Thank you all for your emails, facebook posts, and kind words last week when I was having a bit of an emotional crisis. It helped ALOT! I had done wrong by people who are very dear to me and was afraid it was irreparable. What I’ve learned is that true friends will always be with you and that although forgiveness cannot come immediately, it can come in time if you prove yourself worthy of it. This is another opportunity for me to take stock of my place in life and make some changes. Just as I made changes in my financial self, I can also make changes in my emotional and social self.
As for the True Generalist, I learned that I HAVE helped people. I’ve made people think more about their personal finance and lit the fire under one reader to do some research on her student loans and saved her and her husband $140/mo each! That feels good and it’s good to get that feedback. It’s tough just throwing information out into the void and hoping for the best. So whenever you guys want to hit reply or share, please please do!
This is the fate of being a generalist. Because of so many things going on at once, so many different people interacted with, and so many splits in focus, it can get overwhelming at times and something starts to break down. To remedy this , periodic self-diagnostics are essential. This time of year is typically reserved for New Year’s Resolutions, but this is something that should really be done multiple times a year and since we are all so prone to present our resolutions as a joke; and not something to actually complete, I implore you to try this trick.
Think about your New Year’s Resolutions now, but continue to ponder them throughout January. Then, at the end of January, announce your New Year’s Resolutions to the world (to keep you accountable). This way, you forgo the entire month of January where people “try” to keep their resolutions but fail. You’ll see who continues on the straight and narrow and be able to use them as an example to live up to, this will keep you on the straight and narrow also.
It always helps to have a rock solid crew around you who serve as good examples and support you. Spending Christmas at my parent’s place definitely helped hit the reset button and come back into the fray of life with new vigor. Thanks, parental units! For those of you without solid parental units, find good examples you can rely on in your friends and perhaps in your other family. These people aren’t going to be perfect, just as you aren’t perfect, but they should consistently make good choices in life.
In the spirit of procrastinating resolutions, I will not be announcing my resolutions until the end of January! So look for those and keep up with your personal finance and dream living goals. The True Generalist shall thrive on!
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New Year’s Resolutions are good so long as they are attainable, possible, and only a slight stretch — otherwise, you won’t do them, and its a complete waste of time. Since statistically, I have 26 years left until my warranty expires & I am returned to the manufacturer for refurbishing, I make these 12 resolutions, in no specfic order:
1. Do all that I can to extend my warranty by eating zero sugar, zero hydrogenated fats, eat tons of coconut oil, salmon, blueberries, & veggies, and get my weight down to 190;
2. Never set foot in McDonalds, Wendys, Taco Bell, or any restaurant where the ingredients ARE NOT posted — except if I need to void my bladder on a road trip;
3. Never eat after other people, as this is a great way to acquire pathologic viruses;
4.. Work out and get winded at least 3 times a week (huffing & puffing), 10 minutes is all you need;
5. Pass my A+ 220-701 & 220-702 computer exams this year;
6. Donate routinely to St Judes Hospital. Whatever helps kids is a good way to go;
7. Figure out a way to re-join Alcor.org … because my warranty expires in 26 years;
8. Go somewhere wonderful with my best friend;
9. See my grandkids;
10. Migrate all my electronics to Windows 8 (PC, tablet, cell phone) and convert to Office 2010, since I am a MSFT stock-holder, and Apple REALLY sux for business usage;
11. Finish reading Emergency Diagnosis & Treatment textbook (never seem to get done);
12. Read Hahn’s “The Miracle of Mindfulness.”
My wife gave me some great advice when I complained I had all this stuff to do, and I never seem to get finished. She said (paraphrase) “parse your day, parse your tasks, and assign pieces of the tasks to pieces of the day.” So I will try this, and whip the list this year!
These are great resolutions and said with a lot of heart and self-understanding. It sounds like one thing I can do for you is to help you get organized. I know you already use Evernote, which I love. Let me show you another way to get organized. Check back this week for organizing your papers on your desk.
And the way you’re going, those 26 years will turn into 56! jinx jinx