September Goal Check-In and Thoughts on Happiness

by Rebecca Thorman on September 1718 Comments

Happiness, Monthly Goal Meet-Up Get the free newsletter: sign up

It’s goal meet-up check-in time! This is your mid-month reminder to take a breath and see how you’re coming along. How are you all doing?

I’m not doing too badly, but the coming of Fall seems to be an unofficial New Year where all your dreams and thoughts and ideas bubble to the surface. So I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with not just my goals, but everything I want to do. Do you feel that way? Like, I’m walking against the wind, and try my darndest, I’m just not getting anywhere.

“That’s called the dip,” Ryan reminds me. “You’re trying to get to the other side. It’ll happen. Have you read The Dip?”

“No,” I pout. “Seth is overrated.”

“You should read The Dip. You’ll like it.”

“Hmph.”

“So, remember when we walked around New York City and you gazed wide-eyed at the sights like a newborn baby?”

“What?!”

The infuriating thing about Ryan is that when I’m trying to be in a bad mood he’ll make a funny face or say something so ridiculous or sweet or something that I am forced to stomp off.

“Stop trying to make me smile!” I say in between halting giggles. “I hate when you try to make me happy when I want to be angry!”

And it is in that maddening moment that Ryan laughs at my insistence to be cross. Which is quite unnecessary because clearly he has already won along with life. Despite my best efforts to control it, life wants me to be happy. Even during this stupid dip.

So, in the spirit of happiness, I’m sharing the photo below of the two greatest games ever: Skip-Bo and Rummy. Unfortunately, the photo is missing Yahtzee. Each of which I always win at.

Also, thank you to everyone who is participating or following along in the meet-up. Keep walking into the wind, my friends!

Pingback: Life Beyond The List
http://akhilak.com/blog Akhila

Thanks again for your wonderful monthly goals idea :) I’m definitely in and will keep trying to join in monthly! I think, like you, I’m super excited and it feels like a new year for me — well, it is. It’s a new school year!! It’s my last year in college! And as I’m entering my senior year, I have sooo many things I want to do…it’s totally ridiculous!

I sent out emails about my new blog series, “Be the Change” where I’m going to profile Gen Yers and their passion for social issues & making the world a better place. You were the first to send me a post and I’m just waiting for the others now! I’m excited for this to happen and it was a fun/easy goal to accomplish!

Other than that I’m chugging along studying for the LSAT and working on my thesis! I have to take the LSAT next week….so wish me luck. :)
http://lifebeyondthelist.com Louise

I’m doing ok on my goals. More to do though, especially on the blogging front! Support appreciated! bit.ly/3tVzZy
http://www.opheliaswebb.com Elisa

Even though I am late to the party, I have definitely been thinking and planning a lot on these (what the heck else is there to do on a 6 hour car ride?!)

1.) Complete redesign and transfer to WordPress for the Webb – I have spent two long and tedious night with the computer god that is Andrew Norcross getting stuff worked out. I’m about 60% of the way there with the transition, only about 20% on the redesign. BUT I have all these great ideas in my head and just need TIME to sit and program them in. Easier said than done, right? We make time for what we want, I need to make time to finish this. I WILL have my redesign done by Monday to send to Matt to review. Go Team! Yay!
2.) Run as long as I can 3 times a week / 30 min yoga sessions 3 times a week – Haha, ok, this one has been one miserable FAIL. Yoga I’m doing ok at, I’m just a little apprehensive/lazy/scared to lace up my shoes again after the relapse this summer. Perhaps 3 times was a little crazy for not having run for four months (camping in June.) I’m thinking the way to do this will be to monitor it more closely. I’m buying a wall calendar to put in my bedroom beside my mirror (where I get ready every day) and highlighting the days that I run.
3.) Meet with potential investor and extreme COI for freelancing opportunities I have emailed both with the request to meet up, have not heard back from either. Only emailed last Friday, so if I don’t hear back by this Monday I will follow up.
4.) Set up a new budget with extreme savings flow for Summer ‘10 My world got rocked with the buyout of Mint earlier this month. Well, not really, I hear nothing has changed but it has been a great EXCUSE to not be budgeting. I need to be MUCH more dilligent about this to build reserve for Summer ’10. I’ll probably meander over to Jenny Blake’s blog and steal all her brilliant budgeting/money/financial ideas there.

