Ikar

Good job!

18th Feb - 23rd Feb: I did some minor improvements to my website, spent time with my girlfriend and friends, read newsletters and went to uni classes first time this semester. --- I don't think I've been doing a good job looking after myself recently. I have to watch my phone usage, as I scroll news and watch porn on it. I want to use my time in a better way with healthier activities.

In the case of overwork, I calm myself down, relax, set priorities and continue. Usually, there are not that many urgent things coming up that I would completely forget about. That means I am mostly able to organize my schedule effectively and do something when it needs to be done without stress. In the case of underwork, I remember my hobbies, habits I want to practice and projects that don't have much priority. Both happen rarely, but I sometimes bump into both the "overworked" zone, as well as the "underworked" zone. 95% of the time I feel neither though. I use Google Calendar for my work/uni (it's pretty much necessary), as well as tasks/ideas/projects to work on when I have more time. As for how much time I put into what activity, I rely on my gut. I don't think there's a better way than that and I haven't heard anyone telling me I should do less/more of X/Y/Z (except myself, of course).

I'm using the template I used the last time. 21/01/23 - 18/02/23 "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: L: I read Free to Choose by Milton and Rose Friedman and I also watched the video series. A very catchy and interesting book. T: I read Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World. It was a nice book from my field, recommended by my girlfriend. Fairly caught up on the newsletters. Possible direction/goals: Continue getting through the newsletters. (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Family: L: The kitchen unit design is still on me. It just feels like too much work and something I can't care about, so I don't really know when will I get down to it. I went to sushi with my brother on Monday and my mom is on a rehabilitation again. T: I went to lunches with my brother and my dad. I still can't get myself to care about the kitchen. I guess the time shall come. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Continue working on bettering the relationships with my family. University: L: I finished all the projects and smaller exams successfully. I have one more exam on Thursday and today I'm going to study for it. T: I finished the exam at the end of January. The university started again this week. I expect I will spend about 8 hours a week present on classes and another 5 hours a week working on the assignments. NOT: I don't want to drop out of the university. Possible direction/goals: My plan for some time has been to do the main part of my diploma in summer 2023 and to do the defense and finals in January/February 2024. With my university duties taking 10-15 hours a week and English teaching taking 25-30 hours a week, on top of other activities like the business mentoring, social meetings and one-off things, the last thing I want is to add too much to the university bucket. Find more sources for my upcoming masters' thesis during the summer. Work on the assignments in a timely manner. Job/English: L: I've been working on the re-design and re-writing of my website and I am planning to make some progress this weekend. I got some good ideas from the meeting at the beginning of the month. T: I went to a small business conference, although I quickly found out that a) my acquaintances hadn't arrived and b) the topic of the conference wasn't useful for me. I actually redesigned my website and did the SEO on my own in the free time I had by not going to Georgia and still having a week off. - Classes are at a stable 25-30 hours a week, plus a few hours for admin work. I even canceled 5 hours throughout the last month: 3,5 from category e) and 1,5 from category d). At the same time, I picked up 4 hours for category a) since the New Year. Anywhere between 1-3 for a) are in the pipeline coming in the next few weeks. - I've done a bit of an analysis of my courses and categorized them based on what they provide me. I earmarked five types of courses: a) my own - well paid + generally more motivated students (as they pay the courses themselves) + more challenging b) premium - language school courses paid at a premium compared to my standard LS courses for various reasons (roughly matching the a) group) c) flexible - courses from LS that don't have a fixed schedule, meaning it's on me if I make time for them or not (though I mostly do, as they plug the gaps or can start my day) d) challenging/fun/prospective - standard LS courses with an added quality e) neither - standard LS courses without any added quality I have about 30% 20% (a month later) of my workload in category e), so I am going to eliminate that that time, starting next month by removing about half of them. I might transfer them to my former Georgian girlfriend if she's interested. - 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. Possible direction/goals: With my job position and student demand secure, I'm more able and willing to reschedule or even cancel classes in case I want to do something, mainly in the evening and for holidays. I enjoy having this option thoroughly. Keep classes at a stable 25-30 hours a week. I'm likely going to outsource a few of the projects, such as the modern re-design of my website, SEO and perhaps some more advanced marketing stuff. My students have also been helpful as far as this goes. I have many upcoming projects in the pipeline. Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. Write down specific areas and what I want to do in them: Update my website to reflect the new ideas and inspiration from the web. Get a customized redesign and SEO for the website. Networking events. Variable pricing. Work on Linked In - use the notes from seminar. Look into strategies in becoming truly self-employed by skipping the agencies in between. Exercise/Movement: L: Still walking and cycling regularly to see my students or when going out in the evening. Unfortunately, my bike chain broke and overall my bike needed to be put into the service. Luckily, I live in walk-able distances to my students, so it doesn't matter that much. T: I got the bike back from the service. We've been going for walks with my girlfriend fairly often and on Sunday we are planning to go to the swimming pool 🙂 NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: I enjoy the fact I do not have to be "actively" dealing with this area of my life, as it's technically a part of my job. I just have to be on lookout if that was to change. Keep in shape. Women/Dating: L: T: We've been seeing over the weekends mostly for an afternoon/evening. It is good 🙂 Possible direction/goals: Set up at least two dates a month (with my girlfriend). ----- What to do if I am bored? Replacement activities for 1 hour: reading books, cleaning, washing the dishes, reading newsletters Replacement activities for 2 hours: going for a walk, work on my business, uni work, blogging ----- Additional thoughts/activities: My hobbies are: personal finance, gunnery, GIS/statistics, reading/videos about (modern) history, English, working on my business, blogging/writing, geography. This month, I did these cool activities: working on my business, taking a vacation, going to see a presentation about Iran, reading about finance, spending time with friends and my girlfriend, going to sushi with my brother, lunch with my father, going to a business conference. --- Goals/resolutions/aspirations for 2023: Pass all the exams at the uni, finish the thesis and finish all university duties successfully in January/February 2024. - WIP, progress = yes Improve my business, so that I don't need to teach for language schools anymore, by getting more private contacts, opportunities and students. - WIP, progress = yes Go to Georgia to visit my friend. - Unfortunately, the plan didn't work out. I plan to go there later this year, either in late summer or autumn. Stop watching porn (again). - I am not porn-free, it comes in waves. I'll try to be more aware when the urges come and what makes me more likely to have them. Start getting up when my alarm rings. - I got better, not 100%, but better. Continue: planning, walking/exercising, writing/journaling, reading, studying for uni, dating. It's a short list, but if I manage all of it, I will be happy. --- Add-ons: I enjoy writing articles, however I am not enjoying the process of how to actually set up the blog, whether I should try and make some money off of it. I think I will, but I won't go on writing e-books, providing courses and whatnot. Just a few affiliate links for the services I like. This allows me to focus on writing and not fret over something I don't even know I want to do. I found out I quite like to give presentations, if I really believe and enjoy the topic. This goes for both my school and business presentations. Better keep that in mind. As I mentioned in @Faroe Islander 's journal, I sense that the divide between my "free" week and my "work" week too big for my taste, so I want to allow myself more free time in general, although now, I'm gonna be more busy with university and my normal English course-load.

