Ikar's Diary

Ikar · January 16

Take a look at the areas of your life and decide your goals for each of them for the next year. Put those goals on the page—this is the first step towards realizing them.

Plans for 2025:

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, and to managing the other admin stuff (preparation, mails, trainings) in another 10 hours. That makes the total of 30 hours worked a week.

-

Friends, community:

As I wrote above, 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 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

Ikar · January 17

4 Jan - 17 Jan:

I had a call with two of my CELTA course colleagues. Played billiard with one friend group and board games with another. Spent time with my girlfriend too.

Stretched or worked out almost every day. Flossed the last two days as well.

I'm feeling a bit under pressure due to the uptick of new or returning students. I'm +3 this week and all of them seem to want to cram themselves into my afternoon/evening slots. It's a good problem to have, but still stressful and I want to take care handling it. I already have a plan in my head that I want to implement.

Ikar · January 23

18 Jan - 23 Jan:

I had to buy a new shower head because I managed to step on the old one and break it 😄

There hasn't been that much happening otherwise. I came up with a few pricing improvements for my lessons. I spent time with my girlfriend and picked up a new book from the library.

Ikar · February 6

24 Jan - 5 Feb:

My friend and I drilled holes and installed the doors for the upper kitchen cupboards.

I had a great meeting last weekend with a bunch of inspiring people. The topic was financial independence and everybody shared their journey. Some topics still resonate in my head and the meeting also spurred my activity in related topics.

Went to the cardiologist. He said my heart/blood pressure is nothing to worry about, as long as I exercise and eat well. I think I've been doing a good job exercising and flossing as well.

My parents and I also went to a hockey match with our family friend. It was nice to experience the atmosphere of a hockey match again, especially since "our" team won 😄

We also had a couple more game nights with my girlfriend's sister and her boyfriend and my friend. It's generally a good time, although my girlfriend and I think her sister and boyfriend can be sometimes needlessly toxic during game-time for a variety of reasons.

Looked after the car by taking it to the mechanic. Just a few small issues, nothing serious.

Had a pub meeting with my girlfriend's office colleagues from work. I already knew most of them at least a little. We had good fun.

-

I probably have mild ADHD. I sometimes jump from one activity to another and forget to finish the previous one. My calendar helps me with that, as I can keep track of the important stuff.

Ikar · February 12

6 Feb - 12 Feb:

I spent some time writing about finance, did my monthly financial report and sorted out taxes and pricing. Worked on the updated table for students; it's more or less ready, but I need to update the existing ones too, so that will probably take a few more hours.

Met up with a friend on Friday and talked about everything. I also went to a sauna, played table games and went to a seminar - all with my girlfriend. I skipped a social evening today to write and focus on myself a little today.

Ikar · February 18

I'm using the template I used the last time. 7/1/25 - 18/2/25

"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: Spent some time reading on Reddit again, scanning for any relevant information. I'm almost finished with "Outlive" by Attia. I can say it sparked more interest about health, exercise and fitness in general.

T: I finished "Outlive" by Attia. Rather than using any particular tips or knowledge from it, I used it to push myself into more exercise. Started a new book by Dawkins called "The Selfish Gene". 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 went to the theater with my mom and made some family visits as usual. My father and my brother took turns to work on the grandma's kitchen and it seems like we're really nearing the end.

T: Had some family visits. Also went to watch hockey with my parents and a family friend. Made two kitchen-related trips to my grandma with my friend.

I had a small incident with my grandma yesterday. We talked for about five minutes over phone. She was worried about... my brother envying me an 8€ banknote that she gave me at the weekend. In front of the whole family, as my girlfriend rightfully pointed out. She said she was afraid he wouldn't talk to her anymore, so she asked me to write him. He said that he might consider not talking to her indeed, after she thought he might envy me an 8€ note (which I frankly think he didn't even remember, as our grandma gives us stuff regularly) 🙂

In relation, my brother told me a similar story about her thinking that our mother is an alcoholic. I also just remembered the time my grandma was low-key saying that she probably won't live much longer. I think it's a mix of fear of abandonment, overthinking and creating doom and gloom scenarios and being paranoid. I guess insanity can take many forms. From now on, I'll try to be more receptive towards my mom and take grandma's opinions for what they are; opinions.

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: Worked on the new website again with the web-designer. Sent out the bi-yearly questionnaires to my students. After sending out the questionnaires, I went for a holiday to Balearic Islands with my girlfriend. After coming back, I felt very excited to work with my students again! I contacted some of my old students and I signed up for a course organized and run by a coach I cooperated with in the past at the university and that paid for by the government. I hope the application goes through 🙂

T: My application to the course was successful! I've already had the first two training days, one about methodology and one about presentation skills. I'm hoping to learn and use a lot of stuff. I've also been working on an improved English table for my students. I've also been flustered by modifying my pricing in a reasonable way. Long story short, I need to charge my pricing in regard to my afternoon (and maybe later morning) F2F students. I currently charge nothing for traveling and I could have another lesson or do something else in that time. I also had a call with my CELTA colleagues.

