Category: Personal Improvement

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Personal – Why Didn’t I Retire Sooner?

As I’ve stated in another article, I was given an early retirement package recently. And if you have read other articles I have posted, you also know that I have been preparing for retirement for a few years now. I am currently 52 years old and planned to be retired from the oil and gas industry by the age of 55.

But I wasn’t sure that we truly had enough saved and/or invested to cover things. So I kept on working.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed most of the aspects of my job, but I was starting to get aggravated with the things I could not change or impact. And in one of my last positions, the amount of administrative busy work that was not HABU, Highest And Best Use, of my skillset.

With all of that said, being told that I was being retired early was a wonderful blessing!

Working from home for the last couple of months of employment and the subsequent five weeks or so has been a revelation. I see and hear people complaining about weight gain and complications from their chronic medical conditions during the pandemic lockdown. I did not experience any of that. In fact, my glucose levels are now sitting at a normal level, with fasting readings mostly below 100. They used to stay between 130 – 180. I have lost approximately 15 pounds.

I was also dealing with migraines due to some nerve issues in my neck. They were exacerbated by the constant stress of work.

Now, those are pretty much gone!

What I have realized over the last few days is that the stress from work was driving a lot of the issues I was experiencing. When I was still working, I would get to the end of each day and be too exhausted to do much of anything else. I would feel mal de ventre, (sick feeling in my stomach), due to worrying about the latest “crisis” occurring. It was so bad that for the last ten years or so, I rarely even had a casual drink because that would just add to the general malaise feeling, in addition to upsetting my glucose levels.

Now, I have none of those worries. I am content. I am spending more time with my family. I am preparing to take the real estate salesperson license exam to become a licensed realtor. I am continuing with real estate investing, looking for quality cash-flowing properties.

It begs the question, why didn’t I retire sooner?

Ultimately, the real answer is that I was not prepared to. After my job was changed and relocated in December, I started to figure out the HOW? of leaving the company. I have some answers, but not all. And that is OK. We have more than enough buffer to get the rest.

Cheers! from semi-retirement!

And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments. Ask questions, tell your story. If you like my posts, please share them with others and subscribe to this blog.

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Personal Finance – Due to…Your Position is No Longer Needed

The “R-word”.

Twenty-seven years.

For twenty-seven years I worked for a company.

In the span of these last five months I have had two meetings with my manager(s) and HR to let me know that due to market conditions, among other thing things, my position was being eliminated.

The first conversation was a choice between an early retirement package or working in another state. The second gave no options.

This is how I joined the ranks of the recently unemployed. It may or may not differ from yours, but that is not the point. I will lay out some guidelines to point you in the right direction, especially if you are feeling overwhelmed and not sure what to do.

What next?

“What next?” is the question you may be asking yourself. The first thing you should do is understand that this situation is not a reflection on you. This is not an indication of your self-worth. Especially at this time, thousands of people are being laid off.

Take a breather, relax, or, if possible, a mini-vacation. Let your mind recuperate from the stress.

Stay the Course or Change Direction?

The next step is to decide if you want to continue doing what you have been doing. Some of you have knowledge, skills, and talents that easily transfer to other industries while others may need to adapt their skills to new areas.

If needed, don’t be afraid to train for something new. We will discuss training in more detail below.

The point is, from my perspective, the oil and gas industry will not be booming soon, so don’t wait around for it to pick back up.

How Much Do I REALLY Need to Spend?

At this point, it is a good idea to review your finances. If you have not done so already, put together a personal balance sheet. This totals all of your assets and all of your liabilities. This will help you to visualize what resources you have and what debt you owe.

Then tally up all of your expenses. Look at this long and hard to decide what is essential and what can be cut or reduced. Examples can be premium movie channels, cable TV, any type of subscription that is not essential.

See posts on spending and saving money in the Personal Finance section.

What About Income?

File for unemployment benefits if you are able. The weekly payment amount varies from state to state and also depending on other factors like recent salary. In my case, I am eligible for $247 per week in unemployment benefits.

There should also be an additional federal benefit of $600 per week on top of the state benefit due to the pandemic. Your state employment website should allow you to indicate that the pandemic was partially or wholly the cause for your being released.

Now What?

At this point, you should have a thorough understanding of where you are financially, what assets you have, what bills you owe, and a good  idea on whether or not you will continue  doing what you were doing or establish a career in a  new industry.

If you are an IT Professional, it’s easy to transfer your capabilities to a different industry because the requirements are relatively similar, no matter what industry.

