Tag Archives: goals

Day 3173 – What To Do About Something You Hate – or – Jennilyn On A Soapbox – repost

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One of the great things coming out of my epic digging through old posts and making them ready for other things is that I find some gems like the post below. This is something I have been passionate about for a very long time (well before I wrote this post). I’m not saying it’s easy (it’s far from easy), but I can promise you your life will be amazing after you go through the fire.

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originally posted 12/11/15
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Today, I stumbled across something on Facebook.

“Don’t work 8 hours for a company then go home and not work on your own goals. You’re not tired, you’re uninspired.”

This quote speaks my language. And a language I’m very passionate about.

See, I hate complainers…myself being one of them. I really do try to not complain. If I do complain, I try to at least play the “well if nothing else” game.

Sidenote: This game is essentially about finding the good in whatever situation you find yourself in. Late for work? It would go something like this…well, if nothing else, I have a job to go to. Well, if nothing else, I have a mode of transportation to get to my job. Well, if nothing else, it gives me a chance to change. Try this game, it really does help.

Anyways. If you tell me – “I hate my job” I’m going to tell you to either quit and do something else or stop complaining and see the good in it.

Living the life you want is all about choices.

We wanted to be debt free. I entered our marriage with $30,000 worth of debt. For so many reasons that are SO stupid. Oy. We worked our butts off to pay it off. We didn’t go out to eat. We didn’t travel. And guess what, we’re out of debt now. We sacrificed a LOT in the first 3 and a half years of our marriage. But guess what – now we continue to stay out of debt. We travel. We skydive. We splurge on our friends. We splurge on stupid stuff. That was all a choice.

I wanted to be my own boss. I quit my job. I worked my butt off for years. My photography business wasn’t working like it needed to, our lifestyle was changing and Bret’s work situation changed. Oh, and God said it was time to move on. So even though I invested 10+ years of my life in my photography business, I chose to stop. I made a choice to create a new job for myself and I am over the moon happy.

You might come back and say, well, it’s going to mean I have to….move back in with my parents….get an apartment and sell my house….move to be closer to a lower paying job….

Well, you tell me, are those sacrifices worth doing something you love? Or at least something that isn’t as bad as the thing you hate now?

If you’re not willing to make the sacrifices to fix the thing you hate, then don’t complain about them.

::steps off soapbox::

DCIM100GOPRO

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Day 3115 – A New Thing I’m Trying – Visualizing The Future

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Between Bret and myself, we read a lot. We gain inspiration and ideas from a lot of places. One thing Bret recently did was create a vision for himself for the end of this year. It is full of tangible, and measurable goals. Inspired and encouraged by his, I created my own. I’ll share a few things I have for myself. Ha ha, obviously, this is not everything, as some things I don’t want to share publicly for various reasons. But these are definitely the highlights.

“It’s December 31, 2018…
We have finished a banner year, XXX in deals, I have published 2 new books…
I have helped Bret in many ways in our business and we are enjoying traveling freely, have six months in the emergency fund…
I have read 300 books…
I approached each day with child like joy…
every day was another opportunity to grow…
I ruthlessly said no to many, many things, so I could say “oh heck yea” (like Jenna Marbles) to the precious few…
I’ve even purchased a few Star Wars Lego sets…”

This was super fun to create and I have it hanging next to my desk and so I see it every day. I could be much better at actually reading and actually seeing myself doing those things. I have some measurable goals and some abstract, but it reflects MY life and where I want to be. It’s helpful in keeping me going on the rough days and encourages me to carry on.

Have you ever done something like this? Did it help?

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Day 3069 – I Read My 300th Book This Year Yesterday, And I’m Embarrassed To Say What It Was

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If you’ve been following along this year, you know I set a big goal for my reading in 2017 – 300 books. I hit it yesterday, and I am so pumped. I learned, I laughed, I stopped reading some, I found new favorite books. As it turns out, the 300th book was You Have To F@*#%&@ Eat. You probably remember that I am pretty “strict” on what I read, watch, and listen to. There are times when language affects me more than I like. I try not to cuss…..too much. I am so far from a perfect human, and Lord knows I have no problem telling all y’all my shortcomings. So here I am, my 300th book has language in the title, shows a way you shouldn’t talk to your kids, and I HAD to tell you what the 300th book was. So, in an effort to have a little laugh at myself, I figured I’d write a little ditty, highlighting the books I read. (As a note, links to books I’ve read will be Amazon affiliate links – which just means we’ll get a small percentage of what you order.)

