Again working out (and stretching) and flossing. I think my diet is OK. I might start tracking some indicators of body fitness, but I don't think I'm quite there yet. Mental health, self-knowledge: Avoid overwork and burnout. Keep hours on roughly 20 lessons + 10 hours of ancillary work a week. Keep on doing things that feel right. Keep on planning/marking down things in my calendar. --- Habits for 2025 (check each month and color - red, orange, green): Habits that define you: family - keep in touch with my family at least once a month girlfriend - make time to talk every day and keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities career - work on my education continually, learning something new every week, even in unstructured ways; sources: CELTA, meeting other English lecturers/teachers, reading on their websites, lecturer course coming up in February, working on the business side of my work friends/community habits - meet with my best friend a few times a month, meet with my friend groups a few times a month too relaxation, hobbies, creativity habits - shooting range, writing, traveling, blogging, reading, being curious, sauna fitness habits - stretch every day, work out/run twice a week; floss daily mental health habits - keep my hobbies, work and other activities in balance, try new things every now and then a better tomorrow habits - provide great added value back for the money of my students ---

I see, in that case, I guess I had "first" clients twice, let me explain: 1) I got most of the initial work back in 2020 and 2021 through agencies (language schools). In this phase, I was testing if I would even like the job. The agency pay was peanuts, but it was a start. I was studying at the university during this time too, so I had something to fall back to. 2) In 2022 and 2023, I started having more students/clients come to me through my website I made back in 2020. There were also people who remembered me through the agency lessons and contacted me later or switched companies and still wanted to have lessons etc. I gradually traded agency courses for my own over time (I remember I even tracked it in my journal). I was still at the uni finishing my degree just in case. That written, the "0th" leap was to leave the job in the army in summer 2018 and absolutely struggle through the rest of the year and first months of 2019, perhaps up until April when I decided to quit gaming and start a journal here. My business is extremely competitive. I was really too naive thinking I'd get a job/lessons easily. I had money saved up and no dependents, so it was OK, but I'd have done it way differently now. It's great you have somebody knowledgeable to help you out, so I hope you won't lose much time doing something that doesn't work or doing nothing at all.

Hi, welcome back! Sounds like you've been keeping yourself pretty busy! I hope the situation regarding your work gets better over time. It definitely did when I took the jump from employment to self-employment a few years ago. I'm happy to give an opinion, sources or a tip of what's worked for me on some of the more universal stuff. And yes, I'm still around :D

I'm using the template I used the last time. 3/11/25 - 3/12/25 "L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term. I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period. Books/Reading articles/Learning: L: Finished Influence. I also read "War with the Newts" by Čapek. Borrowing a few new books soon. Read on Reddit about finance. I unsubbed from the English teaching forums, because most of the issues there were irrelevant to me. Did the crosswords a little again. T: Read on Reddit about finance. I managed to read "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" from the same guy. I also started reading "The Richest Man in Babel". Had more time to read at the army training. Possible direction/goals: (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Family: L: My mom, brother, his girlfriend, my girlfriend and I went to a standup show. It was OK. I also went to sushi with my brother, after a long time. The health of my grandma is more or less still the same. Our family collectively managed to convince her to go to the doctors. Turns out she hasn't been to her GP in four years, though she did visit eye, internal or other specialized doctors. My father is organizing the care these days; he delegated a lot of the tasks onto my mother, who is retired. My brother and I are on standby and involved in some of the smaller tasks. I'm not sure whether that is the best (and fastest) course of action, but something's being done and that's the main thing. I hope it turns out well. T: Last time I saw grandma, she was doing better, so that's good news. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma. Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Business/English: L: Launched PPC ads on Google with the help of one of the guys. I also met one teacher colleague and she gave me the idea (and asked about) forwarding students/courses to her. I could even do it for a small commission, but at the moment it seems like too much hassle for too little profit. We'll see what comes up in the future. The last few months I've been testing the comprehensible input method and I, and the students too, are fairly happy with it. It focuses on learning the language naturally through audio and video. It's also graded based on the student's current level, usually with a few new words thrown in for context. The same thing also exists for reading. Many students often say they're afraid to talk, but I think it's not because they're shy. It's just a symptom of the fact that they don't know enough vocabulary in useful contexts. Small kids learn vocabulary and meaning without memorizing lists of vocabulary. This was brought to home to me yesterday, when we met my girlfriend's little nephew. He said: "I pick up walnuts, NO." Yes, grammar is wrong, but meaning is conveyed. As he listens to people more and more, he'll soon understand that the sentence should be structured differently. I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting. Two other people came and we had good fun. I might organize more of these in the future. Visited a seminar on AI tools usage and learned a trick or two to help me. I also made a few minor website updates. T: I got a few new courses, so my hours are a bit up, but it's still manageable. I also got some nice feedback from my students. I had a more hectic week last week, as some students wanted to catch up on lessons that they didn't have because of my army training. The two week army training was both relaxing and challenging at the same time. Relaxing because all I needed to do was to just be ready and do the next thing. Challenging because I caught a cold and we pulled two night shifts. The guys there were overall nice and I'm planning to go there for the next training in February/March. Important: From next year, I'm planning to have a late morning break every day, roughly from 10 until 12/13. I will use this break for exercise, lunch, shower and the walk with my girlfriend. The main thing is to take the exercise seriously and that's fairly difficult if my day and lessons look different every day. Check this next month and inform the students. NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid. Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered. Current projects I'm working on: Website improvement project - since August 2024 lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 55 minutes F2F lessons (+ online reminder too); pricing updates I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting. Areas to work on continually: English table update - check every now and then for improvements. Keep classes at a stable 20-25 hours a week. Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. CELTA colleagues calls. Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course. Exercise/Movement/Health: L: My girlfriend and I also got a new gadget called the Oura Ring that tracks vitals. Looking forward to using the vitals data in the future. Managed to exercise, cycle or run 3-4x a week the past three weeks. This includes the trip to Slovenia with my girlfriend as well. I again noticed that my blood pressure went down after being active for a few days. Minor activities also include changing wheels on my car. Went to dental hygiene too. T: I didn't have much exercise at the army training, paradoxically. I was also sick the week after the training, so I went to the gym just twice in the last two weeks or so. Gonna exercise today, as I have some time and feel better already. Went to the dermatologist to check up on my skin marks. NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes. Have a session every weekday from January. Social + personal hobbies + free time: L: Went to Slovenia with my girlfriend, for hiking and cycling trips. We also went to a sauna night (surprise gift from her) and went to a wellness cottage (gift for both of us from her family). I also did some maths and finance; about my business, stock brokers or mortgage. Watched a funny series about football I've seen in the past by myself. I also met my friend a few times and that was that. I don't really meet that many people outside of this friend and my girlfriend; unless I also include my students into this. I don't think I'm missing out on anything though, so I guess I'm doing fine in this regard. T: I read a lot, had a FIRE meeting, had another meeting with friends and a call with one of them. Had a lunch to celebrate the anniversary with my girlfriend. --- For thought: Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. This might change with the late morning exercise lessons. I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping. No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless. I like these reports, because they take me back in the calendar and let me see if there's something I've missed or something I need to check on again. --- Plans for 2025 (check each month and color - red, orange, green): Family: I don't have any specific plans for my family, besides finishing my grandma's kitchen. I also don't have any plans of starting my own, although I've always said I'm ready after finishing the uni. The main thing for the success of that would be to manage time and money correctly. Career: The last year was successful business-wise. I got the confirmation for the new lecturer course running from February to May. The main goal is to get the website finished, so I want to actively cooperate with the other freelancers. I'm not going to set