To run the Melbourne Half Marathon in October 2012.
To have commenced a multi-unit site development project with expected profit of at least $100k by September 16, 2012.
To be earning at least $10k per month from my online business by September 16, 2012.
I’ve discovered Buffer and am in the process of learning how to use it. Great idea. For those who aren’t familiar it’s a way to push content you find into your twitter stream and facebook stream easily and simply at the point of reading it. Very clever for those of us trying to implement some [...]
I’ve discovered Buffer and am in the process of learning how to use it. Great idea. For those who aren’t familiar it’s a way to push content you find into your twitter stream and facebook stream easily and simply at the point of reading it. Very clever for those of us trying to implement some ‘content curation’ into our workflow.
So many people in the world who have clever ideas! If you haven’t seen it, do check it out. It’s free – until you get so excited about the prospects that you try to sign up multiple facebook account profiles to it (like I did!) and then you have to upgrade! I haven’t yet, going to check it out for a bit first!
This is a post that I started writing and left as draft, the time delays indicate the events that unfolded as they did… ———————————————————- It’s been a while, I know. The start of this year has seen me really take stock of where I’m at and consider closely how I spend my time and efforts [...]
This is a post that I started writing and left as draft, the time delays indicate the events that unfolded as they did…
———————————————————-
It’s been a while, I know.
The start of this year has seen me really take stock of where I’m at and consider closely how I spend my time and efforts and what I want out of life.
I think there have been a few precipitating factors for this analysis of life.
Christmas Time…
It started, I think, with the Christmas break. Leading up to Christmas I had been quite focused, organised and determined to keep all of my ‘balls in the air’. Our Christmas break saw me put all the balls down for a minute and just live and have fun with my family – a good reminder of what life is about. As a result of this I decided to evaluate all that I had been working on and make some hard decisions about reducing the amount of projects I have been trying to complete concurrently.
The IM Makeover…
I started the IM Makeover with Michelle Macphearson and although I am still stuck on day 1 as I try to document all of my projects and the associated numbers, this execise has been invaluable in helping me work out what is worth my time. (IM Makeover, by the way, is brilliant. I love Michelle’s work in general, she seems like a straight to the point, no BS sort of girl, which is something that I love.
Although I now have a picture, well a spreadsheet, of what my online business looks like, I still had not committed to drastically reducing the number of active projects.
Major operations…
Next up, my mum has a major operation and I had to stop working, leave my home and family and go to look after my mum for a week or so. This has been hectic as my partner and I try to juggle our work, taking our son to kinder which he just started this week and me staying a couple of hours away.
Tenant troubles…
At the same time, of course, we have a tenant who has moved out of one of our rental properties, the house needs some painting and garden work, we have no rental income and then, to top it off, my workplace has issued some pretty serious changes and suddenly my well paid, very flexible job is looking very shaky.
Job troubles…
It’s the last one that has really impacted me over this week – up until then I was just ‘riding out’ this hectic time but with the thought of me perhaps being put off from my job, it has become apparent just what a ‘house of cards’ we have built around us. You see, we currently live in ‘the country’, our son is enrolled at a local private school and we have a reasonably large mortgage on, not just one, but two homes of our own including our wonderful beach house, which I just love. All of this is only possible because I have a job that is flexible, well paid and based at home.
This time has caused us to start talking about what we would need to do if I lost my job. We’d need to move house, we’d need to move my son’s school and sadly , we’d need to sell our home to move back to the city – as this is my best chance for finding another job that will pay the sort of money we are used to. Worst of all, we’ d have to sell our wonderful beach house which is, to me, the best place in the world and the place where I feel most relaxed (and generally, I don’t do relaxation).
Currently, I just not sure what will happen at work. Our Queensland move that we were so excited about is also uncertain as the new owners of our company review everyone and everything. The senior management are definitely feeling the pinch and the negativity is filtering through to the rest of the team.
Emergency Room…
Well I hadn’t even had a chance to post this up when things got even more hectic…we went down to our holiday house on the weekend and my partner got quite sick. We ended up spending a day at the hospital and then came home. My partner is 32 weeks pregnant, so to have severe abdominal pain and vomitting wasn’t a great thing.
We went home and then just a day later she had severe pain and vomitting again and has just now been admitted to hospital. I’m sitting here next to her wondering just what will happen and hoping all will be ok. Two of the three people I care about most in the world are in hospital and the third is just years old and being looked after by a friend whilst I’m here at the hospital. I worried about work and taking time off as I took a day off last week to care for my mother and it was generally received quite poorly by management.
My priorities are clear, however, my family are and will always be number 1.