Whew! Thanks for putting this together Rebecca, there’s nothing like having to write out to the world exactly where you stand on goals. Accountability is a great thing to have amongst “friends.”

How are you doing on yours? (PS – I adore Skip-Bo, I’m always a come from behind victory. Let them believe I’m down then POUNCE! BAM! DONE! :P )
http://modite.com/blog Rebecca Thorman

@ Akhila – That’s awesome, you can feel your excitement! The last year of college is great and I’m sure you’ll do fabulous on your LSAT. And I’m so looking forward to your new blog series!

@ Louise – Just went over and checked ‘em out – I can’t believe you have anything else on the list besides planning a wedding – that’s a huge accomplishment in and of itself!

@ Elisa – Hahaha, Pouce! Bam! Done! I think you have to come to Madison now so we can see who the true Skip-Bo champion is ; ) And I wouldn’t feel bad about the running part – it’s SO hard to do three times a week (note, on my blog my goal was to just once a week and I still dislike every second). Also, for budget stuff, you might also want to take a peek at Ramit Sethi’s book – Ryan and his brother Dan are huge fans.
http://phdetails.wordpress.com/ Andrew Stuhl

Good luck on your goals, Rebecca-

Ryan’s strategy on making you happy has some scientific evidence to support it. Check out the cover story from last week’s New York Times magazine: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/magazine/13contagion-t.html.

Happiness, apparently, is contagious.
http://jessicadietz.com/blog Jessica Dietz

I couldn’t wait for your reminder to be posted. I posted my update on the 15th. For me, the biggest accomplishment so far is being only $1500 away from my associate membership goal. My company’s traditional members are automatic based on their profession, but the associate memberships are businesses that want to sponsor us. Last year I only received $13,000 in associate memberships, and this year I’m already past that mark! I try to think about it as soliciting part of my salary (I’m the member services coordinator), so the more I get, the better off I will probably be come review time. Very motivating!

It’s been great reading everyone’s goals. It has been helpful in formulating my goals for next month. Thanks!
http://monicarolevans.com Monicarolevans

Marie gave me a couple of The Dip. Seth is NOT overrated, believe me. Almost all my pep talks remind me that I’m a dip. I even have a blog series perculating about it.

Needless to say, I totally understand how you feel. I don’t feel like I’m in a rut– I just feel stuck-ish. Moving, but INCREDIBLY slowly. And because I share my goals with other people– they try to hold me accountable. So when I fall behind or lack motivation they call me out- then I feel really crappy about it. But I like to be able to tell people when I’ve completed something hard.

I’ve been keeping my goals in mind, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of staying on task. I’ll update on my site.

Keep your head up. Would this journey be so much fun if we always had the wind to our backs? I think not.
http://www.twitter.com/abroman Amanda Broman

Well… I am doing “ok” on my goals:

1) Research Marketing MBA options–is it right for me?
2) Increase my volunteer hours by 20% for the MN AMA.
3) Begin working out twice a week.
4) Stick to my budget.

So far I have stuck to my budget and worked out twice a week, but I am really struggling with my MBA decision. There are a few programs I think I would really benefit from; one at St. Thomas in Minneapolis, and one at UW-Madison. They are very different from each other. Any feedback from others would be great!

Although, I have not increased my time in MN AMA meetings, as I originally thought when writing my goals, I have increased the amount of time I put into managing the MN AMA LinkedIn group. So, it has seemed to even out.

