2012 Vision Board

The start of another year, the setting of new annual goals and more steps on the journey of the 65 year plan. For the past 6 years or more, the first item on the to do list for January involves the creation of the next vision board.

To put some context around time, the end of March is almost here, and that means we are about 1/4th of the way through the year. I am happy to say that this year's board is complete, laminated and affixed to the usual position for viewing.  This year was extra fun, as I had a partner in crime. Actually it may well be the first time a partner has undertaken the activity with me. I was proud as punch as I laminated the both of them.

The usual process feels like more of a longer time horizon, and fits more across the life plan. The 2012 year the result has some of that, but also appears to have picked up that theme of completing the pool renovation in preparation for the celebration of the 40th milestone. Each board really entails moments of randomness that then get weaved together to create the final product. It is a fun exercise that I look forward to each year.

 

2011 was a little more tricky to put together, as the floods have impacted on our junk mail delivery. Not to be stopped, I relived some past magazines that I have kept.

And 2010 .....

 

 

Beach Trip

It was a rare opportunity tonight to actually sit in front of the laptop without work or homework commitments. I thought I would finally start to put some action back into the blogging world, so I took a spin through some recent photographs on the iPad. Life has felt out of balance and routine for awhile, and that is surely evident by the lack of posts!

I found these shots, and looked fondly on one of our family outings to the beach. The whole crew loves the activity in general, and the youngest adores looking for stuff. There is always a check with Mum to see if anything is living in the pretty shell! I absolutely love the camera, and some of the photographs we have are great, they surely capture the moments, and remind me of how I love the ocean.

Agile Approach to Families

The organisation I work for has Agile embedded in as part of its culture. It was really amazing to come to a large organisation and not see a single Microsoft Project Gantt Chart anywhere. After you get the swing of iterations, breaking down work and conducting huddles and retrospectives, things really start to move.

 

Last year when my personal goals were not going in the direction I wanted, at the pace I wanted, I started to use retrospective planning at home. What is working well, what is not, and what do I need to change? It only took 30 minutes and a wall chart to regain some focus and prioritise what needed to change.

 

 

I had heard of some Agile legends at work taking the approach into their families, but upon listening to this TED talk, I think that I may start to take some of his ideas into my family life. Communication is essential in life, at work and home. Often the at home piece is the one to suffer. I think some of the out takes from the talk may bring some new skills to the family unit. I really love the concept of a weekly family session, and re cutting time.

 

Life Check

Picture From

Well it sure has been an interesting month. Tomorrow I am back to the nutritionist, after a month on a very strict (ok, I may have consumed some chocolate that was on the naughty list) alkaline diet. The pain is ever present, but I do have an increase in energy. Tonight for the very first time in many months I came home and cooked two dinners, and pre-made lunch for tomorrow. I managed an hour work out, cleaned and did the washing! The house is starting to look organised.

Whilst the health is starting to improve, work has certainly been a trial. Upon missing out on a recent promotion, I had been contemplating what was happening in the universe. It puzzled me that things had not worked out according to my strategy. There are two quotes on the mirror this month;

"Think good thoughts

Speak good words

Take good actions

Three steps that will bring more to you than you can ever imagine" (The Secret)

After the shock wore off, I contemplated what had gone wrong. I watched the other party struggle under the weight of the role, and went off to have a chat and show some support. Despite what I thought, my actions demonstrated that I was a person who cared, and that action will stand me in good stead with the individual long after all of the ruckus has passed. It also demonstrated to the broader audience that I had taken it all in my stride, and it was a mere blip on the career path ladder. Of course I did have a chuckle at the second quote;

"Most things are difficult before they are easy" (Unknown)

In reflecting on the situation, I went back and had a look at the 65 year plan. I am already way ahead on the salary goals. This time in life was scheduled for family time, time for raising a daughter. The financial goals are on track, and seemingly taking care of themselves. Health and fitness goals are up and down, depending on the health. This was another reminder of what is important in life.