Getting angry…
Got a call out of the blue today from the hospital that my mum is at. They had decided to send her home tomorrow morning (telling me at 4pm today). Of course, I have a sick partner in hospital, a 3 year old son to look after, a job that is looking shaky and they want me to drop everything, take another day off work and come pick up my mum – with only 1 hour of business time left to explain that to my already annoyed manager at work.
I told them that we had arranged to come pick her up the day after and this was the first I’d heard of her going home tomorrow and that I couldn’t be there to assist her. So what do they do – they arrange someone else to drive her home – and just leave her there. No assistance getting setup, no one to go get her some groceries, no one to make sure her equipment is setup and her house is ok for her to hobble around in with her crutches or walking frame.
I was livid. I can’t even tell you how angry this made me and I rang and told them so. I really gave it to them and in the end they backed off and said she could stay till the following day, but in doing this they also made my mum feel terrible and I rang her on the phone and she was crying. It was so horrible and I just cannot believe that what is supposed to be a Rehab ward would send an elderly woman who lives by herself home with no support. I was so angry when I got off the phone to them that I literally went into my garage, yelled out loud and hit my punching bag about 10 times in a row, just trying to release the anger I felt. Anger at their ridiculously thoughtless actions, but most of all anger that they made my mum, who was feeling positive up until then and who is a strong women, cry.
It just brings tears to my eyes. I wanted to drop everything and drive over and pick her up right then and there, but due to all of the other circumstances, including my partner just being discharged from hospital herself, I couldn’t and it hurt to have to leave her alone over there.
Perspective…
I felt so upset that I called mum again about 10 minutes later to see if she was alright. She answered the phone and said ‘Uncle Eddie died’. He’d had a heart attack that morning and had died in his home.
My uncle lives nearby to my mum and mum visits he and my aunty every couple of days. He’d just been in to visit mum a few days before and I’d just been over to visit him a week or so ago. I just can’t believe it still. He’d been telling me about how he walks 7km a day and how he cooks a mean stir fry. He’d invited me around for dinner, though I hadn’t gone. I feel bad about that now.
It’s just so strange that someone is there one minute and just gone the next.
I think both mum and I forgot about all of the ridiculous goings on of the hospital just a few minutes earlier as we were just in disbelief. We still are.
Once again I felt the pain of not being about to drop everything and just go to my mum. When she needs me. I wish I could just go give her a big hug.
So what now….
As you can well imagine, I’ve got a lot going on right now. Forgive me if I don’t post here regularly for a bit. I just need to take care of my family for a while.
The people you love are your biggest priority.
I don’t ever want to lose sight of that. It’s called perspective.
This last few days we’ve had two more pre-season tasks for the 12 week body transformation. Task 4 – Gear Up This task was about getting it clear in your head just how you would be training. It’s really important to have this sorted before day 1 of the 12wbt for a few reasons: You [...]
This last few days we’ve had two more pre-season tasks for the 12 week body transformation.
This task was about getting it clear in your head just how you would be training. It’s really important to have this sorted before day 1 of the 12wbt for a few reasons:
We’re about to undertake a subdivision, something that is likely to cost somewhere between $12,000 and $20,000 (hopefully it’s on the lower end of that range!). The first thing we did when thinking about the cost of this project is to work out just how we can pay for the project without using our own [...]
We’re about to undertake a subdivision, something that is likely to cost somewhere between $12,000 and $20,000 (hopefully it’s on the lower end of that range!). The first thing we did when thinking about the cost of this project is to work out just how we can pay for the project without using our own money.
We assessed the assets that we owned and the potential equity that we have in the assets and determine how we could potentially borrow the funds required to undertake the project without touching our own cash!
Using other people’s money is a key investing principal. You see, there’s a few benefits to using people’s money:
Some people try to avoid debt at all costs, however, I look at debt, good debt, tax deductible debt, manageable debt as a means to fast track my path to wealth.
It’s pre-season training for the upcoming 12 week body transformation. Task 1 was about introducing ourselves to the ‘team’ – you can see my introductory video here! Task 2 was about ‘getting real’ – which means recognizing the excuses that we make for why we can’t exercise, why we can’t eat healthy food, why we [...]
It’s pre-season training for the upcoming 12 week body transformation.
Task 1 was about introducing ourselves to the ‘team’ – you can see my introductory video here!
Task 2 was about ‘getting real’ – which means recognizing the excuses that we make for why we can’t exercise, why we can’t eat healthy food, why we can’t….you get the idea!
For me, the biggest excuse that I have is lack of time. But really, when we say ‘I don’t have time’ what we are really saying is that ‘it’s not a priority for me’. This is because we all have time, in fact that’s the one thing that we all have the same amount of each day and it’s up to us to decide how we spend that time.
So now we come to Task 3. This is about setting the goals we will strive for both in the short term and the longer term.
Here are the goals that I’ve identified for myself:
I took a few weeks off from everything over the Christmas period. For many people that is to be expected, but it was a big deal for me! I usually am all work and little play, but for once, I shut the computer off and didn’t look at it for days at a time. It [...]
I took a few weeks off from everything over the Christmas period. For many people that is to be expected, but it was a big deal for me! I usually am all work and little play, but for once, I shut the computer off and didn’t look at it for days at a time.
It was fantastic and I loved it.
I am, however, now experiencing a little post-holiday disorganization!
For some time leading up to Christmas I was in a real routine and groove in relation to organizing my hectic life and maximizing productivity. Using simple methods and tools such as Toodledo, which I wrote about here some time back, my life was running like a well-oiled, precision planned machine! Since coming back, however, I seem to have fallen back into what I call the ‘spinning plates’ routine – where I have so many things I’m trying to do and I jump from one to another without taking the time to sit down and plan things properly.
So what do you do when you’re just ‘spinning plates’? You take a moment, step back, reassess and prioritize.
So, I’m declaring it here publicly – it’s time to stop spinning plates and get back to my Zen-like state of maximum productivity and precision planning.
I’m off to plan out my tasks and priorities for the week right now!
Well finally it’s here! I’ve been getting impatient and itching to start and so today was exciting to be finally kicking off with pre-season of the Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation! I’ve completed my first pre-season task which is to introduce myself on the 12wbt forum. Task one – check. See my vid below! [...]
Well finally it’s here! I’ve been getting impatient and itching to start and so today was exciting to be finally kicking off with pre-season of the Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation!
I’ve completed my first pre-season task which is to introduce myself on the 12wbt forum.
Task one – check. See my vid below! Apologies in advance for the windy sound – my external mic had a flat battery and I really wanted to get my intro done today, so I persevered. It’s certainly good enough to hear!
Good luck to all fellow 12 wbt-ers , hope to catch up with you in the forums!
Kaz
Welcome to 2012! A new year, a fresh start, a world of oppoprtunity! Of course new year is a time that many people stop for a minute, think about what they have, or haven’t achieved, perhaps set some goal for the year to come – and then, more often than not, forget all about it [...]
Welcome to 2012! A new year, a fresh start, a world of oppoprtunity!
Of course new year is a time that many people stop for a minute, think about what they have, or haven’t achieved, perhaps set some goal for the year to come – and then, more often than not, forget all about it and go back to doing what they have always done!
For me, I sat down on my 39th birthday last year (just three months ago) and set myself the goals that I wanted to reach by my 40th birthday, coming up in September 2012. This is what prompted me to start this blog, which is really a means for me to keep myself on track with those goals, to hopefully inspire others to set and strive for their goals and to share what I learn along the way. So new years this year was not about setting new goals, just evaluating how I am tracking and whether these goals are still relevant.
So here’s my assessment:
My goal was to run the Melbourne half marathon in October, 2012 and I recently added a kind of ‘sub goal’ which is to lose 10kg. Now the intention behind each of these goals is still very much my focus, get fit, lose weight. The goal itself, however, may have to change, due to a couple of reasons:
Firstly, we are moving to Queensland in June 2012 for an eight month stint, so the Melbourne marathon will be a long way away!!
The second reason is that as I build beyond the 10km mark in my running training, the sessions get longer and I am very much struggling to find the opportunity to get out of the house for such long periods of time! I have a job, a small business, a three year old to manage and a pregnant partner after all! I anticipate that things may get easier once my partner is home with the kids when the new one comes along -though I may regret that statement down the track as the reality of a new baby in the house sets in! I am currently giving some thought to this but it may be something along the lines of doing a sprint distance triathlon up in Queensland. I’m currently looking into the possibilities for a suitable event and will report in on this later in the week.
The 10kg weight loss goal is definately still a go-er and I have just commenced a ‘warm up’ to the Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation – a healthy lifestyle program I’m starting mid February. One of the presents I received was a book by Michelle Bridges called ‘Losing the last 5 kilos’, which includes a 4 week program of exercise and healthy eating. I’ve planned out my next four weeks accodingly and so by the time the 12wbt starts in mid Feb I’ll be well and truly primed – and I may have even kick started my weight loss already!
I still have my property development goal for the year , which is to commence a property development project with an estimated profit of at least 100k by September, 2012. We really need to get a move on with the two small projects we have so that we can exit those with enough money to leverage into the bigger project that we need to meet this goal. I’m pretty sure that we’ll go down to the wire on this one as to whether we can get these small projects completed and then find an appropriate site for our next project within the timeframe, but if we get focused and get moving, I’m confident that it can happen!
In addition to this property development related goal, however, my partner and I have set some smaller goals that relate to share market investing.