300 books read was the goal of this year,
I never knew there was reason to fear,
What could go wrong?
Reading is my heart’s song!

There were books that changed my life,
Books that made me a better wife.
My eyes were opened to the joy of children’s books,
Even if reading them got some funny looks.

There were books that made me laugh on a plane,
I read this great book by Shane
I’m thankful for the library’s great stock,
But the stacks of books, some might mock.

One made me weep with pride in my US of A
Did I throw it all away?
I didn’t expect, when the list was complete
A year of great books, and the 300th one was You Have To F@*#%&@ Eat

Books noted above, in order of linkage:
Dream Big, Think Small: Living an Extraordinary Life One Day at a Time
Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians!
The Martian
Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask About Having a Disability
Blue Sky White Stars

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Day 3050 – Blogging For Six And A Half Years – or – Almost Half A Million Words Written

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Six and a half years of writing every day. Six and a half years of sharing stories about marriage, travel, business, wedding photography, silly things, serious things, my alcoholism, grief, joy, minimalism, etc. It has been a wonderful, humbling, amazing, slow journey. The other day, I did a little math, and realized I’ve written almost half a million words. It’s hard to say the exact number because there are a few Bret guest posts, there are some days I only share a photo, there are some days I write really long posts. But I did the following calculation – 6.5 x 365 = 2372.5 posts/days x 200 words (figured that’s a good average) = 474,500 words. People with sometimes say, “wow! You blog EVERY day? How do you do it??” Honestly, it’s just become a habit. It’s one of those things that I automatically do. Some days are harder to write than others. Some days aren’t my best work. Some days I’m lazy. But it is a habit in my life, and one of the longest kept habits I’ve ever had. After reading Dream Big, Think Small (*Amazon Affiliate Link – because I truly believe in this book) by Jeff Manion, my whole mindset about achieving my goals and dreams completely changed. Before I used to think, there’s no way I could do XYZ, it will take forever to do! But after I read the book, I realized, wait, if I do a little bit of something every day, it builds up to something big. I only have to look at my blog to see a HUGE thing I’ve done. Here’s the thing, in some ways, I don’t think the blog is a big deal, because it’s just something I do. But when I take a step back, and see what it has amassed, what it totals up to, I am just in awe. Just me showing up every day has lead to something I’m very proud of. Rereading my posts (less than 1000 to go! Eeep!) has shown me how much potential rough content I have for other things – more ebooks, digital products, etc. It’s shown me I don’t need to reinvent the wheel when creating things.

I sit here, on the verge of tears with gratitude….for YOU, my dear faithful readers. Thank you for allowing me to take part of your day. Thank you for coming back. Thank you encouraging me to keep going through your views, likes, comments, and shares. Here’s to another 6.5 years, or more. Happy anniversary friends!!!

And here’s to my first photo on the blog.

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
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Day 3019 – Slow And Small Steps Are Key To Actually Completing Your Goals

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There are a number of things I’ve been wanting to do for a long time – running a 5k, making money passively online, living full time in an RV, traveling more than I’m in one spot, having several businesses. There are not enough hours in the day to do it all, and I’m learning ways to get around that and actually meet those goals. The biggest thing I’ve learned, and certainly one of the most life changing in the last few months, is taking small steps every day. Instead of taking days and hours and hours of work to get “caught up” on Pinterest, I’m slowly building things up, reviewing what content I can share, and planning ahead. Instead of trying ambitious workout plans, I’m doing small things every day. I have never been this consistent with working out. The hardest thing for me is drastically decreasing how much I run. I love to run, but my body isn’t where my head is. Not even close. I ran just over half a mile last week, and I was SO sore (like could barely walk) for almost a week. Two days ago, I ran a quarter mile, that’s it. But I wasn’t that sore, and I can run again today. Bret has told me for a long time, that there’s no such thing as too slow, why does it take me so long to actually listen to him?

So take heart, there’s no such thing as too slow.

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel