13 hours ago, Ikar said:

(By that I mean organized people normally won't be available on a whim, unless it's an emergency, because they have their rhythms and habits.)

I do write meetings in Google Calendar, and then copy those into the daily schedule. I also have weekly routines, like a bi weekly clothes washing, grocery going, cleaning etc. But they're not planned by the minute, just somewhere in the blue sort of. I'd like them to be planned by the minute at least a week away.

So I guess I do hold more than a daily plan in the sense you met it, right? Or what do you do for a "more than daily schedule"? I am asking so that I may know if I am fulfilling your suggestion to "keep a more than daily schedule" or not. :)

11 hours ago, FDRx7 said:

I like this! I’m going to try it out.

Consider reading or listening to "The Pomodoro Technique" by Francisco Cirillo, if this seems to interest you, for more details. Because there's a bit more to it than just 25 intervals.

One more book that helps with a "dealing with distractions" mindset throughout the Pomodoros or in general is
"Indistractable" by Nir Eyal.

Let me know if you have started reading one of them. (In case you decided to) :)

I’ve actually read both! But, for the pomodoros, I had never thought to write out my intention for that interval. I did it today at work and I think it helped me stay on track.

4 hours ago, Yan said:

I do write meetings in Google Calendar, and then copy those into the daily schedule. I also have weekly routines, like a bi weekly clothes washing, grocery going, cleaning etc. But they're not planned by the minute, just somewhere in the blue sort of. I'd like them to be planned by the minute at least a week away.

So I guess I do hold more than a daily plan in the sense you met it, right? Or what do you do for a "more than daily schedule"? I am asking so that I may know if I am fulfilling your suggestion to "keep a more than daily schedule" or not. :)

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

2025 yearly report

Reading, learning and books:

Facts: Read about 8 books this year - fun books, but also about money and psychology. Also spent some time reading financial reddits, but very little.

Feelings: This is really a hobby;, but it has its special place here, because I like to read and I consider learning important, otherwise I'd just put it to the bottom with the rest of my hobbies.

Plans:

Read a book a month.

Habits to help with plans:

Read daily (a few times a week). Reading (and crosswords) are a good way for me to relax.

Drop a book whenever I don't look forward to reading it.

---

Family:

Facts: It seems to me my grandma's health got pretty bad pretty quickly, at least in terms of her physical condition. After getting sick and going out less during summer, she had two pretty serious falls in December. She likely also has hallucinations every now and then. My mom needs to assist her when going shopping or to the doctor etc., for which I am quite grateful.

Add-on: Had to solve an emergency with my grandma again this Friday. Her legs started to fester due to a heart failure. It's exhausting.

Regardless, I'm also quite grateful to my girlfriend for informing my views with hers. There are issues in her family as well, and sometimes we share the news and have a laugh, because there's nothing else to be done :D

Also, the rest of the kitchen project was finished in June. For whatever it's worth, I'm happy my grandma got to use it.

Feelings: Compared to last year, turns out it wasn't my mom succumbing to dementia, but my grandma, and fast. Again, it's a label and maybe not even that accurate, but it captures the essence of things.

As for the kitchen, I think it was a mistake to not have it done by somebody else. It would have been done much faster and with much less emotional stress for everybody. And even if something had been wrong, at least the contractors would have been to blame. The lesson is: pay money for the kitchen, pay money for the wrapping of gifts, pay money for stuff I really hate doing.

Plans:

Finished the kitchen this year as planned.

I don't have any specific plans for my family. I don't want to get alienated from my family.

Habits to help with plans:

Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Keep in contact at least once a month.

---

Business/English:

Facts: I have a new website, got PPC working on it, attended the lecturer course, worked on pricing, played around with the comprehensible input method. Implemented the 10-13 daily break and decided to work less (and for more money), as I think I'm already doing well financially. Eliminated the last language school course. Also, I got back into the army and I'm there as a part-time reservist. Roughly the same amount of lesson count, but 15% increase in profits, year-on-year.