I've been wondering about that as well. I sense that the divide between my "free" week and my "work" week is still too big for my taste, so I want to allow myself more free time in general. But now, I'm gonna be more busy with university and I suspect the number of my English courses will be constant, as I drop courses for language schools and pick up more private students. Sometimes, I have a tendency to finish my day quite early, let's say at 9. I have activities to do, but in that moment I feel tired/unconcentrated and I postpone them. And if there are no activities for me to do, it makes me restless at night and triggers my masturbation habit. Reading books in my bed makes me sleepy, so I should capitalize on that. My girlfriend and a few friends know and I agree it's good to not be alone in that. That made me look at the beginning of my diary, because I don't remember what I did. I just remember feeling free after I quit. And that I did anything but gaming and Twitch. I know that before the diary, I had bouts of quitting certain games/starting certain games/watching Twitch. I learnt that my case is pretty abnormal after spending some time here, as most people don't start journaling and quit 100%.

Fair, I guess that's the normal way things develop. I have a student who works a job in automotive, but is also a DJ at nights and earns some money doing that too 🙂

6th Feb - 12th Feb: I read the "Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World". It was about how geography affects modern countries, mainly in the geopolitical sense. I spent time with friends and my girlfriend, watched films and redesigned my website. --- In other news, I am going to drop a few courses I have. I want to have more time for myself, to make space for private students and to make time for my uni classes.

I understand what you're saying about applying charisma. I meet a few new people every now and then and today I actually met my girlfriend's sister and her boyfriend for the first time. I felt zero pressure to make a good impression and so I was free to be genuinely myself. Yes, we can prepare for a job interview or for an exam at the uni (and we should), but in the end, people either like us or they don't. That's an interesting remark, as I oftentimes have problems myself with identifying how strongly I feel about certain people and what impact they have on me. That means that sometimes when I'm confronted about that by someone, I have mostly nothing to say. Anyway, do you have some benchmark(s) on how you want your relationships to be?