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

English table update - since December 2024

lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025

55 minutes F2F lessons (+ online reminder too); pricing updates

Areas to work on continually:

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:

L: These days, I normally manage 1-2x exercise sessions (or runs) and 1-2x stretching sessions a week. All that along with some hikes at the weekend and regular walks once or twice a day. The appointment went alright, though I am going for another test later this month. Went to donate blood plasma twice as well, so I assume my health is alright, as they need to do checks.

T: These days, I normally manage 1-2x exercise sessions (or runs) and 1-2x stretching sessions a week. All that along with some hikes at the weekend and regular walks once or twice a day. I had the last cardiology check at the end of January. As for health, I also started flossing more regularly.

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.

---

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

This month, I did these cool activities: having a board-game night with friends, visiting my friends, reading about finance, reading about English, attending a FIRE meeting, meeting with friends. Spent less time at the computer 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.

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:

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 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

Ikar · February 20

18 Feb - 20 Feb:

Nothing much has happened in the last few days, but I have the time to write a little, so I want to take advantage of it. I just started the lecturer training and went to the sauna with my girlfriend. I'm feeling a bit sick, but I have the rest of the evening free and just a few lessons tomorrow, so I hope to be OK before the weekend.

Yan · February 26

On 2/20/2025 at 6:20 PM, Ikar said:

18 Feb - 20 Feb:

Nothing much has happened in the last few days, but I have the time to write a little, so I want to take advantage of it. I just started the lecturer training and went to the sauna with my girlfriend. I'm feeling a bit sick, but I have the rest of the evening free and just a few lessons tomorrow, so I hope to be OK before the weekend.

Gotta' analyze your routine to see what you might have done to be sick 🙂 From my experience the two are often connected 🤔

Ikar · February 27

13 hours ago, Yan said:

Gotta' analyze your routine to see what you might have done to be sick 🙂 From my experience the two are often connected 🤔

Oh yeah, I can normally trace it back to the origin, but I haven't this time. I felt sick for the next four or five days. I worked as usual, but limited exercise and also my stay outside. The temperature here hovers around 0 Celsius this time of the year, so a lot of people are sick. I feel good today though 🙂

Ikar · February 27

21 Feb - 26 Feb:

I managed to clear out many of my open browser tabs. I also had a call with my fellow CELTA colleague. Worked on my grandma's kitchen with my friend and it seems like we're really nearly done for our part. My girlfriend, her sister's boyfriend and I went to the mountains and I also went to the shooting range at the weekend. I also worked on updating my online table for my students and read up on some news on financial and English Reddit.

Yan · February 27

8 hours ago, Ikar said:

Oh yeah, I can normally trace it back to the origin, but I haven't this time. I felt sick for the next four or five days. I worked as usual, but limited exercise and also my stay outside. The temperature here hovers around 0 Celsius this time of the year, so a lot of people are sick. I feel good today though 🙂

Maybe some cold showers may help 🙂

Ikar · February 28

8 hours ago, Yan said:

Maybe some cold showers may help 🙂

Maybe that's the explanation. I went to the sauna and I went to the cool pool a few days ago before I got sick. Or maybe it was because I felt hot afterwards, didn't put my cap on after we went out and had wet hair.

I have to say regular cold showers are probably a no-go for me. I enjoy spending time in the shower/bath and I have to say it's one of the few things that always bring me positive joy during the day 😄

Yan · March 1

On 2/28/2025 at 7:41 AM, Ikar said:

Maybe that's the explanation. I went to the sauna and I went to the cool pool a few days ago before I got sick. Or maybe it was because I felt hot afterwards, didn't put my cap on after we went out and had wet hair.

I have to say regular cold showers are probably a no-go for me. I enjoy spending time in the shower/bath and I have to say it's one of the few things that always bring me positive joy during the day 😄

Here's a list of benefits of cold showers that result from the search term "cold shower benefits" in Google.
If that doesn't change your mind, all is cool, but I felt I wanted to share it with you.