Feelings: So the web-building and PPC ads are finished. My business expenses this year were roughly the same size as last year. Education-wise, I got the lecturer course for free and it was a nice change of pace with some benefits. The lessons with the students have been nice overall and even a little more challenging towards the end of the year.

I also decided there is no need to go overboard with money. I don't make a ton of money in the conventional terms, but I prefer to have more free time and work less. I also make pretty good money from the part-time army job relative to the time spent, on top of it being meaninful. Over the last two years, I actually didn't save that much as I did in the years before, but I traded that for more time and spending on things that matter (better quality food, budget traveling with my girlfriend, health etc.)

Plans:

Stick to the plan of roughly 15 hours of lessons per week.

I'm gonna continue with the part-time army job.

I've already scouted for an interesting English/lecturer course, without luck, but I'll keep looking.

Habits to help with plans:

Find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission).

I'm gonna continue with the 10-13 break daily break.

Be receptive to students' needs.

---

Exercise/Health:

Facts: I think I can say I exercise most days of the week, meaning roughly 4x a week. I exercise at home with weights, at the gym or go running. I also go hiking or cycling.

I get headaches always after being in situations when I don't eat or drink regularly. I just lose sense of hunger and thirst during a stressful or fast-paced part of day. No other health problems.

Feelings: It was a good year with growing amounts of exercise over its course. No serious health problems.

Plans:

Pass A on army exams.

Keep on exercising most days of the week (4x a week, including hikes, cycling trips etc.)

Keep hiking and cycling.

I don't want to become fat.

Habits to help with plans:

Start flossing regularly.

Incorporate balance and spine exercises.

Keep on using the Oura ring to track vitals.

---

Relationship with my girlfriend:

So we've lived together for almost two years and I can say it's still a nice experience. I don't think we've had any really heated arguments that would span days or even weeks. Last year, I often got a bad headache during the holidays/trips and was a bore to be with. So staying hydrated and fed during trips is my top priority these days.

Still, these days I have a feeling I'd like to do more things with my girlfriend. It sometimes feels as if we are next to each other rather than together. I gave her a voucher for English lessons to help with that (which she enjoyed having a few years ago).

Plans: -

Habits to help with plans:

Make time to talk every day.

Keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities.

---

Social + Personal Hobbies + Free Time:

Again, I took part in various social activities and hobbies: playing board games, FIRE (financial) meetings, going to the shooting range (now somewhat retired because of my army part-time job), playing table football (though not so much anymore), doing crosswords, visiting an improvisation show, going to the sauna or playing billiard.

I can also say students socialize me quite often. That strikes me and perhaps weirds me out, but my girlfriend told me she also spends a lot of time at work with her colleagues. She basically spends as much time with them as she does with me. And of course, she spends much less time with her friends or her sister. I don't have colleagues, but my students. Most of the time, they look forward to the lessons and so do I.

Plans:

Keep in touch with my friend groups (FIRE, quiz, best friends).

Habits to help with plans:

Meet.

I'm using the template I used the last time. 3/1/26 - 14/2/26

"L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term.

I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period.

 

Books/Reading articles/Learning:

L: Finished "The Richest Man in Babel" and "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out" by Feynman.

T: I had a good string of finished books in autumn, unfortunately I managed to kill my momentum by reading a book that wasn't up my alley. Regardless, I've read dozens of articles from the White Coat Investor website and Morgan Housel's book - "Psychology of Money".

All this had a practical effect of me making an investment plan (!). I've invested my money consistently for the past five years, but I've never really set any goals, except not to gamble and pay unreasonable fees. Suffice to say, I already have enough savings to last several years, perhaps a decade on my current spending levels. I also added some milestones to celebrate on the way; it least I'll have a reason to perhaps spend some more money on fun stuff!

Possible direction/goals/habits:

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

Read daily (a few times a week). Reading (and crosswords) are a good way for me to relax.

Drop a book whenever I don't look forward to reading it. CHECK HERE EVERY MONTH.

