Dawn's Evolution

I just had the weirdest, scariest weekend ever. My week or the last few weeks have been a bit stressful with work and school exams coming up, but I am trying to maintain a bit of positivity through it all.

I do have some good news though. As of this month I have reached my tuition goal!
Yep, it's at 100%. I am so happy with it.
I also have a small buffer or emergency fund saved up that I will be fattening.

Right now I am realigning my goals to add on some fun/play time. It's been a while since I have done anything just for fun and I have yet to set foot outside my country.
I plan on traveling, either spending a week abroad or spending a weekend outside the city just having fun.
I'm setting up a budget, I'm hoping to vacation in either September or October. I have to start my internship in November and want/have to be well rested by that time.
At this point my budget is not air tight, most of the amounts are guesses and I will be spending the next month ironing out the needed details.

What do I need:

• To renew my passport. I have been a procrastinator, this is bad as it could take me a few months to get this in order.
  
• Ticket costs of ~$400.
• Play money of ~ $300.
• No hotel cash needed as I have friends and family there who can and want to take me in.

I plan on staying a week, packing lightly and spending as much time outside as possible.
I'm being intentionally vague as to where I am going, but there will be further details when it is all set in stone.

I started a new job a few months ago.
I mulled it over quite a bit because, while I was unhappy with the management, I was pretty comfortable at my old job.
The pay was good, the work was light, I knew what was expected of me and they were allready impressed with my work.
I was comfortable.

And then I got this offer.
It was something new., bigger responsibility, better pay and a new challenge.
My old boss wasn't so happy with me leaving, but he could not offer me the same pay and he was a bastard, so I left.
My last day was on a Friday and I started at the new job on Monday.
Yep, no rest for me.

The first month on the new job was all about getting to know the new people, getting to know my new responsibilities and stressing about the change in my already comfortable routine.
Having a new boss and new coworkers meant I had to learn new work habits. I had to learn what this boss expected of me.
My old boss was a bit of a dictator and everything had to go through him. You had no freedom and no room to be creative. The new boss likes go getters, people that get things done on their own.
Call up clients, stay in contact and just keep him updated.
So it was a switch for me.

As the new girl I am still trying to find my place in all of this. I now have a better idea of what is expected of me and what my coworkers are like.
I now know their work culture a bit better now.
I know who I can turn to and for what.
I know who I have to hound to get stuff done.

It's fun, it's a new challenge, I'm scared out of my mind and it's my step forward.
I love this because I no longer feel like I am standing still, like I was in my last job. I am learning new skills and challenging my self to be better.
I was scared out of my mind to take this step, but I am happy I did.
It keeps me moving forward.

So here's to new challenges and growth,

There is no secret to success, there are no set rules on how to attain that wealth you have been dreaming of. There are just actions that one takes and certain circumstances that favor us.

Remember this: Success is 70% luck and 30% hard work. Yep! 70% is all luck!

I bet, like me, you wished that hard work played a larger role but the simple truth is that without just a little bit of luck we are nowhere. You can put in all the hours at work and take on all the hard projects and yet never get promoted to your dream position.
Why?
-That darn glass ceiling
-You can get lost in the sea of other hard working coworkers who network harder than you do
-Luck favoures your coworker
-Your employer prefers to keep certain high level positions within his circle of friends or family
-etc.

Please do not be discouraged by this post and remember to keep up the hard work as you may never know when you catch that lucky break.

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeWhat is a habit if not something you do often? Something that you are used to doing.

Those of us who read lifehack sites and the many self improvement books out there, know what habits we should be adopting. We know what habits we need to develop to be effective, successful and happy people. We know what makes us ineffective and unhappy and yet we are still unhappy and highly ineffective.

Why?
Because we have not yet developed the habits we have been reading about.
We keep reading post after post about the secret of success and how to attain it and then we leave it at that. We expect instant results and are discouraged when it takes longer than we initially projected.
Developing new habits takes time and most people lose interest after the first few weeks. We live in a fastfood/google world where we are used to getting instant results. So waiting weeks and months for significant change is close to impossible for most of us.

