Ikar's Diary

[Ikar]

28th November - 3rd December:

Worked on the thesis as usual, although I stepped up the effort to 3 hours on Friday, 4 yesterday and 5 today. I'm confident I'll have everything done on time, though I need to start on the data selection and analysis

Otherwise I spent time with my girlfriend, friend and attended Toastmasters again 🙂

[Ikar]

I've been having some odd sleep in the last few days. I woke up early and couldn't fall asleep again. I haven't felt tired during the day yet, so it might really be that I sleep too much. It's just that mentally, it feels odd lying awake in bed for an hour or two, trying to sleep, and then still getting up early.

[Ikar]

4th December - 9th December:

Still writing. I think I'm making good progress, so I don't have worries about not completing by the end of the year. I also went to the sauna with my girlfriend and another friend and played billiard yesterday.

My sleep has been better the last few days, I swapped the mattress I slept on. I think I sometimes get headaches because I don't drink enough before I go to sleep. It's very annoying, as then it lasts the whole next day, so I need to watch that.

[Ikar]

10th December - 15th December:

I've been working on the data for the last week and I think I am gonna finish this part at the weekend. That's good news, as I thought I'd be working on it for the whole next week. Now I have two weeks to polish my thesis, with one week in January to print it and hand it in.

Took my family to the graveyard at the weekend to commemorate my grandpa and my mom's relatives.I attended the speaking event on Wednesday. It was good fun as usual. I think I'm good at improvising and thinking in the moment, but I'm bad at speaking with preparation. Got my bike back from service. Other than that, I spend time with my girlfriend as usual. A common friend came to visit us too 🙂

[Ikar]

16th December - 21st December:

My girlfriend and I went for a day trip to another city, together with her cousin and her husband. It was nice to visit some other place after a while.

Watched "American Gangster" and had good fun with the movie.

I cleaned and reorganized stuff in my room this week as well.

Participated in the table football tournament and came up fifth, which is a success, as my regular teammate/friend was sick and another friend subbed for him.

My thesis has been going on as usual. It's been going on since August and I'm kinda getting tired of it, which is normal I guess. I've been sending my tutor weekly updates for the last three months, though he hasn't given me much feedback ever since we agreed on the topic. I send him a message yesterday and he wrote he'll look at it over the week. I kinda hope he'll have just a few small things, as I have only a bit over two weeks to do something about it, while brushing up the rest of the text.

[Ikar]

I'm using the template I used the last time. 22/11/23 - 21/12/23

"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.

 

--- set smart/stretch goals - read book again

 

Books/Reading articles:

L: Still on the business book, although I've been prioritizing other projects, so I didn't spend much time on it.

T: Same. I also unsubbed from a lot of email newsletters several weeks ago, so I get very little nowadays.

Possible direction/goals:

(Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report.

 

Family:

L: Took my grandma and my mom to visit my grandma's sister family. The visit was OK. Went for a lunch with my father. Otherwise nothing new.

T: I went to a hockey match with my mom. I also visited the graveyard with my family to commemorate dead family members.

Spoiler

Since October, the project of my grandma's kitchen has been my responsibility. Some progress has been made, however I know that half a year is just too big of a time-frame to justify. I'm gonna lay out the plan:

Weekend of 11th/12th March: Ask my grandma to give me a "free hand" in the reconstruction of the kitchen. She was hesitant regarding the scope of the reconstruction, which made me hesitant in turn, because I didn't know what to do. I want to convince her that she has nothing to worry about and that the whole operation will be fast.

Weeks 11 and 12:

Consult my father and brother as to the design of the kitchen and use the IKEA kitchen planner to help me out. Show my grandma the plan for the kitchen at the end of week 12 and get a green light.

Weeks 13 and 14:

Go to IKEA to get the furniture and other shops for linoleum and other smaller stuff. There's no need for new electronic appliances, so there's no need to get involved with electrical thingies. Transport the furniture to my grandma's flat.

Weeks 14 and 15:

Plan a weekend with my father/brother to help out with the reconstruction. Removing old furniture, a bit of demolition, painting, putting in the new furniture. Get it done well and ASAP.

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.

 

University:

L: Got the outline pretty much done. I'm currently on roughly 18 thousand words, so I won't have troubles with the word count. I have until 9th January to submit it, meaning about 45 days. I'm confident that if I put 2-3 hours in every day, it'll be done, although it's hard to anticipate how much work it will take to finish the theoretical and empirical parts. I'm actually surprised by the fact that I have a lot of it done, even though I had week-long breaks in the past.