(While this is technically just a hobby, I like to keep it separate, because it's a big one.)

 

Family:

L: There were two pretty serious incidents regarding my grandma this past month. There was more nuance to it, but in both cases, she fell down in her flat and couldn't get up. Oddly enough, I was the one to detect both incidents just by calling her (she didn't pick up) and then alarming my parents, who live a few minutes by car from her. My grandma has a few neighbors who visit her and my mom visits her a few times a week as well, but I'm thinking it might not be enough.

I had a burger with my brother and his girlfriend and I also met my parents yesterday.

T: My mom and I had to go to the hospital with my grandma at the start of January. We installed some flat improvements to help her get around and also a new washing machine. She also gets daily visits from health keepers and various other assistants, so I am happy my mom doesn't have to carry most of the brunt anymore just by herself.

My grandma is (unsurprisingly) opposed to going to an assisted living facility. I really have no idea to what extent she needs help, but granted she can't climb into the bath to shower herself, it's hard to argue she doesn't need any. It's frankly difficult to visit her, when the apartment smells like urine. I honestly don't know how long this can last and whether it makes sense to hope that it will get better in the future.

Other than that, my mom had a birthday celebration and I also met my brother for sushi.

NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family.

Possible direction/goals:

Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma.

Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Keep in contact at least once a month.

 

Business/English:

L: I did my biannual questionnaire with my students, but this time I changed my approach and gave the students the option not to do it. I also carved out the 1000-1300 time for myself. Had a end-of-the-year taxes meeting to inform myself and to optimize.

My latest group course has been a tough nut to crack, but so far I can say I've been probing and using slightly different techniques each lesson. Now I've got the experience and feedback, I decided on the next steps.

I'll also try to find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission). I have options for online, but I have nobody for F2F replacements.

T: Very few days off in both January and February mean that I can get a lot of lessons done. I'll just have three work days off due to my army reserve involvement.

-

That written, I've had more headache with it recently, just because of the way the bureaucracy works. I can say I've met some great, interesting and inspiring people there, but the admin is just a PITA.

My point is not to "survive it", but to derive some positive meaning from this mission. Free shooting range practice and motivation to keep fit can help it. I know the worst case scenario is to just do one exercise per year or none at all, but I don't want to do it just for the money or out of necessity. I'll review this part of my career regularly, just to make sure I've got my thinking straight. When I compare the experience to my smooth running business with my students, I can say I'm truly grateful for both my business and my students.

-

Had a meeting with my web-designer, mostly out of curiosity than any specific plans for the future.

Managed to have 15 lessons on average per week, which is great!

NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid.

Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered.

Current projects I'm working on:

Website improvement project - since August 2024 - finished August 2025 with some small upgrades in autumn 2025

lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 

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

I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting.

Find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission).

Areas to work on continually:

English table update - check every now and then for improvements.

Keep classes at around 15 hours a week.

Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students.

CELTA colleagues calls.

Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course.

 

Exercise/Movement/Health:

L: Went to the gym, for a run or a hike about four times a week, including on my holiday in Spain with my girlfriend. Feeling a little sick after coming back, but I assume I'll be fine by Monday. Went to the ear doctor, all is good.

T: Thanks to my 10-13 break, I managed to exercise 23 out of planned 28 days so far. Feels good! I have a new pillow as well. I also visited the urologist, again without an issue.

NOT: I don't want to become fat.

Possible direction/goals: 

Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes.

Have a session every weekday from January.

Start flossing regularly.

Incorporate balance and spine exercises.

Keep on using the Oura ring to track vitals.

 

Social + Personal Hobbies + Free Time (cool things I've done):

L: Went to Spain for a holiday with my girlfriend and hiked there. Watched some shows and films together. I'm very happy with and proud of the gifts we exchanged. Baked Christmas sweets together.

Called with a friend from another city, went for a burger with my brother and his girlfriend. Went to watch a basketball match with my girlfriend's father. Attended a few game nights with friends. Met my high-school classmates at our annual meeting. Read a lot and had good fun with it (Feynman mostly) too.

