If you can believe it, we’re nearly halfway through the third quarter of 2016! Time is flying by. The first half of the quarter has been a flurry of freaking out about finding a place to live in September, freaking out about moving costs, and freaking out about living alone. It’s been fun times in this brain of mine.
But I also found a place to live (with a sweet rent price!). I have picked up freelancing work to ease the burden of moving costs. And, well, there’s not much I can do about my worries about living alone. I can only prepare myself and make sure I have lots of romance novels, comforting Netflix shows, and boxes of brownies on hand to help me during the transition. 🙂 Self-care, right?
Let’s take a look at the goals I set for this quarter and see how I’m doing!
1) Write at least 20,000 words in my novel.
As of today, I’ve written 8,000 words in my novel. It’s a little under where I should be at, but I’m not all that worried. I think I’m going to have a lot more time to focus on writing in September, as I’ll be on a social media and blogging break. I’ll make this goal!
2) Start a freelancing side hustle.
Yes! I am working with four different clients, two of which could potentially turn into long-term contracts. (Fingers crossed!) My weeknights and weekends have been a lot crazier since I’m now working an extra 5-10 hours a week on freelancing, but I can’t lie: I LOVE IT.
I mean, it’s exhausting, too. The hustling side of things can be really hard sometimes, which is why I don’t think I’d ever want to freelance full-time. I like the safety of a regular paycheck, having benefits, etc. But it’s nice as a way to earn some extra income to ease some of my financial burdens.
3) Have a smooth, seamless move into my new home.
Well, I haven’t moved yet so I can’t say if this goal will be a success or not. I hope so, but ugh, moving is just the worst, isn’t it? Especially because my lease ends on September 10 and I don’t get keys to my new place until September 9. So that Friday and Saturday will be crazy with moving and cleaning the old apartment. (I’m planning on taking the following Monday and Tuesday off work to decompress!) Hopefully, all goes well!
4) Take a social media/blogging sabbatical in September.
Another goal that I won’t complete until the second half of the quarter! I am really excited to take some time away from the internet for 30 days. It’s much needed and will be nice to just slow down and stop needing to document every moment, think about blog topics, or keep up with my social media feeds. (I love all of the above, but sometimes you just need a break, you know?)
5) Lose 10 lbs.
Ehhhh… no. I’ve been doing better with my eating habits and workouts, but I’m not seeing a ton of results on the scale. Oh, well. The important part is I’m trying, right?
6) Find a new primary care doctor or dentist.
I have made zero progress on this goal. Oops. But I’ll get this done. Promise.
Final thoughts:
Well, I’m considering the first half of this quarter a success because I managed to make progress on my biggest two goals: working on my novel and earning money via freelancing. And two of my goals can’t even get started until September, so I think I’m doing great! Go me! 🙂
Yay, Stephany! You ARE doing great! I think moving into your own place will be a marvelous adventure. I really can’t wait to hear more about it!
I think I’m going to start setting goals too, aside from just at the start of the year. Reading everyone else’s, especially yours, is so motivating to me… so thank you!
You’re doing great, Stephany! Keep it up! I
I hope moving goes as smoothly as possible for you too. I still haven’t found a new place yet (our eviction date is in November); it seems especially difficult to find something suitable for us in our area, but we are doing our best to keep hope alive!
Freelancing is a great way to make extra money. I’m hoping to get back into that myself again. And I promise to get back to/restart my blog!
I love the side hustle, too (I do content updates for our company website for an additional hourly rate) but also, I feel you on it being a little crazy at times. I have a huge list I need to tackle now that I have some more time which seems daunting BUT i like the extra jingle in my pocket.
I will miss reading your blog in September but hopefully gchat isn’t part of that hiatus? 😉
I hope that the move to your new place goes as smoothly as a move can go. Moving is soooo much work and soooo expensive! it’s tough when the turnaround is so quick, too. Taking some days off was wise!
Good luck getting through your goals by the end of the quarter! I can see how doing quarterly goals is nice as it makes it less likely that you’ll do that whole ‘set and forget’ thing. I’m doing fairly well on my goals but need to get going on reading some books that I already own as I have slacked on that lately!
Good job on starting a side hustle! I’ve been meaning to start one for the longest time, but now that I’m having a baby soon, I don’t see a side hustle happening for a long time. 😛