Sounds good! Are you planning it as a hobby or do you want to go pro eventually? I remember you writing about finding yourself some good job.

I actually had only one serious exam this semester and it was OK, though I am finding that as time progresses, I'm getting lazier with my university assignments. I worked out a plan to finish the summer semester/all subjects of my masters by June and then have until January/February 2024 to finish my thesis and do the finals. What is the plan for your studies? I understand that. I have the same issue quitting porn now. I didn't watch it for over a week a few days ago, but then I just got too excited. It's nowhere as bad as it was with gaming, but I don't want to spend a few hours a week watching porn. I also think it's somewhat unfair towards my girlfriend, so it's another good reason to stop for me. I don't exercise, but I matched my chores with physical activity. That means if I have to meet my students F2F or meet with friends, I either cycle or have to walk for at least for 30 minutes. Is there any way for you to do that as well?

You're not alone in that! I need to remind myself to keep my alarm across the room to actually get up. I haven't done that in the past few weeks.

26th Jan - 5th Feb: I've decided to put a few lines here because I am feeling somewhat bummed out and lost. To put a long story short, I was supposed to go to Georgia on Saturday morning. The flight got gradually delayed and eventually canceled that day, so it was moved to the next one. That completely ruined my plans for the vacation, as I had some time-sensitive plans for the first few days with others. I've been filing out some applications for refunds, but it's not looking great so far and I wonder if I'll get any money back at all. --- In other news, I still do have a week of vacation time I need to put to good use. That's worth more than a couple hundred of euros lost for the plane inconvenience or by not having classes this week. I can do some reading, website resigning, exercising, meeting friends, kitchen designing for my grandma, smaller trips...

As @Lobares2 pointed out, the forum is free. I come here regularly for almost four years and I haven't paid a single dime for any of the courses here. Nor are those courses billed monthly or something, so there are even no "clients" to hook permanently. If I make a living helping people by teaching English and @Cam Adair makes a living helping people by quitting games, how's that any different? As for the second question, I'm not aware of any such thing here. My opinion would be that this forum is not that big to have those meetings regularly.

21st Jan - 25th Jan: I did my monthly report and thought about the conception of my teaching schedule. I studied for the exam (I have it in two hours), spent time with my girlfriend and read about finance.

