2016 - The Year of "Me"

Somewhere along the way, I've turned into someone who tries very hard not to be selfish and I often put others before myself. In doing so, I find that I'm often unhappy and angry and feeling used and abused. Therefore, I am declaring 2016 the year of "ME!" I'm going to start concentrating on myself first, taking care of my needs and my wants before I do anyone else's. Toward this end, I'm going to make some rather drastic changes that some people will not like, but this is MY year, so that's just their problem.

1. Cutting Back DRASTICALLY on Social Media

I'm easily distracted, and a procrastinator, so social media is like poison to my time management. I've already downloaded LeechBlock and set up a page, and that doesn't seem to work, so I have to take drastic measures. All social sites are coming off of my bookmarks bar and out of my bookmarks completely. That will make me think twice about going there, because they won't be so easy to get to. Even if I do end up typing in the URL and pinning the tab, LeechBlock will keep me from participating. This will take discipline, but that's what I need to do to stay on track.

2. Early to Bed, Early to Rise

 I don't know that it will make me healthy, wealthy and wise, but I have to get on some sort of schedule. I have to be up at 5 a.m. to grab work from one site, so I figure I'll just stay up. Since it takes me a good couple of hours to get going in the morning, and some mornings will require an early morning trip to the grocery store by 7 a.m., I'll set my work time from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. I'm sure I'll be exhausted by 9 and ready for bed. Sort of hate going to bed that early, but until I find something to replace the income from the 5:00 client, it's what I have to do. Believe me, that will be one of my first work priorities, as I am not a morning person.

3. Get Serious About Health and Fitness

Yes, I do say this every year, and every year, something comes up that throws me off track and I stop. This year, I'm hoping and praying that with a lot of reminders from the computer and little notes everywhere, I will be able to stick to it. My plan is rather complicated, but it involves at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, 6 days a week, and a very strict diet and supplement schedule. I'll also be tackling the parasite problems head on with some rather strong pharma drugs, because until that is under control, I'll never be really well.

4. Set Serious Financial Goals

I'm lazy; no way around it. I could be so much better off financially if I just worked more -- not harder, just more. I'm not going to kill myself by working long hours, but I am going to work much smarter. My first financial goal for the year is to save enough for a trip to Seattle to see my son graduate from college in June. Along with that goal, I need to have a lot of dental work done, so those two goals have to be accomplished concurrently. I have to work very hard for those 5 months, then I switch things up and start working on career goals as well. I don't really have a dollar amount in mind, because I have to think about my SS payments, and whether I want to risk losing that, so I need to talk to the SS office and see what the rules are. 

5. Change My Career Path

I'm terribly burned out on freelance writing, in fact, I absolutely hate it. I've been exploring ways to get more residual and passive income and not have to write much at all. My goal is to only have to write enough to pay the major bills, then get all the rest of my income from passive sources. With the writing I do, I'm going to try to find better paying clients so I don't have to kill myself writing for pennies anymore. I want to write on the topics I love also, not on topics I have absolutely no interest in. Some people love writing on strange topics, because they like learning those things, but I'm not at all interested in learning about industrial machinery, commercial real estate or commercial HVAC, so I want to find clients who want articles on my topics. 

I've been looking into doing more affiliate marketing on my blogs. Since I'm an affiliate with both Amazon and eBay, I should be able to boost my earnings by quite a bit. 

The thing that really interests me, though, is ebook publishing. Not ebook writing, just publishing. I'm still reading, but plan to do something with that after my Washington trip next year.

6. Finally Decorate My Apartment

The good thing about not decorating the apartment yet is that I've been able to come up with a lot of awesome ideas but the bad thing is that I'm still sleeping in the living room. I really want to get rid of the things in all those boxes that I don't need or want and get this place looking like a home. Most of all, I want to sleep in my bedroom. By the end of the year, my goal is to be rid of all the boxes and have the house set up the way I want it. I can't really work on it until after my trip, but will definitely have that as my main priority afterwards. I've finally found a place to be happy, so I want it to reflect that.

7. Last, But Not Least...

I'm going to have a cause next year, and I'm going to get involved in it no matter what it takes. I know, this sounds like it's about others, but it's not ... it's about me. It's about having a purpose in my life. It's also about not feeling sorry for myself all the time and realizing that there are so many people out there who have so much less, and still seem to find the will to survive. My cause is going to be homelessness. I can't even imagine what it would be like not to have a place to live, not know where your next meal is coming from, and worst of all, to have the police harassing you and literally destroying and stealing everything you have managed to hold on to from your life before. It makes me so angry to see this country criminalizing homelessness, when the actions of the government and the greed of the rich are what made them homeless in the first place! I'm going to concentrate on homeless families and students at first. I can't help everyone, so I'm going to do the most I can for those who I feel are most at risk -- children and young people.  

That's the plan so far. I'm sure it will change as time goes by, but it's a place to start.