My plan is to work on it every day, do at least a little bit every day, no matter how small. I shouldn't have any days away from now on, so it's doable.

T: I ranted about the thesis a little bit in my post above, but if I really had to submit it in 24 hours, I could. I just want it to be cohesive and well-written and that takes time. I've been working on it anywhere between 2-5 hours daily, sometimes I threw in an afternoon session too. Some 17 days are left to submit it.

NOT: I don't want to drop out of the university.

Possible direction/goals:

Do the main part of my diploma in summer/autumn 2023 and do the defense and finals in January/February 2024.

Work on the assignments in a timely manner.

 

Business/English:

L: I had a consultation with a girl who wants to teach informally in her company; a shared acquaintance told her to visit me to ask how to best do it.

I haven't been feeling the best in the last few networking events. I'm not sure if there are any relevant ones for me before the year ends, but that's OK.

I also lost a few courses over the past months, though again, I'm not too worried about it. I'm still making enough money to save some and I can use the time for my university studies or spend it with my girlfriend. Besides, I got two new students in the last three weeks 🙂

T: I will have two new courses in January and one new in February, all of them my own (A).

I went back to my reports, pulled the numbers that I write every month and construed a graph for the year. I've had less hours since July, though at the same time the share of my own students went up. The last quarter of the year wasn't as successful for me, though March-June were especially strong. T

he new students in January/February should bring the hours up as well as A share above 60%. I'll use this in my all-year report for sure!

An example for 18 hours the last week (12 - December): Category A 54% (53); B 8% (4); C 0% (5); D 5% (5); E 33% (33). Brackets are % values from previous month.

-

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 can 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

-

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 20-25 hours a week.

Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students.

Look into strategies to become truly self-employed by skipping the agencies in between.

Create a learning plan for myself.

Go through "lecturer academy" materials.

Write down specific areas and what I want to do in them:

Networking and business events.

Get a system to mark down the progress of my students, together with their learning plan.

Check out business vouchers for equipment.

Past projects:

Questionnaire.

Fixed logos on my website for better visuals.

Updated the pricing section of my website. Variable/tiered pricing (do in July/August).

Got minor pay raises from language schools.

Did evaluations/testing of my students, if required.

Attended one networking event and one marketing seminar.

Introduced "phone call" classes. Update website/business profiles with "phone calls".

Lecturer academy.

Sample business contract on my website.

Google sheets system for students.

 

Exercise/Movement:

L: Cycling and walking still, though I prefer walks due to the weather. Had two hikes too.

T: Nothing special, though a lot of walks.

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.

 

Blogging:

L: I haven't had time to even think about blogging with everything that was going on, although I do have a half-way written article in the works that I could publish soon.

T: On hold until I finish the uni thesis.

Possible direction/goals:

Find a suitable UI/web template.

Set up emailing for subs.

Post two articles a month.

Polish links in articles. Interlink new articles with old ones.

Finish articles in concepts.

 

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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, blogging, diploma thesis

 

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Additional thoughts/activities:

My hobbies are: personal finance, graphs/projections/statistics, gunnery, GIS/statistics, reading/videos about (modern) history, English, working on my business, blogging/writing, geography.

This month, I did these cool activities: spending time on the GQ forum, table football tournament (another!), attended a Toastmasters meeting, went to the sauna, played billiard, visited another city for a day trip, watched hockey with mom, .

 

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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. We did it! 🙂

Stop watching porn (again), stop reading too much news (again). - Got some blocks going on. The past week was clean!

Start getting up when my alarm rings. Put my alarm across the room. - I got better, not 100%, but better.

Continue: planning, walking/exercising, writing/journaling, reading, studying for uni, working on good life/work balance.

It's a short list, but if I manage all of it, I will be happy.

[Ikar]

I'm going to do a recap of my year 2023. I even encouraged my ToastMasters group to do the same at our last meeting this year, as I think it's valuable to just sit down, reflect and think constructively for a while. It'll be something similar to what I've done here:

The first thing that comes to my mind is traveling. I really traveled a lot. I visited Finland, Poland and Georgia. The most interesting trip was definitely to Georgia and I'm happy I was there with my girlfriend as well.

That leads me to my girlfriend. She's been very kind to me the whole year and I'm grateful to be with her. It's not that she doesn't have any problems at all, but I really think we complement each other well. We're gonna live together from April 2024 and I'm looking forward to it.