I'm using the template I used the last time. 17/12/22 - 20/01/23 "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: L: I didn't read almost at all this last month. T: I read Free to Choose by Milton and Rose Friedman and I also watched the video series. A very catchy and interesting book. Possible direction/goals: Continue getting through the newsletters. (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Family: L: My grandma's sister actually visited my grandma and I am still pondering the kitchen unit. Nothing else is happening otherwise. T: The kitchen unit design is still on me. It just feels like too much work and something I can't care about, so I don't really know when will I get down to it. I went to sushi with my brother on Monday and my mom is on a rehabilitation again. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Continue working on bettering the relationships with my family. University: L: I'm not sure if I already put it out here, but my plan for some time has been to do the main part of my diploma in summer 2023 and to do the defense and finals in January/February 2024. With my university duties taking 10-15 hours a week and English teaching taking 25-30 hours a week, on top of other activities like the business mentoring, social meetings and one-off things, the last thing I want is to add more to the university bucket. As far as the university currently goes, I'm actually fairly caught up on the projects as of now. The exam term comes after Christmas, but it seems like most of the study load was actually focused on the projects and that the exams will (hopefully) not be too demanding. T: I finished all the projects and smaller exams successfully. I have one more exam on Thursday and today I'm going to study for it. NOT: I don't want to drop out of the university. Possible direction/goals: Find more sources for my upcoming masters' thesis during the summer. Work on the assignments in a timely manner. Job/English: L: Maybe I've mentioned it before, but with my job position and demand secure, I'm more able and willing to reschedule or even cancel classes in case I want to do something, mainly in the evening. I enjoy having this option thoroughly. Classes are at a stable 25-30 hours a week. I'm likely going to outsource a few of the projects, such as the modern re-design of my website, SEO and perhaps some more advanced marketing stuff. My students have also been helpful as far as this goes. I have many upcoming projects in the pipeline. So the business mentoring is done after three months. I brought away many ideas - honestly so many, there's work for months ahead! It's been really great and I am very happy and grateful that I was able to take part in it. I'm gonna write down specific areas and what I want to do in them. T: I've been working on the re-design and re-writing of my website and I am planning to make some progress this weekend. I got some good ideas from the meeting at the beginning of the month. - I've just done a bit of an analysis of my courses and categorized them based on what they provide me. I earmarked five types of courses: a) my own - well paid + generally more motivated students (as they pay the course themselves) + more challenging b) premium - language school courses paid at a premium compared to my standard LS courses for various reasons, roughly matching the a) group c) flexible - courses from LS that don't have a fixed schedule, meaning it's on me if I make time for them or not d) challenging/fun/prospective - standard LS with an added quality e) neither - standard LS courses without any added quality I have about 30% of my workload in category e), so I am going to eliminate that over time, starting next month by removing about half of them. I might outsource them to my former Georgian girlfriend if she's interested. - 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. Possible direction/goals: Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. Write down specific areas and what I want to do in them. = Update my website to reflect the new ideas and inspiration from the web. Get a customized redesign and SEO for the website. Networking events. Variable pricing. Look into strategies in becoming truly self-employed by skipping the agencies in between. Exercise/Movement: L: I enjoy the fact I do not have to be "actively" dealing with this area of my life, as it's technically part of my job. I just have to be on lookout if that was to change. I sometimes go for a walk over the weekend, as I normally don't have time to take a two hour walking/reading session during the week. Still walking and cycling regularly to see my students or when going out in the evening. Winter and snow set in, however I am still walking outside to my students, even though it's more difficult. T: Pretty much the same. There was a lot of snow the last month, but it melted about a week later, so I got on my bike again. Unfortunately my chain broke and overall my bike needed to be put into the service. Luckily, I live in walk-able distances to my students, so it doesn't matter that much. NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: Keep in shape. Women/Dating: L: T: We've been seeing over the weekends mostly for an afternoon/evening. It is good 🙂 Possible direction/goals: Set up at least two dates a month (with my girlfriend). ----- --- What to do if I am bored? Replacement activities for 1 hour: reading, cleaning, washing the dishes, business ideas, uni work, blogging Replacement activities for 2 hours: going to the gym, going for a walk ----- Additional thoughts/activities: My hobbies are: personal finance, gunnery, GIS/statistics, reading/videos about (modern) history, English, working on my business, blogging/writing, geography. This month, I did these cool activities: working on my business, taking a two-week vacation, going to the a debate, reading about finance, spending time with friends, writing my yearly report, going to sushi with my brother. --- Goals/resolutions for 2023: Pass all the exams at the uni, finish the thesis and finish all university duties successfully in January/February 2024. - WIP, progress = yes Improve my business, so that I don't need to teach for language schools anymore, by getting more private contacts, opportunities and students. - WIP, progress = yes Go to Georgia to visit my friend. Resolutions for 2023: Stop watching porn (again). - I am not porn-free, it comes in waves. I'll try to be more aware when the urges come and what makes me more likely to have them. Start getting up when my alarm rings. - I got better, not 100%, but better. Continue - planning, walking/exercising, writing/journaling, reading, studying for uni, dating. It's a very short list, but if I manage all of it, I will be happy. --- Add-ons: I enjoy writing articles, however I am not enjoying the process of how to actually set up the blog, whether I should try and make some money off of it. I think I will, but I won't go on writing e-books, providing courses and whatnot. Just a few affiliate links for the services I like. This allows me to focus on writing and not fret over something I don't even know I want to do. There are tentative plans to meet the Georgian girl again in a few months. I'd like to combine it together with some Erasmus+ project as well. I'm going to visit Georgia on 4th February and return on 14th 🙂 I've been doing this for three years! I'm gonna do some large-scale comparison of annual report of 2020x2021x2022 and planning for the 2023x2024x2025. Should be fun! - DONE I found out I quite like to give presentations, if I really believe and enjoy the topic. This goes for both my school and business presentations. Better keep that in mind.

13th Jan - 19th Jan: I sold my car. I wasn't expecting to sell it this quickly, so it's possible I undercut the price some. However, I also knew there was surely one repair due and I let the buyer know that. Plus it's a car, so more things will attrit over time. The reason for sale was that I'm gonna get my dad's old car as soon as he gets his new car in a few weeks. I spent half my Thursday going through the procedures. I had an uni exam on Monday and today I'm going to start studying for one on next Thursday. That should be it for schoolwork this semester. As there were presidential elections on Friday and Saturday, I met up with my girlfriend on Sunday. I also met up with her on Wednesday, as at first, I was supposed to go to the shooting range, however the other guys had some issues that came up. She invited me to an interesting debate in the city center and it was overall a good evening. I also met up with my brother for sushi on Monday and with one of my friends on Tuesday afternoon. --- I've been fairly busy and productive this week and I'm happy about it. I'm gonna have a slower weekend and I'll have to start studying more for the exam next Thursday. I'm gonna do my monthly report and also work on the re-design of my business website. Meeting with my girlfriend on Sunday.