Fast forward another week to the present and the position is now advertised for a permanent recruit, and the role has been downgraded by two levels! This makes a marginal difference to my current salary, and after tax, even less. It is not worth all the effort, stress and hours for the small increase in pay. It certainly will not make up for the time away from my daughter, partner and family. It wouldn't allow me to come home make a few meals, do a work out and catch up on some cleaning!

Things always work out like they should, although in the moment you may not understand why, take a look at the goals you set and work out where you are meant to be, and what you action you may need to take to prepare for a different result.

Goal No. 129 Catch a NZ Trout

Balancing working full time and parenting is always tricky. But school holidays are a challenge. How are you meant to fit four weeks annual leave with the endless amount of school holidays. After a delightful week at the beach, we zipped off for a short adventure to the South Island of NZ.

We collected our car in Dunedin, and then headed along the coast and up into the mountains. The countryside is amazing, but bears a strong sense to home, to the Tasmanian terrain. The first view of Lake Tekapo was a sight to behold after a long drive.

We took a quick dip in the hot springs, which really should be renamed to hot pools given that the rocks were fake and any thoughts of mineral therapy long gone. Next stop was the adventure capital, Queenstown. Here we managed to ride in the gondola up the hill, luge our way around, oh and a bit of an Eco tour of the forest on the zip line. I was slightly worried about this activity, but the nervous giggles were soon gone and replaced with a huge grin. The Haka show was fun, as was the banquet with the awesome dessert bar.

We also found a great sweet shop, ate the best burgers at Fergburger, scored and awesome pie at the Ferg bakery. Our travelling companions headed off for bungy and a shot over jet boat, whilst we took a more sedentary option of a private fishing tour. Our journey was rewarded and I shall tick off the next goal of catching a NZ trout, or actually two of them. More than enough for our BBQ dinner later that night.

 

Teaching the Generations Budgeting

Life has changed in many ways as our small family adopts my 15 year old niece. The jump from parenting a four year old was HUGE, but I think we are doing OK.

In a recent mentoring program I did with some year nine students, I heard about the concept of 'The Bank of Mum and Dad'. Now this bank seems to have no interest rates, no fees, unlimited supply and is teaching our kids that financial responsibility is no longer something that is important. The results are that teenagers purchase without comparing prices, buy without actually having a need for the item, and never actually check the receipt to see if the price paid was the advertised price.

I have also noticed with our new family member that the traits are very similar. Upon reading about a new book titled 'The $21 Challenge', my little cogs began to turn. So today I announced that our family has a shopping budget of $100 per week. The 15 year old looked bug eyed at me, tyring to see if the Aunt's sense of humour was working overtime. Nope, she looks serious, this could be trouble!

I laid out the rules of the game, the $100 has to last the seven days, and is for all meals, all family members, and includes all items from the supermarket. Test #1, I need razors, cat food and deodorant. Response, well I will pay for the cheapest deodorant...No I use Impulse brand...cool, you can pay the difference from the cheapest one to the one you want....and BTW the cat has just been down graded from premium to budget!

Supposedly a family can live out of their current food stocks for a month. Right, next family task is to catalogue the freezer and pantry, write up a list of options for meals and work out what we need to actually purchase to compliment our current stocks. Actual list comes up with about a month's supply!

Reality check #35 there are two tins of baked beans in the pantry. Squeak from teenager, I can't eat those. Reality check # 36, the more we spend out of the $100 budget, the closer we get to those baked beans! Additional free good news, I paid the $47 to join the Savings Website (www.simplesavings.com.au) and I now have 50 recipes to enhance those baked beans!

2012 - Year In Review

Another year has zipped past, and mostly we think about where it went, and how it happened so fast.  I love the end of each year, it is a time to take stock of what just happened, to dream about what is going to happen the following year, and then create a new action plan to achieve.

Business and Career Goals

2012 saw some bigger career goals start to unfold, it was a year of putting the right foot forward at the right time.  Although it is never just about a lucky year, but rather a sequence of years that have built the foundations for success.  I completed a couple of courses, one of them in my field and one a leadership course mandated by work.  The leadership course was more than a dud, but I did manage to meet a very exciting person who I have subsequently engaged as a personal business coach.  As the most introverted member of my department, I also managed to find the courage and present at the annual leadership conference to some 180 peers and senior executives.