any arbitrary goals, except keeping my lesson work-hours around 20-25, and to managing the other admin stuff (preparation, mails, trainings) in another 10 hours. That makes the total of 30-35 hours worked a week. Friends, community: I am part of more friend groups and communities. I don't have any big plans in mind regarding this area of my life. I expect to naturally drift towards more libertarian, financially educated and entrepreneurial/self-employed communities. I find the most inspiring people there. Relaxation, hobbies, creativity: I intend on continuing the hobbies I currently do, including writing, working out or going to the shooting range. I also want to remain curious about things and keep on traveling to break out of the cycle to unwind completely sometimes. Maybe I'll get around to blogging again. I think the line between work and relaxation is blurry for me. Physical health, fitness: Again working out (and stretching) and flossing. I think my diet is OK. I might start tracking some indicators of body fitness, but I don't think I'm quite there yet. Mental health, self-knowledge: Avoid overwork and burnout. Keep hours on roughly 20 lessons + 10 hours of ancillary work a week. Keep on doing things that feel right. Keep on planning/marking down things in my calendar. --- Habits for 2025 (check each month and color - red, orange, green): Habits that define you: family - keep in touch with my family at least once a month girlfriend - make time to talk every day and keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities career - work on my education continually, learning something new every week, even in unstructured ways; sources: CELTA, meeting other English lecturers/teachers, reading on their websites, lecturer course coming up in February, working on the business side of my work friends/community habits - meet with my best friend a few times a month, meet with my friend groups a few times a month too relaxation, hobbies, creativity habits - shooting range, writing, traveling, blogging, reading, being curious, sauna fitness habits - stretch every day, work out/run twice a week; floss daily mental health habits - keep my hobbies, work and other activities in balance, try new things every now and then a better tomorrow habits - provide great added value back for the money of my students ---

I'm using the template I used the last time. 11/10/25 - 3/11/25 "L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term. I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period. Books/Reading articles/Learning: L: Continuing with "Influence". Read on Reddit about finance and English teaching again. I also started doing crosswords back in August. T: Finished Influence. I also read "War with the Newts" by Čapek. Borrowing a few new books soon. Read on Reddit about finance. I unsubbed from the English teaching forums, because most of the issues there were irrelevant to me. Did the crosswords a little again. Possible direction/goals: (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Family: L: My father and I had our birthdays, so we met for the celebration. Met my brother separately for lunch too. What's special is that my uncle came for a visit, hadn't seen him in years. Over the last few months, I noticed grandma's getting worse; she had troubles with balance and memory. She had a cold a month or two ago, so she couldn't go out much. We now bring heavier groceries to her. My brother and I will try to convince her to go for a few medical checks, but she's stubborn and doesn't want to visit the doctors. T: My mom, brother, his girlfriend, my girlfriend and I went to a standup show. It was OK. I also went to sushi with my brother, after a long time. The health of my grandma is more or less still the same. Our family collectively managed to convince her to go to the doctors. Turns out she hasn't been to her GP in four years, though she did visit eye, internal or other specialized doctors. My father is organizing the care these days; he delegated a lot of the tasks onto my mother, who is retired. My brother and I are on standby and involved in some of the smaller tasks. I'm not sure whether that is the best (and fastest) course of action, but something's being done and that's the main thing. I hope it turns out well. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma. Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Business/English: L: Launched PPC ads on Google with the help of one of the guys. I also met one teacher colleague and she gave me the idea (and asked about) forwarding students/courses to her. I could even do it for a small commission, but at the moment it seems like too much hassle for too little profit. We'll see what comes up in the future. The last few months I've been testing the comprehensible input method and I, and the students too, are fairly happy with it. It focuses on learning the language naturally through audio and video. It's also graded based on the student's current level, usually with a few new words thrown in for context. The same thing also exists for reading. Many students often say they're afraid to talk, but I think it's not because they're shy. It's just a symptom of the fact that they don't know enough vocabulary in useful contexts. Small kids learn vocabulary and meaning without memorizing