Hey, guys. I’ve been using the Powersheets Goal Planner this year, and it has been a game-changer for me. I don’t think I’ve been this productive in my life. It’s been holding me accountable to the goals that I probably would’ve forgotten by now.
One of the ways it holds me accountable is by having quarterly “goal refreshes” to reflect on and adjust my goals. I wrote a 4 Month Update in May and decided to write another one for this quarter. I skipped writing a post for the mid-year update because there wasn’t enough to write about that hadn’t already been said in the previous update. It has been a world wind of a few months, but I can honestly say that I’ve accomplished most of my goals already.
Here Are A Few Things I’ve Done In The Past Few Months:
- Moved Out
- Opened My Own Bank Account
- Made My First Budget
- Started Waking Up Early
- Decluttered My Childhood Bedroom
- Started Working Out 3-5 Times Per Week Again
- Read 50+ Books (In 2018 so far)
- Spent A Lot Of Time With Family And Friends
- Established A Cleaning Routine
Related – My 2018 Goals + Word For The Year
Related – How I’m Doing On My 2018 Goals | 4 Months Check-In
2018 Goal Refresh
1.//Financial Stability
PROGRESS SO FAR
- Opened My Own Bank Account
- Started Tracking My Spending
- Created My First Budget
- Took Out Student Loans And Am Paying Them Off Before The End Of The School Year
I’ve officially completed this goal. At the beginning of the year, I set the goal of becoming financially stable to prepare to move out in 2019. Plans changed and I ended up moving out in August of this year, but I was financially prepared for it.
I use the term “financially stable” pretty lightly because I am a college student. When I set this goal, I wanted to be in control of all my money and feel comfortable with what I was making. I didn’t want to stress out about it, and I honestly don’t anymore.
This isn’t going to happen, but if my parents were to cut me off completely (phone bill, medical expenses, food to bring to my dorm, etc.), I would be able to afford everything myself. I’d have to adjust my budget, but I would be fine because I have an emergency fund.
I started tracking my spending on an Excel sheet in April because tax season is stressful, and I didn’t even have to do mine. My dad did them for me (because self-employment taxes are ridiculously complicated and my dad is well versed in them) and the process of getting all my income and expenses information was more difficult than it needed to be. When I learn to do my own taxes next year, it’ll be a lot easier for me than it would’ve if I didn’t start tracking my income and expenses.
There are other things that have improved my financial stability too. I got my first credit card at the beginning of this year and have been paying it off fully each month. My credit score has gone up to 725. I plan on getting another credit card in the next few months. I’m also paying off the student loans I took out in August. I explained why in this post, but basically, I’m treating my student loans as rent and am paying them off slowly each month.
GOAL REFRESH: Continue Current Financial Habits + Possibly Open A Retirement Account
A goal refresh is changing a goal based on things that have changed in the previous quarter. I’m not refreshing this goal, but you’ll see a few that have changed later on in the post. Here are some action steps for the next three months.
This goal is pretty much complete. I just want to continue these habits until the end of the year. There are a few general goals like save a certain amount of money and increase my income, but I’m not too worried about this goal because I’m as financially stable as I want to be at this point in my life.
Action Steps:
- Save Money To Travel To Another Country
- Pay Off Student Loans
- Consider Opening A Retirement Account
2.//Travel To Another Continent
PROGRESS SO FAR
I haven’t traveled anywhere since my trip to Canada on Spring break. I think last summer was the first summer in my entire life I didn’t travel anywhere. We didn’t even take a road trip to another state, which is a rarity for my family.
There were a few weeks at the end of June, beginning of July where I seriously considered going to Colombia. One of my best friends from middle school lives there and we’ve been talking about me (and our other friends) visiting there since we were thirteen. She had two or three weeks off for her winter break and I was looking at plane tickets to go visit her. We kept messaging each other making potential plans, but it didn’t work out in the end.
The two week period that I could’ve visited was a very busy time for me. It was near the end of Ramadan and some of my cousins from New York were visiting for Rojar Eid. I was figuring out whether I was going to live in a dorm or an apartment and had to save money and prepare for that. My childhood best friend was also moving to America at the beginning of July and was staying with us for a week and the following week I was volunteering at a camp for special needs kids, so there was a very small window of opportunity for me to go.
In the end, I decided not to travel to Colombia. It was too much at once and when you factor in work and the other commitments I had lined up in those few weeks, I would’ve been exhausted. I’ll still go someday, but the timing just wasn’t right.
My point is that I thought about this goal but chose to prioritize other things.