5th Jan - 12th Jan: I went to a meeting with a woman who works for a marketing company. She was a part of the business investor commission at the university. She gave me some tips on how to improve my website. I have already done some small scale rewriting and redesigning to be up to the latest standards, however I will need to port my website over to a new WP template. I'm happy and grateful to her for those ideas 🙂 I've also been fairly weary these past few days. I don't really have much time to work on something fun and new, such as the redesign or reading. I feel like I am just passing through the motions and I don't like the feeling. I spent the last three evenings just passively watching films and one YT streamer. I'm gonna be social tonight and play some games with friends.

@Paul A. There are times when I think about the games I played before I quit. I've even played a few simple/limited games since I have quit gaming; I did some online chess exercises and Cashflow board-game, however I lost interest in the first and blocked the second. It's just not worth going there again. That said, we can only really quit games after our lives stop revolving around staying away from games. "Normal" people don't write in their diaries that they played or didn't. We do and we focus on it. I'm currently struggling with porn. It feels like a much smaller issue than gaming, but I still haven't gotten over it. Even if I spend like 15 times less time a week than I did on gaming, it's still there and I don't feel in control when I do it.

31st Dec - 4th Jan: Spent a good part of 31st finishing my university paper, however now it's done. I had some nice chats at the New Year's Eve and it was a pleasant experience. I met up with my girlfriend as well. I finished reading "Free to Choose" by Milton Friedman. There's also a video series that comes with it. Both of them are a pretty great illustration on the economic side of governments and people on various topics. I started lessons with my students in the new year. So far, so good, I missed it over Christmas. I got a new student before Christmas, a consultation with another one soon and a meeting with web/marketing specialist today.

How do you run? I think if you run at full speed/power every day, your legs are bound to be sore. I think if you run 2 kilometers in 12 minutes, it's a pretty relaxed pace, comparable to just walking fast. Maybe if your legs are too sore to run, you can just go for a walk instead 🙂 I have one student who currently does marketing for one big hospital company, but who told me he is going to quit it. What he wants to do in the future is to learn some IT/programming or stay in the medical field, but not as a marketer. Personally, I started teaching English, because it came from my skill-set. But I actually had no idea whether the area had a good earnings potential at the beginning. Is there something you are better at than most people? Or do you not mind doing something most people find difficult/annoying?

Hi Ace, I'm happy my posts had a positive effect on you. Good luck! 🙂

26th Dec - 30th Dec: These days I've spent with my girlfriend, reading and watching Free to Choose, writing here and working on my uni project. I have to step up the school project tomorrow and on Sunday though.

Goals for 2023: Pass all the exams at the uni, finish the thesis and finish all university duties successfully in January/February 2024. Improve my business, so that I don't need to teach for language schools anymore, by getting more private contacts, opportunities and students. Go to Georgia to visit my friend. Resolutions for 2023: Stop watching porn (again). Start getting up when my alarm rings. Continue - planning, walking/exercising, writing/journaling, reading, studying for uni, dating. --- It's a very short list, but if I manage all of it, I will be happy.

Thanks! I'm happy you found it useful and inspiring. I wanted to do something like this for a while, but I never had the time. I think it took me about six hours to go through all the materials I have accumulated (mostly diary monthly reports and my calendars) and I tried to be considerate with myself and others (so someone can actually read it in a few minutes) to only go after the most important things. I think it was a good exercise of gratitude, to value the evolution that I've gone through over the years, to consider the situations I've been in and the decisions I made. Best of luck to you! 🙂

You are correct, it's key to keep looking. It's possible I will teach English forever, but maybe the skills and knowledge gained along the way will lead into a different job in the future. I however do feel I am improving as a teacher and as a truly self-employed man. I also agree that physical activity is important. I think taking at least a 30 minute walk every day at minimum is good for my state of mind and body. I definitely agree the detox improved my mental and physical health. I still get pulled by the computer to do stuff, partly because of my online classes and partly because of my own laziness, but I have much more will to just go and do something different than spend time by the screen.