T: No holidays this period, as the weather isn't really optimal for hiking or cycling. Met my FIRE friends, the quiz group, my best friend. I also met my brother for sushi and went to a hockey match with my family. Of course, met my students too.

Possible direction/goals: 

Keep in touch with my friend groups (FIRE, quiz, best friends).

Relationship with my girlfriend:

L: So we've lived together for almost two years and I can say it's still a nice experience. I don't think we've had any really heated arguments that would span days or even weeks. Last year, I often got a bad headache during the holidays/trips and was a bore to be with. So staying hydrated and fed during trips is my top priority these days.

Still, these days I have a feeling I'd like to do more things with my girlfriend. It sometimes feels as if we are next to each other rather than together. I gave her a voucher for English lessons to help with that (which she enjoyed having a few years ago).

T: We spent time together my going to the planetarium, having lessons together, going to the café and for walks as well as the few trips. We also spent some time next to each other watching films or the Olympics.

Possible direction/goals: 

Make time to talk every day.

Keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities.

Time off for myself (1000-1300) break:

L: -

T: This has been pretty successful so far. I noticed that some of my exercise sessions are quite short (depending on the length of the YT video), but as mentioned above, I managed to do 23/28 days. I also cram whatever appointments and housework I need to take care of into this window.

Possible direction/goals: 

Keep having this break.

---

For thought:

Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. This might change with the late morning exercise lessons.  10-13 change works well.

I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping.

No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless.

I like these reports, because they take me back in the calendar and let me see if there's something I've missed or something I need to check on again.

I'm using the template I used the last time. 14/2/26 - 12/3/26

"L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term.

I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period.

 

Books/Reading articles/Learning:

L: I had a good string of finished books in autumn, unfortunately I managed to kill my momentum by reading a book that wasn't up my alley. Regardless, I've read dozens of articles from the White Coat Investor website and Morgan Housel's book - "Psychology of Money".

All this had a practical effect of me making an investment plan (!). I've invested my money consistently for the past five years, but I've never really set any goals, except not to gamble and pay unreasonable fees. Suffice to say, I already have enough savings to last several years, perhaps a decade on my current spending levels. I also added some milestones to celebrate on the way; it least I'll have a reason to perhaps spend some more money on fun stuff!

T: Read up on finblogs again - WCI and Nick Maggiulli. I've also been reading "Six Easy Pieces" by Feynman, but I didn't have much time to do that at the army training.

Possible direction/goals/habits:

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

Read daily (a few times a week). Reading (and crosswords) are a good way for me to relax.

Drop a book whenever I don't look forward to reading it. CHECK HERE EVERY MONTH.

(While this is technically just a hobby, I like to keep it separate, because it's a big one.)

 

Family:

L: My mom and I had to go to the hospital with my grandma at the start of January. We installed some flat improvements to help her get around and also a new washing machine. She also gets daily visits from health keepers and various other assistants, so I am happy my mom doesn't have to carry most of the brunt anymore just by herself.

My grandma is (unsurprisingly) opposed to going to an assisted living facility. I really have no idea to what extent she needs help, but granted she can't climb into the bath to shower herself, it's hard to argue she doesn't need any. It's frankly difficult to visit her, when the apartment smells like urine. I honestly don't know how long this can last and whether it makes sense to hope that it will get better in the future.

Other than that, my mom had a birthday celebration and I also met my brother for sushi.

T: My grandma oscillates between being relatively OK to just straight up shit-talking all other family members (Who knows if she doesn't shit-talk me behind my back?)

Either she's despicable for consciously behaving that way; or if her illness is to blame, she should be institutionalized to save everyone the pain and trouble. My girlfriend said it best: getting old is ugly. Especially when you lose your faculties faster than you realize.

NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family.

Possible direction/goals:

Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma.

Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Keep in contact at least once a month.