Improved circulation

Hair and skin

Immune system

Increased metabolism

Decrease muscle pain

Improves immunity

Faster recovery

Reduce depression

Reduced pain

Weight loss

Boost alertness

Boosted mood

Cold shower health benefits

Reduced stress

Before bed

Cold shower tips

Lower inflammation

Cold showers calm itchy skin

Mental health

After exercise

Clears your skin

Increased willpower

Bolster immunity to common colds

Boosts happiness levels

Edit: P.S. While it seems that some of those repeat themselves and others are not very clear, like the benefit"Cold shower tips" or the benefit "after exercise" which i assume is referring to calming the muscles, a research I've done couple of years clearly showed me that cold showers have a boatload more benefits than hot. Consider reading an article or two, it might change your mind 🙂

Edited March 1 by Yan
As described under Edit

Ikar · March 7

27 Feb - 6 Mar:

I had a few good meetings the last few days. I met with friends in a pub, played board games with others and went to a meeting with my financial friend group 🙂

I went to the mountains with my girlfriend and had some family meetings as well. Went to an event/discussion with her and also for a run with my friend. Apart from lessons with my students, I worked on the new online table and did some reading.

Ikar · March 13

7 Mar - 12 Mar:

It's been a fairly busy week.

At the weekend, I had a board game evening, an all day hiking trip with my girlfriend and on Sunday we took the car to the service and combined it with a cycling trip with my girlfriend and had a nice evening in the sauna.

Went for sushi with my brother on Monday. Brought my car back on Tuesday and went to an improv show in the evening too. Had some work with my new website yesterday and today as well. I managed to catch up on all the important stuff today.

Ikar · March 16

I'm using the template I used the last time. 18/2/25 - 16/3/25

"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 "Outlive" by Attia. Rather than using any particular tips or knowledge from it, I used it to push myself into more exercise. Started a new book by Dawkins called "The Selfish Gene". Read on Reddit about finance and English teaching again.

T: Reading the new book by Dawkins called "The Selfish Gene". I'm about halfway through. Read on Reddit about finance and English teaching again.

Possible direction/goals:

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

Family:

L: Had some family visits. Also went to watch hockey with my parents and a family friend. Made two kitchen-related trips to my grandma with my friend.

I had a small incident with my grandma yesterday. We talked for about five minutes over phone. She was worried about... my brother envying me an 8€ banknote that she gave me at the weekend. In front of the whole family, as my girlfriend rightfully pointed out. She said she was afraid he wouldn't talk to her anymore, so she asked me to write him. He said that he might consider not talking to her indeed, after she thought he might envy me an 8€ note (which I frankly think he didn't even remember, as our grandma gives us stuff regularly) 🙂

In relation, my brother told me a similar story about her thinking that our mother is an alcoholic. I also just remembered the time my grandma was low-key saying that she probably won't live much longer. I think it's a mix of fear of abandonment, overthinking and creating doom and gloom scenarios and being paranoid. I guess insanity can take many forms. From now on, I'll try to be more receptive towards my mom and take grandma's opinions for what they are; opinions.

T: Nothing new, except we found out yesterday that the dimensions in the kitchen don't add up by a few centimeters, so we couldn't stick to the original plan. I guess there's always April...

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: My application to the course was successful! I've already had the first two training days, one about methodology and one about presentation skills. I'm hoping to learn and use a lot of stuff. I've also been working on an improved English table for my students. I've also been flustered by modifying my pricing in a reasonable way. Long story short, I need to charge my pricing in regard to my afternoon (and maybe later morning) F2F students. I currently charge nothing for traveling and I could have another lesson or do something else in that time. I also had a call with my CELTA colleagues.

T: The first part of the course was engaging and interesting. The reworked online table is pretty much finished now. Pricing is worked out for now too. Worked on the website and I'm currently looking for someone to do front-end for me, perhaps along with SEO and marketing.

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

English table update - since December 2024

lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025

55 minutes F2F lessons (+ online reminder too); pricing updates

Areas to work on continually:

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: These days, I normally manage 1-2x exercise sessions (or runs) and 1-2x stretching sessions a week. All that along with some hikes at the weekend and regular walks once or twice a day. I had the last cardiology check at the end of January. As for health, I also started flossing more regularly.

T: Did some heavier (lifting/cardio) exercise twice a week for the last month, on top of walks and yoga/stretching. The headaches haven't stopped; however it might be because of the altitude changes, so I'll test it the next time we'll go hiking. Perhaps biking is gonna be a better activity for me. I might go to the neurologist to check up on me. Flossing as usual. What I do enjoy is going to the sauna; and then to submerge in the cold water, it's fun 😄

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.

---

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

This month, I did these cool activities: having a board-game night with friends, visiting my girlfriend's family, reading about finance, reading about English, attending a FIRE meeting, meeting with friends, going to the shooting range, going to the sauna, going biking, going to an improvisation show.

Got my car checked and everything is OK. Spent less time at the computer too.