Our goals initially are about educating ourselves, setting up the correct business structures in which to base our investing, developing our share trading strategy and then actually paper trading our strategy to test out how it works. All of this is essential before we’re willing to put our ‘hard earned’ on the line! So we plan on becoming ‘real’ share traders at some point during this year coming.
My goal here is to be earning at least 10k per month by September 2012. Honestly, given that I’m pratically starting from scratch on this one and some of the business models where I could see faster growth, such as local business marketing, are not interesting to me, I think that this may be a really tough ask. The main business models that I’m interested in are affiliate marketing and marketing of my own information products, but growing this type of business, I think, is a slower process. I’m struggling with this goal and whether to revise it down.
On one hand I really want to aim high and push myself, but on the other hand, I don’t want to overwhelm myself with unrealistic expectation and be disappointed with failure…it’s a tough one. I think the answer is that I need to sit down and really track out how I think this income will grow from now until September so that I have some realistic targets. It’s great to dream up lofty goals but unless you have a real plan on how to get there, well then, all that you’re doing is hoping, and generally, hoping and wishing isn’t enough. So I think I’ll come back with my revised goal later in the week on this one as well.
So, that’s my assessment of the current situation. How about you? What are your goals for the year -and importantly, how do you plan to make it happen?
I’m here at our lovely holiday house, enjoying the fabulous sunshine, the awesome beach, the family, the festivities, love and laughter! It’s not always the peaceful place you might think though – I was actually woken last night on a couple of occasions by the incredibly loud grunting noises of the local koalas! Ha! Not always as [...]
I’m here at our lovely holiday house, enjoying the fabulous sunshine, the awesome beach, the family, the festivities, love and laughter!
It’s not always the peaceful place you might think though – I was actually woken last night on a couple of occasions by the incredibly loud grunting noises of the local koalas!
Ha! Not always as cute as you might think!
I won’t be doing a video update this week, simply because I am limiting my time on the computer so that I can spend the time with my family, but Idid just want to fill you in on a few things as I have been quite productive this week!
So here’s my goal update for the week.
A very Merry Christmas to you all and the best wishes for a fun, happy and safe festive season!
Fitness Goal
Today I reached a milestone – I ran the last session of my running training program – my 10km run. Pleased to say it went well. Certainly didn’t break any land speed records, but did it in the time I expected which was 1:15:00. Now I know if you are any sort of a runner you’d probably be rolling around on the floor laughing, but for me, it’s ok! Here’s a snap I took at the 5km turn around spot!
Now that my ‘Ease into 10k’ program has finished I’ll be keeping up my running and getting ready for the 12 week body transformation program starting in mid-February and will be keeping you posted.
I actually took some great steps this week relating to my property development projects. After spending time in the last week or getting my feasibility spreadsheets going for both properties, this week I started to look at ‘firming up’ the numbers and contacted several real estate agents and builders in both locations for valuations, estimated values of possible scenarios and building quotations.
I am now so much clearer on the numbers for both projects and therefore in a much more educated position to make decisions on these projects.
But before we get too excited, there is a spanner in the works! It’s looking like one of the projects is probably not worth pursuing at all and the other has quite a modest profit margin – a lot less than we’d hoped, that’s for sure. So, I’m pretty sure I won’t be making my millions from this project.
I’m still waiting on some of the building quotations and then will make some decisions on exactly what we’ll be doing.
I have a new employee starting next week, which I’m very happy about and have focused solely on getting my employee induction program and materials completed and ready for him to start. That’s all been done and I’m pleased to have Marlon on board from next week.
Well, that’s it for now. I’m off to enjoy my Christmas. Hope you are too!
I’m in! I’ve signed up! I’m excited! The 12 week body transformation program from Michelle Bridges (Biggest Loser Australia Trainer) is what my next fitness focus will be on after Christmas. I’m in the final week of my ‘Ease into 10k’ which has been great to get me running, but not so great in helping [...]
I’m in! I’ve signed up! I’m excited!
The 12 week body transformation program from Michelle Bridges (Biggest Loser Australia Trainer) is what my next fitness focus will be on after Christmas.
I’m in the final week of my ‘Ease into 10k’ which has been great to get me running, but not so great in helping me lose weight as it appears that you really are what you eat – and I am a big bowl of cookies and cream ice cream and a bag of potato chips! Ok, things aren’t generally that bad, but truth is I just eat too much, so it’s crunch time and I’m committing to the 12WBT in an effort to drop a good few kilos.
My goal in fact will be to drop 10 kilos – which is no mean feat in just 12 weeks!
The next few weeks I’ll be eating for Africa, so to speak, as it’s Christmas and no doubt if I wasn’t feeling frumpy already (and I am) then I sure will be in another week or two!
Looking forward to the challenge!
I'm working hard to be healthy, wealthy and happy! A few highly recommended friends...
I'm working hard to be healthy, wealthy and happy! 