If your career was more specialized, say Drilling Fluids Technical Professional, that job description won’t show up in other industries.

Start to look at training opportunities for your new career choice. Your state employment website should have a section on training to prepare you for a different job. Pretty much every major job search engine provides you with a list of free training resources. Use them. Take advantage of the opportunity to add to your skill set.

You will get through this. You have the choice to be better for this. Seize control and be the best you can be!

Remember, if you have a real estate need, whether buying or selling, give me a call or shoot me an email. It doesn’t matter if you are outside of my area, I can connect you with a Rockstar Real Estate Agent!

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® 985.647.4479

And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments. Ask questions, tell your story. If you like my posts, please share them with others and subscribe to this blog.

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Personal – More Change – Opportunity Awaits!

The oil and gas industry is in turmoil and service companies, in particular, are reducing their footprint in an attempt to weather the double-pronged attack of oil price wars and pandemic lockdowns.

Until yesterday, I worked for one of those companies, as some of you long-time readers may know.

I received a phone call from my manager, and HR, telling me that due to the current environment, my position was being eliminated.

It is not a bad thing. I only took the position back in January because I was unsure of what I wanted to do when my regional position was eliminated. I figured that they went through a lot of effort to keep me in the company and I didn’t have an immediate alternative plan, so I worked the job in Houston.

Then the pandemic hit and everyone was on lockdown. Luckily, I was able to continue working, from home.

BUT, during this time, I realized that I did not want to go back to Houston for work. We decided that I would continue working, as long as I could do it from home, and as soon as I was told that I needed to show up in Houston, I would resign.

It seems things have worked out for the best, because instead of just resigning, I am leaving with an early retirement severance package!

Because of this, I am now free to explore other opportunities…One will be to continue to be involved in real estate, but to a larger degree. I will continue to invest, but now I am pursuing a realtor’s license.

I will also be available to consult on any innovation projects that might come my way. This will allow me to flex my mental muscle “coming up with cool shit” as a colleague is fond of saying.

I will also look for small businesses that the owners are preparing to retire with no one to take them over. I will only pursue them if they are profitable. It should be easy to make a good deal on something like that when the options are sell at a discount or shut it down.

Here’s to the future!

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Personal Improvement – Learn Some New Skills During the Down Time

If you are like a lot of people, you find yourself with a bit of down time thanks to stay at home orders and social distancing keeping people from gathering. I am lucky enough to be able to work from home. With it being a 14 day on, 14 day off rotation, I have had time to add a few skills to my tool belt.


Add something useful to your arsenal that will help you in the future. Some examples are videoconferencing, livestreaming, CRM, Marketing.

Below are some of the things I worked on:

  • Livestreaming – I learned to use StreamYard to allow me to livestream up to six webcams and screen sharing to multiple locations like YouTube and Facebook. My last two posts have links to the videos. It is a nice platform with professional tools.
  • Videoconferencing – While I was pretty familiar with videoconferencing, I was not that familiar with Zoom. I was able to learn a bit about it.
  • CRM – I use HubSpot’s free option for CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Though I previously only used it to track email opens & reads. I learned to manage lists, forms, newsletters, and marketing emails with it. This is going to make managing my local REIA a little easier!
  • Writing an eBook – As part of digging around in my CRM and learning more about it, I ran across a service that helps you to put together an eBook from existing blog posts to use as a lead magnet. I didn’t like the output, so I decided to tackle the project in earnest from a different direction. Look for it in the near future. He working title is “A Small Business Startup Primer”

What types of skills have you added to your bag of tricks so far?

Let me know in the comments or email me directly.

Be safe and take care!

And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments. Ask questions, tell your story.

If you like my posts, please share them with others and subscribe to this blog.

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REI – Mortgage Rates, FED Prime Rate Cuts, and SBA Disaster Relief Loans Title

Mortgage Rate Trends in US

How are you doing? How are you handling the mis-named “social distancing”? We are going a bit stir-crazy. I am probably more used to the isolation and not being able to go anywhere from when I worked offshore in the oil and gas industry. This is a lot nicer than sitting on a floating rig that you have to fly for one to two hours in a helicopter to reach.

Feel free to reach out if you need to talk to someone. It actually helps with the isolation.

Now, on to the content…

Due to the statewide Stay at Home order here in Louisiana, our local REIA are not able to get together for our monthly meeting. So, I’ve decided to move it online, replacing it with a livestream. Since it covered topics that I think are relevant to a larger audience, I’ve decided to share it with this community, too.