lists of vocabulary. This was brought to home to me yesterday, when we met my girlfriend's little nephew. He said: "I pick up walnuts, NO." Yes, grammar is wrong, but meaning is conveyed. As he listens to people more and more, he'll soon understand that the sentence should be structured differently. T: I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting. Two other people came and we had good fun. I might organize more of these in the future. Visited a seminar on AI tools usage and learned a trick or two to help me. I also made a few minor website updates. Important: From next year, I'm planning to have a late morning break every day, roughly from 10 until 12/13. I will use this break for exercise, lunch, shower and the walk with my girlfriend. The main thing is to take the exercise seriously and that's fairly difficult if my day and lessons look different every day. Check this next month and inform the students. NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid. Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered. Current projects I'm working on: Website improvement project - since August 2024 lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 55 minutes F2F lessons (+ online reminder too); pricing updates I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting. Areas to work on continually: English table update - check every now and then for improvements. Keep classes at a stable 20-25 hours a week. Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. CELTA colleagues calls. Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course. Exercise/Movement/Health: L: I got a bit ill. I think I recovered about week ago, but then my girlfriend and I spent an extended weekend in another city and went for a bike trip. This week was busy with work, so I didn't have time to exercise. I haven't had almost any home exercise in two weeks. Gonna pick up the slack today and over the start of the next week. My girlfriend and I also got a new gadget called the Oura Ring that tracks vitals. Looking forward to using the vitals data in the future. T: Managed to exercise, cycle or run 3-4x a week the past three weeks. This includes the trip to Slovenia with my girlfriend as well. I again noticed that my blood pressure went down after being active for a few days. Minor activities also include changing wheels on my car. Went to dental hygiene too. NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes. Have a session every weekday from January. Social + personal hobbies + free time: L: Watched a few films and attended a few events with my girlfriend, met my friend a few times, played billiard in a group, met another friend in another city, attended the FIRE meeting and visited yet another city with my girlfriend. T: Went to Slovenia with my girlfriend, for hiking and cycling trips. We also went to a sauna night (surprise gift from her) and went to a wellness cottage (gift for both of us from her family). I also did some maths and finance; about my business, stock brokers or mortgage. Watched a funny series I've seen in the past by myself. I also met my friend a few times and that was that. I don't really meet that many people outside of this friend and my girlfriend; unless I also include my students into this. I don't think I'm missing out on anything though, so I guess I'm doing fine in this regard. --- For thought: Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. This might change with the late morning exercise lessons. I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping. No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless. I like these reports, because they take me back in the calendar and let me see if there's something I've missed or something I need to check on again. --- Plans for 2025 (check each month and color - red, orange, green): Family: I don't have any specific plans for my family, besides finishing my grandma's kitchen. I also don't have any plans of starting my own, although I've always said I'm ready after finishing the uni. The main thing for the success of that would be to manage time and money correctly. Career: The last year was successful business-wise. I got the confirmation for the new lecturer course running from February to May. The main goal is to get the website finished, so I want to actively cooperate with the other freelancers. I'm not going to set any arbitrary goals, except keeping my lesson work-hours around 20-25, and to managing the other admin stuff (preparation, mails, trainings) in another 10 hours. That makes the total of 30-35 hours worked a week. Friends, community: I am part of more friend groups and communities. I don't have any big plans in mind regarding this area of my life. I expect to naturally drift towards more libertarian, financially educated and entrepreneurial/self-employed communities. I find the most inspiring people there. Relaxation, hobbies, creativity: I intend on continuing the hobbies I currently do, including writing, working out or going to the shooting range. I also want to remain curious about things and keep on traveling to break out of the cycle to unwind completely sometimes. Maybe I'll get around to blogging again. I think the line between work and relaxation is blurry for me. Physical health, fitness: Again working out (and stretching) and