Many self-help guru's try to help us over this by including step by step instructions on how to form new habits. Getting very personal with us through notebooks and daily affirmations, hoping to keep our attention long enough that we may see results.
But the sad and simple truth is that most of us do not improve to the degree that we want to and sometimes need to.
We fall back into old habits far too easily, just because they are our habits and old habits are very hard to break.

So how do you form new habits?
Well first you have to know which habits you want and which you want to let go. Keep these 2 sets of habits in mind and make note whenever you feel you are falling back on the bad ones.
The most important factor when forming new habits is you. It's all up to you.
No one can change you if you do not want to be changed.
So it's time to make that decision and work at it.

So what is the secret to forming better habits?
It's all on you.

I realised after a lot of soul searching and analyzing my spending that the main thing that can keep me from reaching my financial goals is my need to take care of my family.
I want to take care of my mother, so I spend money on things I think she needs but does not buy for herself.
I want to take care of my mother, so I spend money on things my sisters need and want that my mom can not afford.
I want to take care of my mother, so I spend money on things she wants but does not buy for herself.
I want to take care of my mother so I try to relieve her financial burden all the while stagnating my own financial growth.

This is the big thing that can put me in debt. The big eye opener for me was when I decided that I wanted to buy my own car. I knew which car I wanted and I knew the approximate cost but the thing that was holding me back was my mom.

She didn't want me to get my own car yet as she thinks I am too young. In my mind I listed the reasons I did not need to buy a car now and they all revolved around my mom.
If I buy a car now, I will have less money to spend on my mom.
If I buy a car now, I will have less money to help out my mom and sisters.

And I know I need to step away from this caretaker or gravedigger mentality. My mom is a grown up, she's made a few bad financial choices in her life and is now paying for it but that is her burden not mine.
I am in the process of making the same mistakes that she made when she started working. She tried to do more than she could. She tried to lighten the load for her mom, she had to buy all the things she had been deprived of when she was younger. She had to give her daughters all the things her mother had never been able to give her as a child. And now she can not give us anything. I do not want to end up like that, I need to start putting my own needs first.
So this year is going to be about me.

The year is drawing to a close yet again, time to plan for the next year and to reflect on the past 11 months. Sitting down and thinking back to where I was this time last year, my frame of mind at that point, all the things that I had set out to do and all the things that I have actually done. It really makes me look forward to a new and exciting year but it also depresses me just a bit.

I have learned so much over the course of the year and have grown so much as well. I have actively pursued the development of new skills and I have also allowed myself to develop a few unwanted and unneeded skills.*sigh*

So what did I do this year?

1. I learned the value of good boss and manager,
2. I learned to stay away from hateful and spiteful people,
3. I saved enough cash to pay my tuition and buy the new school books I needed
4. I got enough credit points to qualify for this year’s classes,
5. I finally joined a public service club(been planning this for so long),
6. I bought my own laptop (still paying for it lol),
7. I learned to reach out and ask for help when I need it,
8. I learned to recognize when I needed help,
9. I am learning that I cannot save the ones I love if they do not want to be saved,
10. I learned that there are people out there who want to help me,
11. I learned to ask for what I wanted,
12. I learned to go after what I wanted,
13. I got experience in negotiating the price of my work,
14. I got a few new mentors in my life,
15. I finally (from firsthand experience) learned why some people succeed and others do not,
16. And so much more.

It was a hectic and stressful year; I remember my super emotional moments, the highs and the lows. I’m glad it’s almost over and though I have some regrets I am happy with the lessons I have learned.

This time last year I was so afraid of losing my job (didn’t lose it) and so scared of what my year would be like if I ended up unemployed.

And now 11 months later:
· I have left that employer on my own accord,
· I have a new job,
· a higher salary,
· nicer and more optimistic coworkers,
· a shorter ride to work and
· of course new tasks and more responsibilities.

It’s a new beginning for me, it’s scary but I believe that if one wants to be successful one must step out of one’s comfort zone and dare to do more. I know what the consequences are if I fail but I have hope that everything will be all right. I know what the benefits are when I succeed and I have planned accordingly.


Goodbye 2008, thanks for the memories, the lessons and life.