In this video, Tim Blanchard, of Allegiance Home Lending, discusses how mortgage rates work, what the impact is from the Q1 2020 FED Interest Rates on mortgages and regular loans, and gives advice on utilizing SBA Coronavirus relief options.

Things you will learn in this video:

  • What affects mortgage rates.
  • What mortgage rates are based on.
  • What drives a change in mortgage rates.
  • How Lenders’ Credit Score Criteria have changed in this environment.
  • SBA Coronavirus relief opportunities for businesses.
  • SBA Streamlined Application Process
  • SBA Economic Disaster Relief Loan
  • Covers Lost Rent

Resources mentioned in this video:

You can contact Tim Blanchard at the following:

Tim J. Blanchard

Mortgage Advisor

Nmls #167432

Allegiance Home Lending, LLC

430 Corporate Dr Suite C

Houma, LA  70360

985-868-5950 office

985-790-5660 cell

tim@lendingallegiance.com email

He’d love to connect with you.

If you like this type of content, let me know by leaving a comment.

And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments.

Ask questions, tell your story. If you like my posts, please share them with others and subscribe to this blog.

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Personal Improvement – Change Is Coming…

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy Solstice! Happy Hanukkah! Joyous Kwanzaa! Yuletide Greetings! Joyeux Noël! Feliz Navidad! Season’s Greetings! Happy New Year! Joy! Celebrate! Be Merry! And most of all, wishing all of you who read this a new year full of peace and joy!

I’m sitting here between Christmas and New Year’s Day contemplating the future. To paraphrase Game of Thrones, “Change is Coming”.

As many of you know, we decided to start investing in real estate as a buffer to the ups and downs of my chosen industry, Oil and Gas Exploration. I was able to make it through some of those ups and downs in the past, maybe by luck, or because what I was working on was important. At one point, I did take a demotion and worked in the field (offshore, on the rigs, for about a year, but was able to move out of that role and on to greater things.

Which brings us to current times. Things have dipped again.

I usually take the last two to three weeks of the year off since I usually don’t use all of my vacation throughout the year. I was sitting at home and my supervisor called and asked if I was at the office. Since I wasn’t, he asked if I could come in. This told me that something was up because his office is over 100 miles away and if he is at my office, then it must be my turn.

And it was, but with a twist. I was offered a choice between an early retirement package or a rotational position working in Houston.

My darling wife and I contemplated the choices for a couple of days. Ultimately, we decided that it would be best to take the position in Houston. While we would be OK with me not working for a while, ultimately, it was our need of medical insurance that swayed our decision. Speaking of medical insurance, my next article will cover my experience in trying to get a quote for it and the fraud potential inherent in the Louisiana Medicaid Program.

Working a rotational job in Houston would mean finding a place to stay when working and time away from the family, but it also would mean that for two weeks out of every four, I would be off of work and free to do as I please.

This should allow for catching up on projects around the house and more opportunity to generate passive income.

The down side is that I will not be in town for some of the Bayou Real Estate Investor Networking meetings. I will continue to organize them, but will have to rely on other members to host when I cannot attend.

Additionally, if any of you live in or around North Houston / Humble / Kingwood and know of decent rentals at a good price, please contact me!

And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments. Ask questions, tell your story.

If you like my posts, please share them with others and subscribe to this blog.

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Personal Finance – Why You Should Regularly Review Your Insurance

Actual Numbers. Blanks are where numbers were not needed.

Today’s topic is about reviewing your insurance coverages and ensuring that you are properly covered at the best rate. It also touches on customer service and some things that caused me to look for a change.

Isn’t it crazy that it is December already? The end of the year, the end of the decade. Here at the Galliano household we are busy buying Christmas gifts for the family and coordinating our schedules for band concerts, choir concerts, and a birthday.

It is also about paying year-end bills…we have property taxes on our rentals, but that is covered easily by the rent. We also have property taxes on our residence and another property. We can’t do a whole lot about what we are paying on those taxes.

Then there is insurance. Since we paid off our mortgage years ago, we have to purchase homeowners’ insurance outright. AND, since we originally moved into our house right before Christmas, our insurance comes due at Christmas time.

On top of that, our auto insurance is due on 02-Jan-2019. So that totals up to a lot of bills at the end of the year.

