I Lost My Way

601 followers

Updated 6 years ago

Today, I logged on to WA to see what's going on. That's something that I've been doing regularly, but that's all I've been doing. I was notified that I earned my first "Dedication Badge" for having been a premium member for six months... but I've been out of it for at least half of that time.

First, I became really ill, then a couple of weeks later, my shift changed at work. I used to get home around 11:30pm and I would come in here to write as I would wind down from work. Maybe I would enjoy an adult beverage to help me relax while I did my research.

Now I get home from work around 8:00 am, just a half hour after my wife leaves for work. I take some melatonin now, instead of a beverage, then in about 30 minutes, I fall asleep only to wake up when she comes home from work.

By then I have two-and-a-half hours to visit with my wife for the day and head out for work again.

With this schedule, I am usually not even sure what day it is. I do this five times then I have two days off where I try to adjust my schedule to be awake during the day because every other week, my wife has a Wednesday off which is one of my two days off. We get a day together!

I feel like a zombie.

Then I get back on a sleep schedule for work and for two days... zombie would be an improvement.

While all of this is great content for a great whine, that's not what I'm trying to accomplish with this blog.

It's 3:00am. I have taken my melatonin and am getting ready to go to bed but thought I should sit down and write something... anything to get myself back in the swing of writing.

After all, isn't this kind of change in our lives the very reason that most of us are here?

Don't we all want to get away from the potential of someone changing our schedule and taking us away from our families?

I make good money and I work for a great international company. Don't misunderstand, but I am not here to get rich, per se, but to make enough money that I don't have to accept such disruptive changes. It wouldn't take a lot of money to be able to accept an offer of considerably less money for a job with desireable hours.

Think of it... I think of $2000 per month in additional earnings to be good side-gig type money, however, in a negotiation for a salaried position, that gives me $24,000 per year to negotiate for a job that would provide a more healthy life working regular hours like most of the rest of the world without affecting my financial lifestyle.

More than 3 months ago, I lost my way. I haven't really given a lot of thought to building my website because I am just too tired.

But I see all of these success stories and they also motivate me.

My main website, believe it or not, is dedicated to setting smaller goals, yet, that message has been lost on me. In this way, It is ironic or I am a hypocrite because I am thinking it will be forever, at this rate, for me to make $120,000 to quit my job (No, I don't earn that much, but I think to self insure and allow my wife to quit her job, too. That's what I'd need) will take forever.

I have been looking at the big picture.

This past week, it occurred to me that I need to simply set a goal that will allow me to step out of my current situation.

Even $1,000 per month will do the job, but barely.

I'm writing this with the hope that your reading it will motivate you to determine the smallest amount it will take to make the first significant change in your life.

What do I want from being a successful affiliate marketer? The first thing I want is to determine my own work schedule, then I want to actually do work that I WANT to do, then I don't want to work for someone else, then I want people to work for me.

When I get to that $120k, I can have that last step, but as I mentioned, I can have that first step for a LOT less than that.

So don't just set income goals. We all need to set goals for everything! Set incremental goals so that you don't feel so far away from success.

You can start feeling the effects of your success LONG before you reach your ultimate goals.

Each goal along your way ought to be focused on providing you an improved opportunity to reach the next goal.

Opportunity... In my work, this is another word for "obstacle" but it shouldn't be.

Give yourself the best opportunity to succeed by setting smaller goals that are the stepping stones to your ultimate goal.

Give yourself a sense of accomplishment by making these smaller goals attainable in the short term (After you've been alive for 52 years, a year is short enough).

You can even make micro goals along the way.

In the post bariatric surgery world, we have something we call Non-Scale Victories. These are things you notice that are not related to the number displayed on the platform every morning, like when I needed to by a new belt after I got smaller than the last hole in the belt I had or noticing that my favorite ball team's jersey now looks like a tunic on me. Dudes don't look great in a tunic, don't ya know?

Yes! Celebrate things that you didn't plan, too! A great example might be that you were able to take an unplanned weekend stay without worrying about the cost of the hotel or cabin...whatever, or being able to buy your adult kid a plane ticket home for Easter without budgeting for it.

Feel successful and you ARE successful!

Now... I'm going to bed! but it worked. I am motivated to find a way to get back to this and get out of my situation!

As always, I wish you all the very best in success!