My place of living has also already changed. I left the dormitory life behind me and moved to a shared flat. Truth to be told, it was mentally tiring to constantly be around students, granted I've been working for the last three years, and even a few years before that. My mentality is just too different from theirs now.

Speaking of studying, I hopefully have just about a month of my studies ahead of me. My reading habit morphed into reading studies for my thesis and I'll pick up on reading books once I'm done with the university. I've been working on the thesis the whole August, part of September, whole November and whole December. At the moment, I'm cleaning up the thesis for the last few days. I'm going to study for the finals after submitting it.

That'll make me the last member of my core family to get their master's degree. I think I've actually done well as far as my familial relationships go this year, especially making my grandma happy, though the kitchen project is still there.

As for work, I've done many activities as well, such as setting up tracking systems to monitor my work (tables), providing my students added value in the form of shared documents or setting up a biannual feedback questionnaire for my students, attending business mentoring, networking...

This new year, I'd like to focus more on being a good teacher than a good businessman. Therefore, the plan for the next year is to improve my professional qualification by getting a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) certificate. I want to improve my knowledge and improve the retention of my students.

Perhaps the situation seemed better in April or May (as seen in the graph in the post above), when I recorded the biggest amount of private lessons I've ever taught. The beautiful thing that I however realized is that while my income is significantly lower (less lessons and full set of taxes apply to me now), I'm OK and I don't worry. I've build up a significant reserve over the past three years, that could easily satisfy enough three without me moving a finger. Maybe five if I lived like a cheapskate.

I think working less actually helped me to have a better life balance, to have more time for my other hobbies, to spend more time with my girlfriend, to move more and even to allow more time to spend the money on myself. I really haggle about prices just for the fun of it now.

Okay, I've bragged about my work enough. Time to check the goals for 2023 and set some for 2024.

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Evaluation of goals for 2023:

Quote

Pass all the exams at the uni, finish the thesis and finish all university duties successfully in January/February 2024. - WIP, progress = yes

Yes, that went as expected.

Quote

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

I definitely cut the amount of lessons for language schools. I improved my business and took some new opportunities.

Quote

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. We did it! 🙂

Yes! 😄

Quote

Stop watching porn (again),

I haven't had a long stretch of no porn as I did the last year (August - December 22), though I don't think I've been watching it too much overall. I have a good feeling that it will completely go away once I'm with my girlfriend in the flat.

Quote

stop reading too much news (again). - Got some blocks going on. The past week was clean!

Normal news webpages are not a problem anymore, I just satisfy myself with "Current Events" on Wikipedia for a few minutes a day.

Quote

Start getting up when my alarm rings. Put my alarm across the room. - I got better, not 100%, but better.

I don't know how long I've been doing it (again), maybe just for a month, but it's especially helpful on the weekends when I want to start early, as during the week I usually start the morning with my students.

Quote

 

Continue: planning, walking/exercising, writing/journaling, reading, studying for uni, working on good life/work balance.

It's a short list, but if I manage all of it, I will be happy.

 

I pretty much do all of that. I did good work 😄

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Main must-have plans for 2024:

Prepare for (Feb-June) and successfully make (July-August) the CELTA certificate course.

Finish the university in January. In case something goes horribly wrong, then in May. I've got this.

Move in with my girlfriend in April.

Set up the new kitchen for my grandma.

Optional nice-to-have plans for 2024:

Re-start my financial blog in February.

Learn how to type with all ten fingers on the keyboard.

Habits:

Stop watching porn (again).

Start getting up when my alarm rings = Put my alarm across the room.

Establish flossing at least once a week.

Exercise regularly.

Continue: planning, walking/exercising, writing/journaling, reading, working on good life/work balance.

It's a short list, but if I manage all of it, I will be happy.

[Ikar]

22nd December - 2nd January:

I worked on the thesis over Christmas as well. It's mostly formal stuff now: citations and formatting. Even then, it's been taking a surprising amount of time. I have nearly one hundred pictures in the thesis, which means I have to write a description for all of them and quote the source. Sometimes I need to go back to the original document if the graph/picture is not 100% understandable or complete on its own. Suddenly, 100x3mins=5 hours of work 😄

I also cleared out my mailboxes. I'm at an effective 0 of unread mails.

I got the questionnaire out for my students.