GOAL REFRESH: TRAVEL TO ANOTHER CONTINENT
This goal will stay the same. I don’t know where I’ll go yet. Maybe I’ll try Colombia again or maybe I’ll go someplace else like Australia. I’m open to anything.
Action Steps:
- Decide Where To Go
- Book A Plane Ticket
- Plan Trip
3.//Create A Product To Sell On Blog
PROGRESS SO FAR
I have decided what product I’m going to make, which I feel like is half the battle. I was between publishing an E-Book and writing an E-Course, but I decided to go with the course idea because there’s more I can do with it. I’ve already outlined the E-Course. The next step is to actually make it, which is the other half of the equation. I already have everything planned out, I just need to follow through.
GOAL REFRESH: CREATE AN E-COURSE TO SELL ON BLOG
Action Steps:
- Build Email List
- Write Out Course
- Create Workbook
4.//Make $1000 From Blog In A Month
PROGRESS SO FAR
Making money from this blog hasn’t been a huge priority for me this year. I’ve been having fun blogging, but I haven’t had time to devote to writing in the last few months. My goal has shifted quite a bit.
I’ve started putting more effort into building a foundation for Making My Way to make money in the future. Don’t get me wrong. I love blogging and would do it for free (I actually spend money in order to blog here), but I want it to provide an income for myself as well. (The business and marketing aspects of it are also great resume boosters.)
I don’t really think this new goal is possible at this point. I haven’t applied for any sponsored posts this year and don’t plan to do many in the future. My main priority right now is to reread old blog posts and fix spelling mistakes because I had this horrid habit of publishing posts before rereading them.
GOAL REFRESH: Build A Foundation To Make More Money From Blog In The Future
Action Steps:
- Reread All Blog Posts
- Fix SEO on old posts
- Complete E-Course (The One I’m Taking. Not The One I’m Writing)
5.//Be More Intentional About My Friendships
PROGRESS SO FAR
This isn’t a measurable goal, so it’s impossible to give you a quantitative description of how I’ve been doing. Like, listing the things I’ve done on this front doesn’t have the same impact as it did for my other goals.
Anyway, I think I’ve been doing pretty well with this. I’ve been making an effort to see my friends regularly and have been attending lots of on-campus events to meet students at my new school. I call and text to catch up with my close friends and cousins way more than I did last year, which is one of the things I wanted to work on in 2018.
I certainly could see my friends more often, but that’s not always possible due to our busy schedules as college students living in different cities. I’m really good about rearranging my schedule so that I can make time to meet up with people, but I understand that most of my friends don’t have that flexibility, so I don’t blame them for it. One thing I’ve learned this year is to not blame myself for it.
Before, I would take things like not talking and not spending time together personally. My love languages are definitely quality-time and physical touch, so actually being with my friends is how I feel loved. I would think things like, “God, I’m a terrible friend. I’m so busy with my job and school that I’m not taking time to call my friends,” or think vice versa that my friends aren’t making time for me.
(For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, read this. It’s basically about the psychology of how we give and receive love to our friends, families, and significant others).
I’ve made more of an effort to call people and meet up with them. I’m putting myself out there more. My friends have to meet me half-way, but I’m doing my part to make time for friendships. And it’s honestly no one’s fault. We’re all just lazy and don’t want to drive on our limited times off. Every weekend that I went home in September, I kept planning on visiting my best friend from 5th grade, but after a long week of school and work on weekends, I just didn’t feel like going. I had plenty of time to see her. I was just lazy. I’m totally fine with that because self-care is important, but I’m going to see her this weekend.
She reads my blog so I may as well tell her now.
Rinny [Not Her Real Name, But She Knows Who I’m Talking To] I am going to see you this weekend. It may only be for thirty minutes or an hour, but I haven’t seen you since August and I miss you. I’m publicly announcing this to hold myself accountable and I will text you eventually to ask what day and time works for you.
GOAL REFRESH: BE MORE INTENTIONAL ABOUT MY FRIENDSHIPS
Action Steps:
- Cultivate A Community At My New School
- Meet Up With Old Friends
- Call And Video-Chat More Often
6.//Be More Intentional About How I Spend My Time
PROGRESS SO FAR
I’ve been doing pretty great at this goal. Like the previous one, it’s not something that can be measured. It’s more of a feeling. I’ve stopped multitasking and procrastinate a lot less. I used to have this horrible habit where I would check my phone while watching T.V. and I still have the urge to do it, but I catch myself now and actually enjoy what I’m watching.
The biggest change has been that I’m waking up early. I had afternoon classes in my sophomore year, so I got into the habit of waking up at later times. I specifically signed up for 9:00/9:30 classes this semester so that I’d be forced to break that habit.
