I'm using the template I used the last time. 16/7/26 - 16/8/26
"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've been reading (financial, but not only) blogs by Financial Samurai and Derek Hagen. I've also started a book recommended to me by my girlfriend on the lack and discrepancy of data on women from a feminist perspective, but I'm having a better time reading the financial blogs still.
I've grown a bit tired of reading financial blogs, so I picked up the book again. I'd like to get back to reading daily.
T: I've read very little the last month or two.
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: I visited my grandma at the hospital, my mom at her spa retreat and I'm meeting my brother tomorrow over sushi. Nothing much happening otherwise.
T: I managed to meet all of my family members this period, which surprises me as I didn't have that much time to do so. Had a burger with my brother, a whole family meeting, lunch with my mom and lunch with my father. As I was away for the most of the last three weeks, I don't know what the situation is with my grandma. I just know she finally agreed to go to an assisted living facility. I'm meeting my parents later today, so maybe I'll know more.
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: So at the end of June, I managed to strike the deal at the company with the conditions being pretty much what I wanted. That's pretty good, as it's a lot of work for a lot of money.
I also had some physical army testing and I managed to run longer, do more push-ups and sit-ups too.
T: No significant news this period, just a new student or two, probably replacing the ones ending. I wasn't here much.
As for the army, I have a training in about a month, which I will probably attend.
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 did the army test and I managed to run longer, do more push-ups and sit-ups too.
As for the breaks, by getting the new client, I effectively made it impossible to have a break on Tuesdays. I was thinking of going there on bike, but it's a bit too far for me (around 60 kilometers total). I allocate two hours to (paid) travel there and back even in the car. I'll count these days out for the future.
That means I hit 15/16 of working days, out of the grand total of 24 working days. 8 days were not possible due to traveling and work. This might warrant some future thinking whether I actually don't want to change this to make time for exercise on Tuesday afternoon.
Managed to cycle, hike and go to the gym with my girlfriend a few times at the weekend too. Attended a running competition/army test and marked down the results in the table.
T: Spent two weeks out of the last four out mostly walking, hiking and cycling on holidays with my girlfriend. If I count these out (and Tuesdays), I managed 9/9 days. It's possible to work out gym-style inside with the A/C on even during the worst of the current heatwaves.
I managed to overwork my tendons in my knee on the bike on the second holiday. It comes up only specifically when I pedal and it's also the same leg that I turn inwards when I walk. Might be connected, so one more reason to start doing the balance and spine exercises to fix my feet.
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: I had yet another another FIRE meeting, met my best friend a few times, went to a pub quiz and attended a friend's birthday party. It was actually nice to see some old friends in a while.
T: This period quiz, one meeting with friends and a FIRE meeting. Watched films when my girlfriend was away.
Possible direction/goals:
Keep in touch with my friend groups (FIRE, quiz, best friends...).
Relationship with my girlfriend:
L: Since I've been off porn for a month, I have to say that we have better sex. I overall think the relationship is in a better place too. We also went to a funny talk show. Spent time together, went for a trip to a different city too. Visited her family. I even thought of how and when to get married.
T: Spent time on holidays together, all OK, no porn for three months. Went to a sushi restaurant for my birthday.
Possible direction/goals:
Make time to talk every day.
Keep on working on strengthening our relationship via common activities.
Others:
L: Now I'm at 8 weeks of no porn. I'm going through an online course slowly and steadily at least a few times per week. I just don't need porn if I take care of myself; and that's easier to do if I have more control over my time.
Week 27 (June/July week) was tough. It was very stressful (a surprising amount of work), as I didn't have time for myself, on top of a heatwave. Our flat is really exposed to sun, so it was a major pain. Despite that, I managed to not watch porn and I was grounded. Good job (just saying that to myself).
Still thinking about new quality-of-life improvements, related to work, money and time. The 10-13 break every day is good. What's next? No work after X p.m.? Hard limits on the number of lessons? No work with "bad" clients? I don't know really. It's actually quite difficult to responsibly manage more than 25 hours per week due to the nature of my work. Even then, I feel like I have much to do besides work anyway, which I (still) don't do for example, using the inter-dental toothbrush, do balance exercise to fix my posture etc. How do I limit my workload with some intent and thought and maximizing the purpose I get from my work? It's a good problem to have, but I still want to solve it in a way that makes sense.
T: Three months without porn. I still get some sort of excitement nostalgia. I am still learning to disentangle the different feelings and actions. Do I want sex? Am I horny? Or do I want to masturbate just because I want to cope with disappointment? Those are the questions that sometimes roam in my head and they don't always have a conclusive answer to them. It's about repetitions - not only about how many days you are without X, but how many times you resist, distract myself from dwelling in my head and take the harder road.
I spent some evenings of a holiday with some of my girlfriend's family members. One of her cousins has two small kids. Spending time and raising a kid is really hard work. I'd argue it's hard work even if it's done badly. Having more kids is a lot of work and today's society is not really conductive to it, as families have atomized and a lot of the previously free communal services (by cousins, aunts, distant relatives) are professionalized and monetized. One of my friends/acquaintances is gonna have a baby in a few months, so we'll see how that changes him.
Came back from our holidays on Saturday afternoon. I was happy to have some time for myself! I read about volatility drag in finance and air drag while driving yesterday. I tried to pick my bike lock today. I miss doing these kinds of things when I am not at home. I like to spend time on my own. Though the summers in our flat are getting terrible, so maybe it's a good idea to get out somewhere for most of the summer. But to be fair, I had 4 days without my girlfriend too, when she traveled with her sister - I watched films and had some meetings with friends. I just feel it's hard to really manage routines when I am out more often.
I know a lot of people don't have nearly the degree of freedom I have - even if they make far more money, they just live paycheck to paycheck without ever entertaining the idea that maybe they don't need to work until the official state-sponsored retirement.
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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.
By
Ikar ·