 

Business/English:

L: Very few days off in both January and February mean that I can get a lot of lessons done. I'll just have three work days off due to my army reserve involvement. That written, I've had more headache with it recently, just because of the way the bureaucracy works. I can say I've met some great, interesting and inspiring people there, but the admin is just a PITA.

My point is not to "survive it", but to derive some positive meaning from this mission. Free shooting range practice and motivation to keep fit can help it. I know the worst case scenario is to just do one exercise per year or none at all, but I don't want to do it just for the money or out of necessity. I'll review this part of my career regularly, just to make sure I've got my thinking straight. When I compare the experience to my smooth running business with my students, I can say I'm truly grateful for both my business and my students.

Had a meeting with my web-designer, mostly out of curiosity than any specific plans for the future.

Managed to have 15 lessons on average per week, which is great!

T: I had to write a price offer after an interview for a company that is looking to start a few courses. I also did some testing and evaluations for my company courses. I found a new resource for real-life English. I also intentionally cancelled a lesson when my girlfriend's friend flaked on their trip to the mountains. I went with her instead :)

-

The army training was better this time than the last time. I got better sleep, the weather was amazing for the whole duration and perhaps we did more stimulating activities than last time. I feel a bit tired after it, but I'm slowly catching up on sleep. I should have the next training in September.

NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid.

Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered.

Current projects I'm working on:

Website improvement project - since August 2024 - finished August 2025 with some small upgrades in autumn 2025

lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 

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

I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting.

Find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission).

Areas to work on continually:

English table update - check every now and then for improvements.

Keep classes at around 15 hours a week.

Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students.

CELTA colleagues calls.

Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course.

 

Exercise/Movement/Health + 10-13 break:

L: Thanks to my 10-13 break, I managed to exercise 23 out of planned 28 days so far. Feels good! I have a new pillow as well. I also visited the urologist, again without an issue.

I noticed that some of my exercise sessions are quite short (depending on the length of the YT video), but as mentioned above, I managed to do 23/28 days. I also cram whatever appointments and housework I need to take care of into this window.

T: I managed 8/12 these past four weeks or so. I missed out about half of the possible days due to the army training and I also tried not to push it before going there. That said, I hit 10k steps every day of the training, but there was little true structured physical "exercise". I should also say the meals there were rather terrible - mostly just sugary snack bars and a lot of second-grade canned meat. Feels good to be home to have some real meals. I had no visits to the doctors this month, but I have some lined up in the next few weeks.

NOT: I don't want to become fat.

Possible direction/goals: 

Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes.

Have a session every weekday from January.

Start flossing regularly.

Incorporate balance and spine exercises.

Keep on using the Oura ring to track vitals.

Keep having the 1000-1300 break.

 

Social + Personal Hobbies + Free Time (cool things I've done):

L: No holidays this period, as the weather isn't really optimal for hiking or cycling. Met my FIRE friends, the quiz group, my best friend. I also met my brother for sushi and went to a hockey match with my family. Of course, met my students too.

T: Met my FIRE friends again, met my friend. I also went to the shooting range as a part of my army training. I also got in touch with one English lecturer and we talked about finance and money, which inspired me to write an article on my blog.

Possible direction/goals: 

Keep in touch with my friend groups (FIRE, quiz, best friends).

Relationship with my girlfriend:

L: So we've lived together for almost two years and I can say it's still a nice experience. I don't think we've had any really heated arguments that would span days or even weeks. Last year, I often got a bad headache during the holidays/trips and was a bore to be with. So staying hydrated and fed during trips is my top priority these days.

We spent time together my going to the planetarium, having lessons together, going to the café and for walks as well as the few trips. We also spent some time next to each other watching films or the Olympics.

T: We went to a book festival, watched hockey and went to a nice restaurant. We also had some lessons together. Didn't manage to do more due to my absence for almost two weeks.

Possible direction/goals: 

Make time to talk every day.

Keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities.

---

For thought:

Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. This might change with the late morning exercise lessons.  10-13 change works well.

I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping.

No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless.