flossing. I think my diet is OK. I might start tracking some indicators of body fitness, but I don't think I'm quite there yet. Mental health, self-knowledge: Avoid overwork and burnout. Keep hours on roughly 20 lessons + 10 hours of ancillary work a week. Keep on doing things that feel right. Keep on planning/marking down things in my calendar. --- Habits for 2025 (check each month and color - red, orange, green): Habits that define you: family - keep in touch with my family at least once a month girlfriend - make time to talk every day and keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities career - work on my education continually, learning something new every week, even in unstructured ways; sources: CELTA, meeting other English lecturers/teachers, reading on their websites, lecturer course coming up in February, working on the business side of my work friends/community habits - meet with my best friend a few times a month, meet with my friend groups a few times a month too relaxation, hobbies, creativity habits - shooting range, writing, traveling, blogging, reading, being curious, sauna fitness habits - stretch every day, work out/run twice a week; floss daily mental health habits - keep my hobbies, work and other activities in balance, try new things every now and then a better tomorrow habits - provide great added value back for the money of my students ---

I'm on my second day of just catching up with some the interesting activities and being curious after a long time again, so I can empathize. Anyhow, when I'm struggling with some mundane activities (actively), I try to make them fun or meaningful one way or another. It's hard to brute-force all of it all the time. I may not be the best planner to e.g. nail exercise daily, but I already got myself to not think twice about whether I want to exercise or not and I try to cram it into any time window I come across.

I'm using the template I used the last time. 5/9/25 - 11/10/25 "L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term. I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period. Books/Reading articles/Learning: L: I finished "Getting to Yes". It was a good read about negotiation techniques and finding win-win situations. I now started reading "Influence" by Cialdini, which is more about manipulation rather than negotiation. Read on Reddit about finance and English teaching again. T: Same this month. Continuing with "Influence". Read on Reddit about finance and English teaching again. I also started doing crosswords back in August. Possible direction/goals: (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Family: L: My father and I had our birthdays, so we met for the celebration. Met my brother separately for lunch too. What's special is that my uncle came for a visit, hadn't seen him in years. T: Over the last few months, I noticed grandma's getting worse; she had troubles with balance and memory. She had a cold a month or two ago, so she couldn't go out much. We now bring heavier groceries to her. My brother and I will try to convince her to go for a few medical checks, but she's stubborn and doesn't want to visit the doctors. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma. Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Business/English: L: So I've upped the prices/repackaged the offer. The new website is up and running and it seems to be having a better performance than the previous one already. Looking good so far. T: Launched PPC ads on Google with the help of one of the guys. I also met one teacher colleague and she gave me the idea (and asked about) forwarding students/courses to her. I could even do it for a small commission, but at the moment it seems like too much hassle for too little profit. We'll see what comes up in the future. The last few months I've been testing the comprehensible input method and I, and the students too, are fairly happy with it. It focuses on learning the language naturally through audio and video. It's also graded based on the student's current level, usually with a few new words thrown in for context. The same thing also exists for reading. Many students often say they're afraid to talk, but I think it's not because they're shy. It's just a symptom of the fact that they don't know enough vocabulary in useful contexts. Small kids learn vocabulary and meaning without memorizing lists of vocabulary. This was brought to home to me yesterday, when we met my girlfriend's little nephew. He said: "I pick up walnuts, NO." Yes, grammar is wrong, but meaning is conveyed. As he listens to people more and more, he'll soon understand that the sentence should be structured differently. NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid. Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered. Current projects I'm working on: Website improvement project - since August 2024 lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 55 minutes F2F lessons (+ online reminder too); pricing updates Areas to work on continually: English table update - check every now and then for improvements. Keep classes at a stable 20-25 hours a week. Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. CELTA colleagues calls. Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course. Exercise/Movement/Health: L: 4x a week this month as well, plus all the walking during the holiday with my girlfriend. T: The same, up until perhaps two weeks ago, when I got a bit ill. I think I recovered about week ago, but then my girlfriend and I spent an extended weekend in another city and went for a bike trip. This week was busy with work, so I didn't have time to exercise. I haven't had almost any home exercise in two weeks. Gonna pick up the slack today and over the start of the next week. My girlfriend and I also got a new gadget called the Oura Ring that tracks vitals. Looking forward to using the vitals data in the future. NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes. Social + personal hobbies + free time: L: Visited Estonia with my girlfriend, went to a comedy show, took up doing crosswords, read up on leveraged investing, met with my FIRE group and quiz group. Went to the mountains a few times with friends. T: Watched a few films and attended a few events with my girlfriend, met my friend a few times, played billiard in a group, met another friend in another city, attended the FIRE meeting and visited yet another city with my girlfriend. --- For thought: Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping. No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless. --- Plans for 2025 (check each month and color - red, orange, green): Family: I don't have any specific plans for my family, besides finishing my grandma's kitchen. I also don't have any plans of starting my own, although I've always said I'm ready after finishing the uni. The main thing for the success of that would be to manage time and money correctly. Career: The last year was successful business-wise. I got the confirmation for the new lecturer course running from February to May. The main goal is to get the website finished, so I want to actively cooperate with the other freelancers. I'm not going to set any arbitrary goals, except keeping my lesson work-hours around 20-25, and to managing the other admin stuff (preparation, mails, trainings) in another 10 hours. That makes the total of 30-35 hours worked a week. Friends, community: I am part of more friend groups and communities. I don't have any big plans in mind regarding this area of my life. I expect to naturally drift towards more libertarian, financially educated and entrepreneurial/self-employed communities. I find the most inspiring people there. Relaxation, hobbies, creativity: I intend on continuing the hobbies I currently do, including writing, working out or going to the shooting range. I also want to remain curious about things and keep on traveling to break out of the cycle to unwind completely sometimes. Maybe I'll get around to blogging again. I think the line between work and relaxation is blurry for me. Physical health, fitness: Again working out (and stretching) and flossing. I think my diet is OK. I might start tracking some indicators of body fitness, but I don't think I'm quite there yet. Mental health, self-knowledge: Avoid overwork and burnout. Keep hours on roughly 20 lessons + 10 hours of ancillary work a week. Keep on doing things that feel right. Keep on planning/marking down things in my calendar. --- Habits for 2025 (check each month and color - red, orange, green): Habits that define you: family - keep in touch with my family at least once a month girlfriend - make time to talk every day and keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities career - work on my education continually, learning something new every week, even in unstructured ways; sources: CELTA, meeting other English lecturers/teachers, reading on their websites, lecturer course coming up in February, working on the business side of my work friends/community habits - meet with my best friend a few times a month, meet with my friend groups a few times a month too relaxation, hobbies, creativity habits - shooting range, writing, traveling, blogging, reading, being curious fitness habits - stretch every day, work out/run twice a week; floss daily mental health habits - keep my hobbies, work and other activities in balance, try new things every now and then a better tomorrow habits - provide great added value back for the money of my students ---

I'm using the template I used the last time. 1/8/25 - 5/9/25 "L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term. I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period. Books/Reading articles/Learning: L: I finished "Getting to Yes". It was a good read about negotiation techniques and finding win-win situations. I now started reading "Influence" by Cialdini, which is more about manipulation rather than negotiation. Read on Reddit about finance and English teaching again. T: Continuing with "Influence". Read on Reddit about finance and English teaching again. Possible direction/goals: (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Family: L: I didn't see my family much this month, just at my brother's birthday party, though strictly speaking I'm visiting my parents and grandma together with my girlfriend over the weekend. Nothing new otherwise. T: My father and I had our birthdays, so we met for the celebration. Met my brother separately for lunch too. What's special is that my uncle came for a visit, hadn't seen him in years. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma. Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Business/English: L: The work is still ongoing on some pricing changes, as well as on my website. I also have a lot of my students on holidays, but I don't mind, as I can use the time for other projects. There are some minor tasks before the launch next week. Lessons are about 2/3 of the usual, which is a good amount to keep busy. T: So I've upped the prices/repackaged the offer. The new website is up and running and it seems to be having a better performance than the previous one already. Looking good so far. NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid. Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered. Current projects I'm working on: Website improvement project - since August 2024 lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 55 minutes F2F lessons (+ online reminder too); pricing updates Areas to work on continually: English table update - check every now and then for improvements. Keep classes at a stable 20-25 hours a week. Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. CELTA colleagues calls. Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course. Exercise/Movement/Health: L: Overall, I managed to exercise in various ways 2x-3x per week this month. I also took part in two running races this month. I'm quite happy with the results, even though I was a bit slower on the 4 km this year 😄 2024: 4 km - 18:40 8 km - 45:17 2025: 4 km - 18:44 8 km - 42:00 Upped the exercise (cycling, running, hiking, weight training or swimming) to about 4x a week this month. T: 4x a week this month as well, plus all the walking during the holiday with my girlfriend. NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes. Social + personal hobbies + free time: L: Attended the FIRE meeting, met my high school mates at the cottage, met my friends at gun-range and other places. Managed to fix the window blinds by myself instead of calling the repair company. Watched the Bourne Trilogy, Tour de France and Severance. T: Visited Estonia with my girlfriend, went to a comedy show, took up doing crosswords, read up on leveraged investing, met with my FIRE group and quiz group. Went to the mountains a few times with friends. --- For thought: Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping. No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless. --- Plans for 2025 (check each month and color - red, orange, green): Family: I don't have any specific plans for my family, besides finishing my grandma's kitchen. I also don't have any plans of starting my own, although I've always said I'm ready after finishing the uni. The main thing for the success of that would be to manage time and money correctly. Career: The last year was successful business-wise. I got the confirmation for the new lecturer course running from February to May. The main goal is to get the website finished, so I want to actively cooperate with the other freelancers. I'm not going to set any arbitrary goals, except keeping my lesson work-hours around 20-25, and to managing the other admin stuff (preparation, mails, trainings) in another 10 hours. That makes the total of 30-35 hours worked a week. Friends, community: I am part of more friend groups and communities. I don't have any big plans in mind regarding this area of my life. I expect to naturally drift towards more libertarian, financially educated and entrepreneurial/self-employed communities. I find the most inspiring people there. Relaxation, hobbies, creativity: I intend on continuing the hobbies I currently do, including writing, working out or going to the shooting range. I also want to remain curious about things and keep on traveling to break out of the cycle to unwind completely sometimes. Maybe I'll get around to blogging again. I think the line between work and relaxation is blurry for me. Physical health, fitness: Again working out (and stretching) and flossing. I think my diet is OK. I might start tracking some indicators of body fitness, but I don't think I'm quite there yet. Mental health, self-knowledge: Avoid overwork and burnout. Keep hours on roughly 20 lessons + 10 hours of ancillary work a week. Keep on doing things that feel right. Keep on planning/marking down things in my calendar. --- Habits for 2025 (check each month and color - red, orange, green): Habits that define you: family - keep in touch with my family at least once a month girlfriend - make time to talk every day and keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities career - work on my education continually, learning something new every week, even in unstructured ways; sources: CELTA, meeting other English lecturers/teachers, reading on their websites, lecturer course coming up in February, working on the business side of my work friends/community habits - meet with my best friend a few times a month, meet with my friend groups a few times a month too relaxation, hobbies, creativity habits - shooting range, writing, traveling, blogging, reading, being curious fitness habits - stretch every day, work out/run twice a week; floss daily mental health habits - keep my hobbies, work and other activities in balance, try new things every now and then a better tomorrow habits - provide great added value back for the money of my students ---