I’m current;y waking up between 7:45 and 8:15 AM. I’m slowly scaling back to 7:30 and 8:00 AM. I don’t think it’s necessary for me to wake up any earlier than that. That’s just enough time for me to have a slow paced, less rushed morning.
I haven’t changed much other than that. I’ve always been pretty good at time management, so the biggest impact of this goal has had on me is that I am more present. This isn’t a “get 8 hours of sleep and watch less Netflix” goal as it is a “just enjoy watching Netflix and don’t think of it as procrastinating” goal. I watch at least an hour of T.V every day and I don’t see anything wrong with that because it’s entertaining and it’s a nice way to relax. What I don’t do is use Netflix and YouTube as a way to avoid my responsibilities (95% of the time. The other 5% is indulging in the bad habit, which is healthy in moderation.).
I consider this goal complete because I feel the way I wanted to feel at the beginning of the year. I go to bed satisfied that I had a well-balanced day and was present throughout it.
Related – 11 Time Management Habits Worth Starting In College
GOAL REFRESH: Continue Being Intentional About My Time
Action Steps:
- Wake Up Before 8:00 AM
- Procrastinate Less
- Don’t Grab Phone Immediately When Bored
7.//Read 50 Books; Watch 20 New Movies
PROGRESS SO FAR
I’m surprised this goal is already complete. By the time the Fall semester started, I had completed fifty books. As of right now, I’ve finished 56. I think I’ll be able to finish 70 books by the time 2019 rolls around.
As for the movies goal, I haven’t been tracking it at all. I’m sure I’ve completed it by now because I’ve been putting a genuine effort in watching new movies instead of rewatching old favorites. When I set this goal in January, I wanted to use this goal to watch classic movies I’ve never seen like “The Godfather” and “Casablanca,” but I haven’t really done that.
Instead, I decided to revamp that goal into watching every superhero movie. Before Infinity War came out, I rewatched every single MCU movie, and then recently I watched all five Spider-Man movies. During the summer, I watched X-Men: Evolution, which was one of my absolute favorite shows as a kid, and that made me want to watch all the X-Men movies (Especially since the Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix trailer dropped).
Can you tell I’m a huge nerd?
This is why I decided to switch up this goal. By the end of this year, I want to watch all the (21st Century) superhero movies. My younger brother is helping me with this goal. We’ve already started watching Batman v. Superman. I plan on mostly watching the DC and X-Men movies. I’ve never watched Green Lantern or the Fantastic Four movies because I’ve never heard anyone say anything good about them, but I may watch them too.
This will be a fun entertainment goal.
GOAL REFRESH: READ 70 BOOKS; Watch Every Superhero Movie
Action Steps:
- Make a list of the superhero movies I haven’t watch yet
- Find them online or record them on the DVR to watch them
- Check out books from the library
8.//Write Everyday
PROGRESS SO FAR
This is the only goal I haven’t made progress on. At the beginning of the year, I did a really good job at journaling, blogging every day, and just plain writing for fun, but pretty much stopped once summer rolled around. This is fine because the above goals were much more important to me, but I want to reprioritize this in the next few months.
GOAL REFRESH: WRITE EVERY DAY
Action Steps:
- Start A Gratitude Journal
- Blog 2-3 Times Per Week
- Write A Fiction Story
//My Word For The Year//
I’m really proud of how far I’ve come. My word for the year was Initiative because I wanted to start things in 2018. My struggle has always been with starting. I have all these grand ideas, but it’s really hard for me to let these ideas come into fruition. I’m good about finishing what I’ve started, but taking the first step is a battle.
I’ve taken initiative on a lot of things this year like becoming more independent with my finances and creating good long-term habits, but I need to take initiative on bigger projects and experiences like writing an E-Course and booking a solo trip to another country. Those two things are going to be my hardest first steps, but they’ll be worth it in the end.
Another phrase that has been on my mind lately has been Self-Discipline. Now that I’ve implemented these great habits into my routine, I want to make sure I continue doing them. I also want to be more disciplined about my school work these next few months, so I’m adding that as a focus word for the end of this year.
That’s it for now. This was supposed to be published two days ago, but I’ve had a fever for the last few days. I swear, 2018 is not a year of good health. When I write my year in review, I’m going to list out all the health problems I’ve had this year (bronchitis, root canal, chronic back pain, etc. ). That’ll be funny.
Until next time!
Last Goal Check-In: How I’m Doing On My 2018 Goals | 4 Months Check-In
I’d Appreciate Your Support Of This Blog By Following Me On: