August 2016 has not been my favourite month of all time. Things could have been a lot worse, and I have no right to complain about my first world problems, but I fervently hope that September is better.
| Virtue | July | August | Notes |
| beauty: body Weight ≤61kg by 10 October |
🙁 64.9 kg |
😮
66.0 kg |
Among other things, (like being unwell), I was without my activity tracker for most of the month. It was a replacement for my first, and both had developed the same fault so they upgraded me (yay! I think). I hadn’t realised how dependent I had become on the MOVE alerts, and I am so pleased to have them back. |
| beauty: presence build a practical and workable wardrobe that reflects who I am |
😐 |
😐 | I’m starting to think more seriously about my summer wardrobe; it may or may not include an Elvis-inspired outfit. I think my beloved red tunic may not last the season. It was custom made, and I can’t decide whether to order an exact replacement or not. I finally replaced my worn out track pants. |
| beauty: home sparse yet comfortable happy home that reflects our authentic selves |
😐 |
😐 | I’ve been decluttering here and there, and following some of the tips given by Mrs Frederick (of the housework outfit and kitchen ergonomics) but I feel like I am drowning in stuff I don’t have places to put. |
| beauty: garden lush and abundant garden providing habitats, weather protection and a mystical threshold |
🙂 |
🙁 | I haven’t done a great deal about reforesting the garden, aside from forming the vague intention to visit a newly discovered nursery that specialises in plants indigenous to my local area. I’ve lost another hedging plant, either to damage when its neighbours were blown over or the over zealous weed killer next door. |
friendship: creatures
|
🙂 |
🙂 | Lots of nesting birds nearby; they are almost deafening in the early morning, but I love them nonetheless.
Dogs are back to their normal selves again. And when I say normal, now that they have had their arthritis injections I mean their puppy selves which the tired heavy version of me isn’t best pleased about. I need to replace the dog beds and get some more bird seed. |
friendship: friends
|
🙂 |
😐 | I hadn’t noticed until right this second, trying to think about what happened this month, but I accidentally cut myself off from almost everyone this month.
Had lunch with Katy, went to the football with Toseland, but had to cancel a few events too. |
| friendship: contribution give something back to the community and the planet |
🙂 |
🙂 | I followed up the zombie dinner party with one for apocalypse survivors. And shared my thoughts about the census, how not to be a bully, and drew a line between writing a book and what comes next. |
| pleasure: adventure taking risks, international vacations and just doing stuff |
🙂 |
😐 | Aside from a quick trip to the History of the Future Exhibition put on by the City of Melbourne and Haiku, August 2016 was all about the website.
Perhaps now that I have a new host it will be less time-consuming. Ironically my internet service provider crashed as the transfer was going through so I had to delete everything and start from scratch again. At least I knew what I was doing the second time. |
| pleasure: recharge rest, relax, recharge
|
😐 |
🙁 | The website adventure blew out into long days and short nights (though my inbox got down to 5 unread messages for a moment).
I am planning to restart my proto-morning routine, and that should help with the books, body size, and getting better sleep. |
| wisdom: choice having the capacity to make choices |
😐 |
😐 | I chose to focus on getting the website functional. I’m not sure that was the wisest choice I could have made overall.
It’s a funny old thing that important v urgent choice. We always assume that the right choice leads to the best outcome, but now that I am on the other side of that choice, I’m not sure that I had all the information I needed to make the wisest choice. Should have paid more attention to my fatigue. |
wisdom: growth
|
😐 |
😐 | This month I absolutely have grown. Sadly for DB, I’ve grown into a swollen and misshapen, bad-tempered creature that should be living under a bridge somewhere a long way from here.
Haven’t read those books, or done those courses yet. Interestingly, my podcast universe has been debating what tasks entrepreneurs should do themselves and what they should outsource. Whether the cost (or joy) of doing it yourself outweighs the cost (or pleasure) of getting someone else to do it, whether involving other people dilutes your brand, and whether you should develop the skills to do it all yourself. I’m not sure where I sit in this argument yet. |
| wealth: income $12,000 income |
🙁 |
😐 | With my revised income goal, my royalties of 2.75% of is magically transformed into 6.68%. This month’s sales of 0.41% takes me to 7.1% for the year, (though again won’t get these funds for a couple of months). |
| wealth: expenditure reduce expenditure |
🙂 |
🙁 | Just for “fun” I’ll let you know that my business expenses exceeded my nominal income, by 640.55%.
Ironically, collating my business income and expenditure for my tax return led to the shock realisation that my post office box expired six months ago (I didn’t receive my renewal notice) so I had to rush out and set up a new one (which accounts for a third of August’s business expenditure). |
According to my productivity journal, I generally felt good about the progress I am making on Holistic Personal Finance (two stickers!), but mainly out of control everywhere else.
Click here for other Project Worthwhile Life progress reports.
Let me know how your August went in the comments below.
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