The current (as of this writing) agency we use has been providing me with insurance for around 20 years. But I am not happy with them. Over the last four to five years, my “agent of record” has changed at least four times. And the only way I find out about it is if I call with a question. On top of that, when the renewal notices came in this year, they totaled to a little over $6000! I asked for a quote at a lower home value, because the company we are covered with has an auto-escalate policy and increases the coverage value every year, thus increasing the premium. The renewal value was for $291,000. My home is probably worth about $250,000 on a good day.

I also asked for an increased deductible, increasing the deductible from $1000 to $5000. They couldn’t do that. They could only do two percent. So I asked the agent to quote me for coverage on a more accurate home value. Two to three days later, I get a quote for a home value of $232,000. Yes, it was $1000 or so cheaper than the renewal quote, but it was not for the home value that I requested. Because of this, my search for a new provider began.

One of my fraternity brothers offered to give us quotes. In going through that process, we were able to get the coverage we wanted at much lower rates. Between the home and auto coverage, it only cost us $3,744, for a savings of $2,347 between the two. That is almost $200 per month of savings! That will cover a trip to Disneyworld for Mardi Gras! LOL

Tips for Insurance

Below are some tips for getting the most for the least when dealing with insurance:

  • Review your policies annually to ensure accurate coverage – Make sure you aren’t paying for a home value above the replacement cost of your home
  • Try to pay your policy in a lump sum – Some providers will give you a discount for paying in full
  • It pays to shop prices every once in a while
  • Ensure you have a good relationship with your agent – Find an agency that provides you with a single point of contact and will notify you of any changes
  • Your home value is not your home replacement value
  • Depending on the age of your vehicle, you may not need comprehensive and collision insurance
  • Be in a financial position to be able to pay your policies lump sum

And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments. Ask questions, tell your story.

If you like my articles, please share them with others and subscribe to this site.

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Personal Improvement – Taking Care of Yourself

#MusicTherapy

Do you ever get to a point where you are feeling overwhelmed with everything going on in your life? The constant demand from work, the building up of lots of meaningless little things that put you in a funk? Or what about a sudden realization that things in your life that you took for granted are no longer a sure thing?

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Well, that has been me for the last few months. I believe it started with my health. As I talked about in a previous post, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. And luckily, it was the easily treatable, slow growing kind. Simple solution. Remove the thyroid gland, check for any other abnormalities near it, and carry on.

Or at least so I thought. The surgery was quick and without complications. No abnormalities observed in the surrounding tissues, most likely due to such an early diagnosis. When the pathology came back saying that there was a third tumor growing on the other side of my thyroid gland, my endocrinologist decided to ablate me with radioactive iodine. This would kill the remaining thyroid cells and virtually eliminate any chance of thyroid cancer coming back.

Because he suspected that we might have to go that route, he did not start me on replacement thyroid hormone medications, choosing to wait until a decision was made on the radioactive iodine (RAI). I felt fine right up until I did the RAI. This was approximately 6 weeks post-surgery, which is also just about the length of time that thyroid hormones live in your body. What that means is that I had little to no energy and mostly just sat around.

I was able to start the meds a couple of days after the RAI and I began to feel better. Over the next few weeks the doctor ramped up the dosages, trying to get my hormone numbers in line. And it worked/is working. BUT, I have nowhere near the endurance I used to. I normally get up around 05:00, give or take. But by 17:00 – 18:00 in the day, I had no more energy. Now I am able to last to about 20:00, then it is sit or lay around and nothing strenuous.

So that was bad enough, but on top of that, my glucose levels have begun to go a little haywire. I can have normal numbers throughout the day (120 – 150) & low levels at night (45 – 68), then wake up in the morning to levels at 245 -280.

The doctor thinks that it may stabilize once we balance my thyroid hormone levels. It also may be related to a medication change made a few months ago.

In addition to the medical issues, there has been a lot of stress at work, which probably magnifies all of my medical issues.

With all of this going on, I did not feel like doing much of anything extra-curricular. I had a realization that this was my new normal. There would be no more “go, go, go” and rest on the weekends.

I was depressed.

Now I don’t claim to have a solution for depression, I am only relating what I am observing.

We took the kids to see Weird Al Yankovic in concert in New Orleans, that seemed to help. And this week, I had to travel to Dallas to present at a workshop for a different group in the company for my job. While there, I had dinner with a buddy I hadn’t seen in twenty-plus years. IT was good to catch up with him. On top of that, I started to listen to music a little more. My aural diet has been mostly podcasts and audiobooks for the last three or four years, so music is a refreshing change, in addition to being therapy for my soul.

So, what I suggest to you, dear reader, is that if you find yourself in a similar situation, don’t wait to do some self-therapy…find what feeds your soul. Take Care of Yourself.