I like these reports, because they take me back in the calendar and let me see if there's something I've missed or something I need to check on again.

I'm using the template I used the last time. 12/3/26 - 9/4/26

"L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term.

I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period.

 

Books/Reading articles/Learning:

L: Read up on finblogs again - WCI and Nick Maggiulli. I've also been reading "Six Easy Pieces" by Feynman, but I didn't have much time to do that at the army training.

T: I've managed about half of "Six Easy Pieces" by Feynman, but I'm going to the library to change it up today. Continuing with various blogs.

Possible direction/goals/habits:

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

Read daily (a few times a week). Reading (and crosswords) are a good way for me to relax.

Drop a book whenever I don't look forward to reading it. CHECK HERE EVERY MONTH.

(While this is technically just a hobby, I like to keep it separate, because it's a big one.)

 

Family:

L: My grandma oscillates between being relatively OK to just straight up shit-talking all other family members (Who knows if she doesn't shit-talk me behind my back?)

Either she's despicable for consciously behaving that way; or if her illness is to blame, she should be institutionalized to save everyone the pain and trouble. My girlfriend said it best: getting old is ugly. Especially when you lose your faculties faster than you realize.

T: Nothing much here. I still go and visit my family and my grandma roughly twice a month. I still spend some time with my grandma, but less. There's just less to talk about (she often makes things up), so I just help her out with something practical whenever I'm there.

Other that than, my father and I are embroiled in a (legal) battle with the welfare office/insurance company. We gather documents from medical checkups (my mom helps my grandma with that), producing appeals etc. I also offered my mom to go out for lunch every now and then to support her.

On a brighter note, my brother and I had a burger together and then visited the improvisation show. My brother said he liked it, so we might go again :)

NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family.

Possible direction/goals:

Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma.

Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Keep in contact at least once a month.

 

Business/English/Army:

L: I had to write a price offer after an interview for a company that is looking to start a few courses. I also did some testing and evaluations for my company courses. I found a new resource for real-life English. I also intentionally cancelled a lesson when my girlfriend's friend flaked on their trip to the mountains. I went with her instead :)

-

The army training was better this time than the last time. I got better sleep, the weather was amazing for the whole duration and perhaps we did more stimulating activities than last time. I feel a bit tired after it, but I'm slowly catching up on sleep. I should have the next training in September.

T: Nothing came out of the price offer, but I'm OK with that - I got three new students who replaced two courses that finished, so I'm doing well overall. I also filed my taxes.

NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid.

Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered.

Current projects I'm working on:

Website improvement project - since August 2024 - finished August 2025 with some small upgrades in autumn 2025

lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 

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

I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting.

Find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission).

Areas to work on continually:

English table update - check every now and then for improvements.

Keep classes at around 15-20 hours a week.

Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students.

CELTA colleagues calls.

Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course.

 

Exercise/Movement/Health + 10-13 break:

L: I managed 8/12 of my 10-13 breaks these past four weeks or so. I missed out about half of the possible days due to the army training and I also tried not to push it before going there.

That said, I hit 10k steps every day of the training, but there was little true structured physical "exercise". I should also say the meals there were rather terrible - mostly just sugary snack bars and a lot of second-grade canned meat. Feels good to be home to have some real meals.

I had no visits to the doctors this month, but I have some lined up in the next few weeks.

T: I managed 10/17 of my 10-13 breaks these past four weeks or so. It doesn't seem like much, but a stomach flu (diarrhea and vomiting) shot me down this week, so I'm taking it easy. I also made up for the rest by spending an active holiday and weekends with my girlfriend, hiking and cycling.

Went to the cardiology, dermatology and dental hygienist for routine checkups and everything is OK.

NOT: I don't want to become fat.

Possible direction/goals: 

Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes.

Have a session every weekday from January.

Start flossing regularly.

Incorporate balance and spine exercises.

Keep on using the Oura ring to track vitals.

Keep having the 1000-1300 break.

 

Social + Personal Hobbies + Free Time (cool things I've done):

L: Met my FIRE friends again, met my friend. I also went to the shooting range as a part of my army training. I also got in touch with one English lecturer and we talked about finance and money, which inspired me to write an article on my blog.

T: Had another FIRE meeting, met my friend a few times, went for hikes with my girlfriend, went to the improvisation show with my brother.

Possible direction/goals: 

Keep in touch with my friend groups (FIRE, quiz, best friends...).

Relationship with my girlfriend:

L: We went to a book festival, watched hockey and went to a nice restaurant. We also had some lessons together. Didn't manage to do more due to my absence for almost two weeks.

T: Spent time together on hikes, cycling and on holiday. I also created an adaptation of a game I and my girlfriend liked.

Possible direction/goals: 

Make time to talk every day.

Keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities.

Others:

Besides battling the government welfare bureaus, I'm also now legally battling a company that refused to refund me for tickets for a concert after it was canceled.

We had a boiler change done in our apartment, as the old one leaked. The owner of the flat paid for it, but I think we'll pay for it later in the rent increase :)

I used porn only twice in this last month and about six times in the last two months. Not bad.

---

For thought:

Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. This might change with the late morning exercise lessons.  10-13 change works well.

I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping.

No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless.

I like these reports, because they take me back in the calendar and let me see if there's something I've missed or something I need to check on again.

14 hours ago, Ikar said:

I'm using the template I used the last time. 12/3/26 - 9/4/26

"L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term.

I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period.

 

Books/Reading articles/Learning:

L: Read up on finblogs again - WCI and Nick Maggiulli. I've also been reading "Six Easy Pieces" by Feynman, but I didn't have much time to do that at the army training.

T: I've managed about half of "Six Easy Pieces" by Feynman, but I'm going to the library to change it up today. Continuing with various blogs.

Possible direction/goals/habits:

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

Read daily (a few times a week). Reading (and crosswords) are a good way for me to relax.

Drop a book whenever I don't look forward to reading it. CHECK HERE EVERY MONTH.

(While this is technically just a hobby, I like to keep it separate, because it's a big one.)

 

Family:

L: My grandma oscillates between being relatively OK to just straight up shit-talking all other family members (Who knows if she doesn't shit-talk me behind my back?)

Either she's despicable for consciously behaving that way; or if her illness is to blame, she should be institutionalized to save everyone the pain and trouble. My girlfriend said it best: getting old is ugly. Especially when you lose your faculties faster than you realize.

T: Nothing much here. I still go and visit my family and my grandma roughly twice a month. I still spend some time with my grandma, but less. There's just less to talk about (she often makes things up), so I just help her out with something practical whenever I'm there.

Other that than, my father and I are embroiled in a (legal) battle with the welfare office/insurance company. We gather documents from medical checkups (my mom helps my grandma with that), producing appeals etc. I also offered my mom to go out for lunch every now and then to support her.

On a brighter note, my brother and I had a burger together and then visited the improvisation show. My brother said he liked it, so we might go again :)

NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family.

Possible direction/goals:

Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma.

Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family. Keep in contact at least once a month.

 

Business/English/Army:

L: I had to write a price offer after an interview for a company that is looking to start a few courses. I also did some testing and evaluations for my company courses. I found a new resource for real-life English. I also intentionally cancelled a lesson when my girlfriend's friend flaked on their trip to the mountains. I went with her instead :)

-

The army training was better this time than the last time. I got better sleep, the weather was amazing for the whole duration and perhaps we did more stimulating activities than last time. I feel a bit tired after it, but I'm slowly catching up on sleep. I should have the next training in September.

T: Nothing came out of the price offer, but I'm OK with that - I got three new students who replaced two courses that finished, so I'm doing well overall. I also filed my taxes.

NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid.

Past projects: Copied to a Google Doc to keep this less cluttered.

Current projects I'm working on:

Website improvement project - since August 2024 - finished August 2025 with some small upgrades in autumn 2025

lecturer trainings - ENG business February-May 2025 

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

I and one of my FIRE friends organized a teacher/lecturer meeting.