Time to buckle down on my MBA research and reflection!
http://www.smallhandsbigideas.com Grace Boyle

I’m happy to say that I’m doing pretty good on my goals and it’s surprising because usually I try to do 100 things at once and sometimes it’s hard to move forward with all of them ;)

-I have stuck to my 4-5 times gym/yoga in the last two weeks and I feel really good. So much so that my ‘skinny jeans’ were busted out and worn this weekend. It hasn’t been easy. Ive had events or happy hours or something in the evening after work, so I think of your post in the morning at 6:30 when I’m struggling to get out of bed to go to yoga or the gym. But I’ve done it!
-I’ve also already finished two books, and plan to read more :)
-I’m traveling for work and going to BlogWorld and reinventing my role here, its in the works! YAY.

Just want to say that writing down goals is important. Secondly, publicly writing our goals is great. I’m not perfect and there are additional goals (maybe more lofty ones) that I want to go for, but for now, these are fulfilling me greatly!
http://anakngpulan.wordpress.com EJ Gamboa

Haha seeing as I just joined the group a couple of days ago, I don’t really have much to report yet. But I am proud of the little things I’ve been able to do so far. Thanks to my increased focus from joining this group, I was able to run after a one-day break — it may not sound impressive and I may have done it all the time before, but I haven’t been motivated enough to do so in months! I was also able to stop myself from buying at McDonald’s 3 times already when I remembered that one of my goals was to stop paying to pad my belly during office hours. So not only am I free of guilt, I’ve also got some spare cash in my wallet that amounts to a McFlurry and a couple of Egg McMuffins. :D
http://modite.com/blog Rebecca Thorman

@ Andrew – Thanks so much for the link! I saw that yesterday, but didn’t read it, so now I’ll have to hunker down : )

@ Jessica – Sorry, I was a bit late with the reminder – eek! But yes, you’re awesome. Since I used to do fundraising, I know how difficult – how very, very difficult it is. I loved it, and it sounds like you do too. Yay for being so close!

@ Monica – You really think Seth isn’t overrated? Oh man. Now I have to read the Dip… guess I’ll add it to the list. ; ) And glad that someone else is empathizing over the whole walking into the wind thing. Here’s to having the wind at our backs next month!

@ Amanda – Minneapolis and Madison are both great cities! Personally, I attended Madison for undergrad, but I was involved with some MBA stuff and people for another project and really enjoyed the camaraderie. If you make a visit, let me know!

@ Grace – You’re so fabulous. In my next life, I totally wouldn’t mind coming back as you : ). No seriously, I’m excited you stuck to your yoga/gym goal. Mine was to do just 1x/ week and I’m sticking to it, but I greatly admire anyone that can do more. Fo sho.

@ EJ – Hurray for escaping McDonalds! That alone is a big accomplishment. Okay, a little biased over here, but seriously padding your wallet instead of your stomach is stellar. Thanks for jumping in!
http://fiwk.blogspot.com Royce Hadden

I’ve been diligent about hitting the weights and increasing my caloric intake, but so far I’ve only gained 2 lbs. D’oh!

By the way, Yahtzee! is one of the best exclamations to throw on the end of any achievement. It’s like “booya!” with more “zee” in it. And rummy rocks my face
http://blog.alligerkman.com Alli

I’m here, I’m here! I’m not too late am I? Is it even September anymore?? :)

My September goals: http://alli.posterous.com/the-dog-ate-my-homework-edition-of-september

Don’t worry about the roadblocks. They’re learning opportunities, right? There’s probably a reason for not meeting a goal and figuring out the reason might be even more important than the goal.
http://nycfullheart.wordpress.com Sapana Shende

Wow — I finally did it! I kept it real with myself and updated my goals and where I am: http://nycfullheart.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/goal-update-pictures-as-promised/

Thanks for keeping me on point!
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http://notsoliteral.wordpress.com JR Moreau

I think Seth is overrated too, but The Dip is a great book in my humble opinion. Gives some solace that keeping your head ducked down as you barrel through whatever you’re facing will be worth it.. and if it’s not to stop wasting your time!
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