Do you have single family or small multi-family rental properties and need to insure them? Are you a flipper in need of a rehab policy? Visit National Real Estate Insurance Group. Great rates. Coverages you need. Commercial Liability. Monthly Payments, No Financing. Add/Remove Properties as Needed.

And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments. Ask questions, tell your story.

If you like my posts, please share them with others and subscribe to this blog.

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Personal Improvement: Podcasts – What I Listen To

I recently connected with someone on LinkedIn who is a Life Coach for High-Performing Remote Workers. As part of his getting to know me messages, he asked if I listened to any good podcasts lately. That got me thinking about the regular influence on my thinking of the podcasts I listen to. The more I thought about it, the better the idea to turn it into an article listing what I am listening to and why.

  • Doggcatcher for Android
  • Downcast for iOS

A little background on my interest in podcasts:

I have listened to podcasts for almost 12 years. Up until the start of this year, I always had a long commute. Whether a 200+ mile daily round trip to Lafayette, Louisiana or a 1,000+ mile round trip driving to Houston, Tx every other week, I had a lot of highway time on my hands. Podcasts allowed me to be entertained and informed, in addition to allowing me to utilize “dead” time for learning.

Podcasts I Listen To

Podcast Link Category
Bigger Pockets Podcast https://www.biggerpockets.com/podcast Real Estate Investing
Tim Ferris Show https://tim.blog/podcast/ High Performance
DH Unplugged https://www.dhunplugged.com/category/podcasts/ Stock Markets
Rich Dad Radio http://www.richdad.com/radio Current Affairs/Rich Dad Theory
James Altucher Show https://jamesaltucher.com/podcasts/ High Performance
Akimbo https://www.akimbo.me/ Personal, Professional Improvement
Private Lender Podcast http://privatelenderpodcast.com/ Education on the Subject of Private Lending for Real Estate
Bigger Pockets Money Show https://www.biggerpockets.com/moneyshow F.I.R.E.: Financial Independence, Retire Early
Freakonomics Radio http://freakonomics.com/archive/ Various Topics

Bigger Pockets Podcast

The Bigger Pockets Podcast helped me to learn a great deal about real estate investing. I have the Bigger Pockets website listed as a resource on this site, but the podcast is an additional tool to learn about REI. Each week, the podcast interviews guests, most real estate investors, sometimes famous authors who provide useful tips for investing, business, and personal improvement, and every once in a while, they will do an occasional webinar-type podcast to educate listeners on a particular topic.

I especially like the investor interviews to get tips, tricks, and strategies that may help me in our REI business.

The Tim Ferriss Show

Tim Ferriss, author of numerous books on increasing performance (4-hour Workweek, Tools of Titans, Tribe of Mentors, etc.), conducts long-form interviews with high-performers across various domains. Even when interviewing guests who have been on EVERY medium you can think of, you always learn things no one else has ever asked. Tim listens to guests’ answers and responds to the answers with deeper questions. He also does extensive research on guests and does not rely on canned press release questions.

I generally like to listen to his interviews because the people he does interview are “Doing It”. They don’t have a theory, they are not selling snake oil, they have done/do whatever they are recommending to increase performance.

DH Unplugged

DH Unplugged is an unscripted conversation about markets between investment advisor Andrew Horowitz and pundit John C. Dvorak.

I like DH Unplugged because they discuss what is going on in the markets and aren’t trying to sell you anything. In fact, they frequently point out how most “Money” shows on cable news channels are always “BUY, BUY, BUY” no matter what is going on.

Rich Dad Radio

Rich Dad Radio is an interview podcast featuring Robert Kyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and his wife, Kim Kiyosaki, author of Rich Woman. The interviews are mainly related to money and economics, (in a broad way), and generally promote Rich Dad, Poor Dad Principles.

In addition to interesting information from guests, it’s fun to listen to Robert interpret the guests’ statements into Rich Dad principles.

James Altucher Show

The James Altucher Show is another long-form interview podcast, similar to the Tim Ferriss Show, that delves into what makes high performers “tick”. Where Ferriss delves into tools, self-talk, and motivation, Altucher focuses a little more on the path to peak performance, teasing out the development of “micro-skills”. Altucher’s overarching thesis on micro-skills is that high performers build up a toolbox of them that help them to succeed. Like Ferriss, Altucher goes far deeper in his interviews than you normally see in regular media.

Because of the depth of detail and wide range of topics covered in each interview, I really enjoy Altucher’s show.