Financial Goals

The financial goals this year were actually not a focus like years prior.  The emergency fund was maintained, superannuation goals achieved, mortgage goal achieved, incremental growth in the investment portfolio and most importantly a large increase in the net worth figure.  At this stage in the cycle, things are generally on auto pilot and ticking along with minimal intervention.  I am enjoying a more balanced approach with opportunities to explore travel options and continuing to landscape my property.  Financial Independence still feels like an eternity away, but I am still on the right track.

Health & Fitness

This year was another disappointing effort in this category.  Not for the want of trying, between work and an underlying auto immune disease the energy levels did not replenish sufficiently to be able to achieve all of my intended fitness sessions.  I have however sought out a new auto immune specialist to assist with some different strategies, which I suspect will involve changing diets.  But as with each year I understand the importance of looking after yourself, so I will continue with the same level of goals next year, but also reduce some of my lifestyle goals to free up some more time for fitness, in the hope that I feel well enough to do some.

Family Goals

Maddison's academic improvement plan was underway this year with much work on her confidence levels.  A child psychologist assisted along with her year 1 teacher and we made some definite progress.  Although she is still shy, she now takes herself from after school care down to the pool and does her swimming lessons all by her big self.  Her confidence in the water is amazing to see.  We had a false start in the athletics carnival, but scored our first ribbon in the first swimming carnival.

All of our weekend kid sessions were completed with a host of col activities such as barramundi fishing, deep sea fishing, farm stay, steam train ride, local show, movies, hiking, ten pin bowling and bike riding.

Our family dinner tradition on Sunday night's continued, and we cooked our way like Master Chef competitors through a stack of recipes with my sister and niece.  Our weekly grocery budget of $100 managed to come in at $85, however we did have $30 per week of dining out (A concept born in 2010, historical post to follow).  But then our our family numbers did change for 6 months of the year with an extra 2-3 around.

We managed a few weekends away to Mooloolaba, Fiji (managed to survive the cyclone) and the Gold Coast.

Personal Enjoyment Goals

Each year I have a top 5 list of "things" which are purchased without guilt.  For some it would be designed to reduce consumption, but for me it is to actually encourage me to spend some money.  I did purchase a delightful new digital camera which takes amazing shots, and both Maddison and I love it.  For the landscaping projects we bought a trailer for our ride on mower which means we can move more stuff with less effort, and a water pressure cleaner which is also fun when you are six.  We did have to replace the dishwasher and our cd player which were running repairs, but not essential household items.

The 2012 vision board was completed, and it is time to start the 2013 one.  I caught some movies, went to the AFL, and international soccer match and the Wallabies.  Concerts were for Delta and Roxette.  Cultural goals included Jersey Boys and my first comedian Kitty Flanagan.

Landscaping continued with the front lawns finished, retaining walls and fences for next phases in the pool over haul project.

Contributing to Others

I continued on with the Gratitude Journal concept that was started in 2007 with a daily top 5 things I am grateful for.  I also continued on with the theme of getting rid of 100 things in my ongoing efforts to have a more minimalist life.  This of course does not seem to fit well with the hoarding nature of children.  I did all of my random acts of kindness goals, and failed to even make a start on the electricity and water consumption concepts.  Perhaps due to some larger financial concerns such as tank and solar installation desires.

Personal Growth Goals

Speaking of tanks, this area certainly did!  I didn't actually do enough of the sub goals I had planned here, but I am going to cut myself some slack in that the Business and Careers Goals did take many steps forward in 2012, and it certainly was a year of personal growth.

Adventure & Holiday Goals

The list of 100 things to do had a couple more items ticked off.  A work trip to KL and India saw a visit to the Taj Mahal and an amazing visit to the KL Bird Park. 

I also got a swanky new tattoo of my "Balance" logo, and am now safely over any future desire to put ink on the skin.

So I know where the year went, it was a blast and I look forward to 2013.