I attended a high-school reunion. I had a surprisingly good time. We usually have two of these each year, so I'll see about the summer one. I spent some time with my family and friends. I had some good social meetings and I enjoyed all of them.

[Ikar]

3rd January - 8th January:

The last few days have been fairly standard. I spent time with my girlfriend, started my English lessons after Christmas and visited my family at the weekend. I also went to the sauna and sent out the questionnaire for my students.

Today is a special day as I handed in my thesis electronically. In a while, I'm going with my brother for sushi to enjoy the rest of the day 😄

[Ikar]

9th January - 11th January:

So, this is the entry when after three months of writing "I worked on my thesis" I'm writing "I studied for my finals" instead 😄

I went to a hockey match with my girlfriend on Tuesday. I fell somewhat ill on Wednesday, but started to feel better in the evening. Today I luckily feel well 🙂

I met a new student on Tuesday and today. I get a good vibe from both of them, but only time will tell if they're happy with my services.

[Ikar]

12th January - 16th January:

I studied for my finals. The last two days I've been to the university study room and the environment helped me greatly. At home there's always something more interesting/urgent to distract me at the computer and I can't afford that with only two weeks to study.

I also slept at my girlfriend's place in the last couple of days as I have troubles sleeping at my own place. I don't know why that is and I don't feel tired afterwards, it's mostly just the strange feeling that I spend time trying to fall asleep again.

I went to a trip to another city with my geography group on Sunday. It was nice to change the environment and I liked it. Spent some time with my girlfriend and my students as usual.

[Ikar]

17th January - 24th January:

My girlfriend lost her wallet last week and somebody used her card the same/next day she lost it. As soon as she found out and told me, we went to my friend who is a former bank assistant. I had a hunch he could give her some extra tips besides the basic ones for this situation. Luckily, the damage is not too big. Her bank refunded the unauthorized payments and it was really just a few €. She cared more for the keepsakes she had in the wallet.

We also had our first flat inspection. The real estate agent was quite eager to move us in and the flat looked good, however I suspected our target date of 1st April would be too much of a stretch for the owner. We'll try again in a couple of weeks.

My girlfriend and I also attended a talk about Taiwan and the implications of their presidential vote on Friday. The discussion was quite nice and I enjoyed the program. I also had a good time on Saturday, first going for a dinner with my girlfriend and after that meeting with a small group of friends, as we chatted and played board games. I visited my family on Sunday. My girlfriend also successfully passed the theoretical test for getting her driver's license today 😄

I had a good time studying for my finals yesterday and today. I wasn't feeling too good about the exam in the days before, so I am happy I managed to get into a cathartic state of mind. I also had a few headaches from not eating properly and not hydrating myself properly, so I need to be on the lookout for that and be more mindful. I skipped meeting with the Toastmasters speaking group today, as I need to spend some time with myself writing here.

[Ikar]

 I'm using the template I used the last time. 21/12/23 - 24/1/24

"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.

 

--- set smart/stretch goals - read book again

 

Books/Reading articles:

L: I unsubbed from a lot of email newsletters several weeks ago, so I get very little nowadays. No time for reading; if I read, I read uni-related materials.

T: I unsubbed from a lot of email newsletters several weeks ago, so I get very little nowadays. No time for reading; if I read, I read uni-related materials. I want to get back to the business book after I am done with my exams.

Possible direction/goals:

(Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report.

 

Family:

L: I went to a hockey match with my mom. I also visited the graveyard with my family to commemorate dead family members.

T: I spent two days with my family over Christmas and introduced my girlfriend to my parents. I also met for sushi with my brother several days ago.

Spoiler

Since October, the project of my grandma's kitchen has been my responsibility. Some progress has been made, however I know that half a year is just too big of a time-frame to justify. I'm gonna lay out the plan:

Weekend of 11th/12th March: Ask my grandma to give me a "free hand" in the reconstruction of the kitchen. She was hesitant regarding the scope of the reconstruction, which made me hesitant in turn, because I didn't know what to do. I want to convince her that she has nothing to worry about and that the whole operation will be fast.

Weeks 11 and 12:

Consult my father and brother as to the design of the kitchen and use the IKEA kitchen planner to help me out. Show my grandma the plan for the kitchen at the end of week 12 and get a green light.

Weeks 13 and 14:

Go to IKEA to get the furniture and other shops for linoleum and other smaller stuff. There's no need for new electronic appliances, so there's no need to get involved with electrical thingies. Transport the furniture to my grandma's flat.

Weeks 14 and 15:

Plan a weekend with my father/brother to help out with the reconstruction. Removing old furniture, a bit of demolition, painting, putting in the new furniture. Get it done well and ASAP.

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.

 

University:

L: Got the outline pretty much done. I'm currently on roughly 18 thousand words, so I won't have troubles with the word count. I have until 9th January to submit it, meaning about 45 days. I'm confident that if I put 2-3 hours in every day, it'll be done, although it's hard to anticipate how much work it will take to finish the theoretical and empirical parts. I'm actually surprised by the fact that I have a lot of it done, even though I had week-long breaks in the past.

My plan is to work on it every day, do at least a little bit every day, no matter how small. I shouldn't have any days away from now on, so it's doable.

I ranted about the thesis a little bit in my post above, but if I really had to submit it in 24 hours, I could. I just want it to be cohesive and well-written and that takes time. I've been working on it anywhere between 2-5 hours daily, sometimes I threw in an afternoon session too. Some 17 days are left to submit it.

T: I was in a somewhat resigned mood the last few days before the submission date on 8th January. That was because my tutor came up with quite a few ideas what to change/fix/do better. I honestly wasn't in the mood to spend my whole weekend on that, so I just dealt with the most pressing issues and submitted the thesis. Regardless, I'm happy that he did give me the feedback. I got a B from him and B from my opponent a few days ago, so I am happy.

I've been studying for the exams the past two weeks. As I wrote in the post above, I've had some ups and downs and I know it's not possible/constructive for me to study all day, but at the moment I feel positive.

NOT: I don't want to drop out of the university.

Possible direction/goals:

Do the main part of my diploma in summer/autumn 2023 and do the defense and finals in January/February 2024.

Work on the assignments in a timely manner.

 

Business/English:

L: I will have two new courses in January and one new in February, all of them my own (A).

I went back to my reports, pulled the numbers that I write every month and construed a graph for the year. I've had less hours since July, though at the same time the share of my own students went up. The last quarter of the year wasn't as successful for me, though March-June were especially strong. The new students in January/February should bring the hours up as well as A share above 60%. I'll use this in my all-year report for sure!

T: I've finished the second round of my biannual questionnaire. Got some good feedback from my students and a few ideas for the future. I'm gonna rework it a bit for the third edition too. I might want to create some list of milestones I've already achieved, in the type of "past projects" below to have a better overview over the work I've done, but I'll leave that for the next report.

-

An example for 16 hours last week: Category A 49% (53); B 5% (4); C 6% (5); D 6% (5); E 33% (33). Brackets are % values from previous month.

-

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 can 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

-

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 20-25 hours a week.

Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students.

Look into strategies to become truly self-employed by skipping the agencies in between.

Create a learning plan for myself.

Go through "lecturer academy" materials.

Write down specific areas and what I want to do in them:

Networking and business events.

Get a system to mark down the progress of my students, together with their learning plan.

Check out business vouchers for equipment.

Past projects:

Questionnaire.

Fixed logos on my website for better visuals.

Updated the pricing section of my website. Variable/tiered pricing (do in July/August).

Got minor pay raises from language schools.

Did evaluations/testing of my students, if required.

Attended one networking event and one marketing seminar.

Introduced "phone call" classes. Update website/business profiles with "phone calls".

Lecturer academy.

Sample business contract on my website.

Google sheets system for students.

Questionnaire part 2.

 

Exercise/Movement:

L: Cycling and walking still, though I prefer walks due to the weather. Had two hikes too.

T: Nothing special, though a lot of walks.

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.

 

Blogging:

L: I haven't had time to even think about blogging with everything that was going on, although I do have a half-way written article in the works that I could publish soon.

T: On hold until I finish the uni thesis.

Possible direction/goals:

Find a suitable UI/web template.

Set up emailing for subs.

Post two articles a month.

Polish links in articles. Interlink new articles with old ones.

Finish articles in concepts.

 

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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, blogging, diploma thesis

 

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Additional thoughts/activities:

My hobbies are: personal finance, graphs/projections/statistics, gunnery, GIS/statistics, reading/videos about (modern) history, English, working on my business, blogging/writing, geography.

This month, I did these cool activities: spending time on the GQ forum, met with my high-school classmates, had multiple good events with friends, went to sauna, had a trip to another city, watched a hockey match live, read about finances, watched a few good films and spent time with my girlfriend and other friends.

 

 

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Goals/resolutions/aspirations for 2024:

Main must-have plans for 2024:

Prepare for (Feb-June) and successfully make (July-August) the CELTA certificate course.

Finish the university in January. In case something goes horribly wrong, then in May. I've got this.

Move in with my girlfriend in April.

Set up the new kitchen for my grandma.

Optional nice-to-have plans for 2024:

Re-start my financial blog in February.

Learn how to type with all ten fingers on the keyboard.

Habits:

Stop watching porn (again).

Start getting up when my alarm rings = Put my alarm across the room.

Establish flossing at least once a week.

Exercise regularly.

Continue: planning, walking/exercising, writing/journaling, reading, working on good life/work balance.

It's a short list, but if I manage all of it, I will be happy.

[Ace92]

These all sound like strong goals for this year. Wishing you the best!

 

ace

[Ikar]

10 hours ago, Ace92 said:

These all sound like strong goals for this year. Wishing you the best!

 

ace

Thanks! All the best to you as well 🙂

[Ikar]

25th January - 31st January:

I passed all the exams and therefore finished the university yesterday. All other events that happened in the last few days pale in comparison to that, so I'll just leave this entry like this 😄

[Ikar]

1st February - 4th February:

I still can't believe that I finished the uni. I really feel empowered every time I think about it. I don't know if I am proud of myself or if I am happy that it's finally over, but it's a nice feeling either way 😄

My head is buzzing with ideas for my business. The last few days I have spent over ten hours on improving it already. I'm ready to learn new things and to meet new people.

It's necessary, because yesterday I had a meeting with one friend I've had for a few years. He's OK to hang out with in a bigger group, as he can crack a joke and be fun, however he is capable of rambling for hours about politics in a smaller group. I agree on some points and disagree on others, but it's really no way to spend a few hours. It's just exhausting.

[Ace92]

Congratulations on finishing uni, that's an amazing achievement!

I would recommend writing all your ideas down for your business, might help you solidify decisions. 
 

Wishing you best of luck!

Ace 

[Ikar]

8 hours ago, Ace92 said:

Congratulations on finishing uni, that's an amazing achievement!

I would recommend writing all your ideas down for your business, might help you solidify decisions. 
 

Wishing you best of luck!

Ace 

Thanks! I already have many files and folders that have accumulated over the last two years. I just have to sift through them and identify the best ideas.

[BooksandTrees]

On 1/31/2024 at 8:56 AM, Ikar said:

25th January - 31st January:

I passed all the exams and therefore finished the university yesterday. All other events that happened in the last few days pale in comparison to that, so I'll just leave this entry like this 😄

Congratulations!! So you're done abs can get your degree now or is this for the semester?

[Ikar]

1 hour ago, BooksandTrees said:

Congratulations!! So you're done abs can get your degree now or is this for the semester?

Thank you! I finished the uni completely! 😄 

[Ikar]

5th February - 13th February:

I've been feeling a bit bored the last week, however I did some important things. I got a library registration and met friends and family at the weekend. We've also chosen the flat for my girlfriend and I. I should be moving in about two weeks.

[BooksandTrees]

On 2/5/2024 at 7:58 AM, Ikar said:

Thank you! I finished the uni completely! 😄 

That's fantastic! Best of luck on this next step for you. Be patient. The newfound time without school is off-putting at first. Don't ruminate on it.

[Ikar]

59 minutes ago, BooksandTrees said:

That's fantastic! Best of luck on this next step for you. Be patient. The newfound time without school is off-putting at first. Don't ruminate on it.

Thanks! I have navigated this week a bit better and more in balance. I'll write more about it below.

[Ikar]

14th February - 18th February:

My work has been going well. I've had some good initial lessons with my students in the last couple of weeks. I have just a few agency courses that I could quit if I wanted to, though I'll hold off on that until I have more students and until I feel I actually need more free time. I'll report on this more closely in the monthly report with some numbers.

I'm trying to rent out my room by the end of March, though I'll see if I'm successful. It's been a bit stressful to communicate with potential tenants and the owner all at once and to organize everything correctly. The worst thing that can happen is that I'll pay the rent for March, so I try to not fuss about it too much.

I got the business book to read, the one had been reading before I had to study for the finals. Happy I did, as I can spend an hour or two on good productive work a day with it.

As for being social, I met some friends and went to the theater on Friday. I also cycled to my girlfriend parent's house and had lunch with them.