Akimbo

Akimbo is a podcast put out by author and marketing guru Seth Godin. This podcast is a combination of self help and career advice for entrepreneurs. You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to benefit from the topics & advice given, either.

I enjoy the perspectives, suggestions, and tips provided by Godin in this show. I don’t necessarily subscribe to all of his philosophies, but that is OK. It is good to hear different perspectives from your own to allow a balanced understanding of the world.

The Private Lender Podcast

The Private Lender Podcast is a combination of interviews, case histories, and education with regards to the utilization of private lending in real estate investing.

I like learning about the details of the non-financial industry financing.

I actually met Keith Baker, the host, and have become friends with him. He’s a cool and funny guy. Oh, and he LOVES the band Rush!

Bigger Pockets Money Show

As the name indicates, BPMS is another podcast from the group at Bigger Pockets, focusing on F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence, Retire Early). The podcast is in an interview format, covering guests’ stories, tips, and tricks for becoming financially independent.

I like listening to the BPMS to better plan my own “retirement”. It has also led me to resources that allowed me to recognize that I could retire right now and be comfortable from a financial perspective.

I hope this provides you with some insight into resources to use for personal and financial improvement in your life!

And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments. Ask questions, tell your story.

If you like my posts, please share them with others and subscribe to this blog.

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Personal Improvement – ‘New Year, Totally New You’ May Not Be The Most Successful Approach

rdj-nynmbs

Another new year!

One of the first trends I noticed for the new year were sarcastic memes about “New Year, New You”…it made me think about why these are popular.

This week we are going to discuss making changes for the new year. Comparing and contrasting the typical approach with what is more likely to be a more successful approach to making changes.

williewonkanynmlastyear

 

A Totally New You for the New Year!

You realize there are things you don’t like in your life. You decide to change them. These thoughts usually seem to occur at the end of one year or the beginning of the next, hence the popularity of New Year’s Resolutions.

The common approach is to decide to change everything at once. This, in turn, sets you up for failure. Because the volume of things to change is large, it can be hard to figure out where to start in addition to being perceived, mentally, as a tedious task. Because of this, we tend to have little follow-through on these resolutions and end up abandoning them early on due to little demonstrable success.

These are some of the reasons why most people don’t keep up with their New Year’s Resolutions.

I once joined the gym, went on a diet, and decided I was going to get up at 06:00 every morning. This was many years ago…back when I was single. I went to the gym once, then never went back because I felt that if I didn’t get up early to go to the gym, there was no point in going. The diet didn’t even last that long. It was too much for me at the time.

There is a way to be successful at it and achieve your goals.

An additional thought on Resolutions – Many political bodies make resolutions all the time. Most are ignored. And we wonder why we have trouble keeping New Year’s Resolutions! Instead, choose Goals. Goals are attainable. #CandyForYourSubconcious

morpheuspositivechange-new-years-meme-03

The Incremental Approach

The end of the year is a good time to take stock of your life, but you don’t have to wait until then to decide on changes. You can decide on changes at any point. To paraphrase sage advice “The best time to change was in the past. The second-best time to change is NOW!”

The key to making successful changes is to make them incrementally. You don’t start out an exercise program by running 10 miles, doing 500 push-ups, and 20 suicide sets. Start with a small immediate goal. Get that to become routine, then expand it.

 

By making incremental changes and incorporating them into your routine, they become habit. By becoming habit, they are more likely to turn into permanent changes.

 

So, instead of joining the gym, going on a diet, and quitting smoking, in addition to taking karate, yoga, and crossfit classes, try one at a time. Build it into your routine. Let it become habit. THEN tackle the next goal.

New Year’s Goals

My New Year’s Goals are as follows:

Spend less time commuting – Since 2012, I commuted from Houma, La. To Lafayette, La. Roughly about a 215 mile roundtrip commute. At the end of last year, I proposed that I start working at the company facility in Houma. My supervisor and his supervisor both approved, so that goal is more or less accomplished.

Spend more time with my family – This will be facilitated by having eliminated my commute.

Do more exercise – Now that I have eliminated the commute, I joined the local Planet Fitness so I can get more exercise.

Find my “New Normal” – With all the changes to my health near the end of last year, I have not adjusted my “drive” to match my “bandwidth”. I am still trying get the medications adjusted and wrap my head around my limitations.

What are your Goals for this year?

 

And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments. Ask questions, tell your story.

 

If you like my posts, please share them with others and subscribe to this blog.

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