Find more teachers/colleagues to share workload with (with or without commission).

Areas to work on continually:

English table update - check every now and then for improvements.

Keep classes at around 15-20 hours a week.

Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students.

CELTA colleagues calls.

Go through "lecturer academy" + CELTA materials + lecturer course.

 

Exercise/Movement/Health + 10-13 break:

L: I managed 8/12 of my 10-13 breaks these past four weeks or so. I missed out about half of the possible days due to the army training and I also tried not to push it before going there.

That said, I hit 10k steps every day of the training, but there was little true structured physical "exercise". I should also say the meals there were rather terrible - mostly just sugary snack bars and a lot of second-grade canned meat. Feels good to be home to have some real meals.

I had no visits to the doctors this month, but I have some lined up in the next few weeks.

T: I managed 10/17 of my 10-13 breaks these past four weeks or so. It doesn't seem like much, but a stomach flu (diarrhea and vomiting) shot me down this week, so I'm taking it easy. I also made up for the rest by spending an active holiday and weekends with my girlfriend, hiking and cycling.

Went to the cardiology, dermatology and dental hygienist for routine checkups and everything is OK.

NOT: I don't want to become fat.

Possible direction/goals: 

Keep in shape by exercising at least twice a week for 30-60 minutes.

Have a session every weekday from January.

Start flossing regularly.

Incorporate balance and spine exercises.

Keep on using the Oura ring to track vitals.

Keep having the 1000-1300 break.

 

Social + Personal Hobbies + Free Time (cool things I've done):

L: Met my FIRE friends again, met my friend. I also went to the shooting range as a part of my army training. I also got in touch with one English lecturer and we talked about finance and money, which inspired me to write an article on my blog.

T: Had another FIRE meeting, met my friend a few times, went for hikes with my girlfriend, went to the improvisation show with my brother.

Possible direction/goals: 

Keep in touch with my friend groups (FIRE, quiz, best friends...).

Relationship with my girlfriend:

L: We went to a book festival, watched hockey and went to a nice restaurant. We also had some lessons together. Didn't manage to do more due to my absence for almost two weeks.

T: Spent time together on hikes, cycling and on holiday. I also created an adaptation of a game I and my girlfriend liked.

Possible direction/goals: 

Make time to talk every day.

Keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities.

Others:

Besides battling the government welfare bureaus, I'm also now legally battling a company that refused to refund me for tickets for a concert after it was canceled.

We had a boiler change done in our apartment, as the old one leaked. The owner of the flat paid for it, but I think we'll pay for it later in the rent increase :)

I used porn only twice in this last month and about six times in the last two months. Not bad.

---

For thought:

Maybe I should just learn to plan better, though just the thought of having some hours of my day scheduled makes me cringe. Oddly enough, I don't get this feeling while planning lessons of my students, normally in bigger blocks. Maybe I should rethink that belief to make me happier. This might change with the late morning exercise lessons.  10-13 change works well.

I've had this recurring thought every now and then that I am often somehow prevented from what I want to do in my free time; basically whenever I am not with students or sleeping.

No, I just need to stop reading and learning all the time and start doing things. Imperfect action yields results. Information alone is useless.

I like these reports, because they take me back in the calendar and let me see if there's something I've missed or something I need to check on again.

Your posts are so long that I don't get around to reading them. Maybe I should give myself a 10 line reading permission a day, or 5 lines and go bit by bit :) However I make no promises whatsoever. In any case (Without reading) I'd like to wish you to keep up with the apparently good fight and reflecting :)

On 4/11/2026 at 7:10 AM, Yan said:

Your posts are so long that I don't get around to reading them. Maybe I should give myself a 10 line reading permission a day, or 5 lines and go bit by bit :) However I make no promises whatsoever. In any case (Without reading) I'd like to wish you to keep up with the apparently good fight and reflecting :)

That's OK, the posts are intended just to me now anyway. Thanks for the wish :)