Mid-year Financial Goals Update

It’s now August and more than half of the year has already passed.  It’s time to get back to my financial goals this year and share with you my insights into what what I’ve been up to the past months.

At the start of the year, I shared with you 3 personal goals I had in mind.  One is financial in nature, the other two is for my health and personal development.

Goal #1: 3 income streams earning $100 each per month

The journey in achieving this goal has surprised me more than anything else.  Last March, I was on my way to earning at least $100 income from affiliate income from this blog as well as ebook sales.  I had to turn off Google adsense because while I already earned my first $100, I didn’t feel it was aligned with my long term goals for this site.

For the past few months my affiliate earnings from Bo Sanchez’ Truly Rich Club has been pretty consistent.  It actually reached around $65 for the month of May.  My affiliate earnings to Jomar Hilario’s Workshops and Seminar climbed up to $157 on the same month.  The thing was, while my site got hacked, went down and its traffic plummetted to zero overnight last month, my affiliate earnings were hardly impacted at all. As for the ebook, that’s another story.  It has not been doing very well the past few months.

But the most surprising thing I’ve experienced for the first half of the year is the result from one of my new ventures which was 5x all my affiliate earnings combined for the month.  That’s why, like an aspiring entrepreneur would do, I’ve had to re-align my resources to focus on this new venture of mine.   I’ve also had to reassess my goals for the year, given that I may not need 3 income streams to hit $100 each anymore.  Focusing on one can practically earn more than the three combined.  My financial goal has changed, and that’s one of the topics I will be sharing with you the rest of the year.

Goal #2:  Weigh no more than 176 pounds by December 31, 2011

One of the main challenges I’ve encoutered over the past few months is in looking for healthier food to eat.  Given the proximity of our condo to the mall and the convenience of a 24-hour store nearby, sometimes, it’s hard to convince myself to make the extra effort of looking for healthier food options.  Compound that with the seemingly hectic (but actually just mismanaged) time that I have, that’s a constant battle I have to face everyday. 

From my last quarter’s update, I was able to lose 13 pounds to bring down my weight from 200 pounds to around 187 pounds.  I’ve had to change my habits to a healthier lifestyle over the past couple of months as part of my regimen to make that happen.  And even though I still haven’t reached my goal, I still think I am on the right track to hit it by the end of this year. My goal is only a few pounds away as I am sitting comfortably at 181 pounds at the moment. 

One of the great blessings I got in losing those extra pounds has to do with being able to stay healthy and not get sick as often as before.  While I got sick because of stress and exhaustion due to my hectic schedule last month, I was able to get back to the office with only a day of rest.  Compare that to the whole 2 weeks of vacation ruined last Christmas when I had to battle through with colds and fever while going on a 3-day vacation with my wife in Bohol. 

I’ve never felt healthier in my life.  It really surprises me that when I go up the stairs in the MRT station, I no longer need to catch my breath.  In fact, I even take 2 steps at a time when I am in a hurry.  Life is good, indeed!

Goal #3: Go somewhere I’ve never been to once every quarter.

This is a goal I’ve struggled to accomplish over the past 6 months and continue to struggle with as I look for travel opportunities for the next half of the year.

The last vacation I had was with my wife and her friends in Fontana Resort.  I had lots of fun.  The only problem? I’ve been to Fontana before a few years back.  So I’m stil zero out of 2 for this year.  I really need to catch up fast.  Summer is gone and rainy season is here.

Looking back, I can give you a lot of reasons why I couldn’t take a vacation or go out of town.  I have no time.  I have a hectic schedule.  My boss won’t allow me.  In the end, though, they are all excuses.  Instead of dwelling on those excuses, I think a more positive thing for me to do right now is to "just do it."

What amazes me is that while I’ve not had some vacation time the past months, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to catch up with old friends lately over dinner or a cup of coffee.  It’s really amazing how time seem to stand still when you and your friends share old memories together and laugh at ridiculous things you did in the past.  It’s really a great blessing to have such great friends.  That alone makes me believe that God has really blessed me tremendously all these years.

Looking ahead to the rest of the year

I realized that in almost anything worth doing, you have to put in the time and effort to really see significant results.  To tell you honestly, I’ve had days when I didn’t do anything at all on this site.  If you noticed, I only had one article written for the whole month of June and July.  There were times when I had to re-assess what I really wanted to do with this site…and that also means I had to rediscover what I really wanted in life.  Is it money?  Is it freedom? Is it being able to help others in however way I can?

While I have been blessed financially at my daytime job, I still wonder whether there’s more to life than just financial blessings. The more I think about it, the more I realize that one thing I don’t have is TIME.  I am still a slave of the 9-to-5 job and all the things that come with it. My dream is to be able to have control of my own time.  I want to be able to work on things that I really enjoy, and in the process, contribute however I can to also help inspire other people discover what it is they truly want in life.

How about you? How’s your first half of the year been so far?

Powered by Qumana