... "Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'"

[Jean]

Question of the week, let's see if I can come up with an answer:

 

How come everybody I need to mandate in order to truly know what I'm doing is SO. DAMN. BUSY., people tell me that the required professionnals are lacking and YET the feedback I have from people of my generation is that finding a job is hard? It feels like experience isn't being transfered and we're going toward some huge difficulties in the next 20 years or so if we don't react properly to that.

 

The question still being: what do I do to cover my ass without my mind exploding due to accumulating work?

 

Let's cool down and find out.

[Jean]

This may not be the place to write these kinds of things but hey! I'm really feeling like it tonight. I'll probably put it all together somewhere, later, but for now, this place will do (and let the powers that be take it away if it's out of place).

 

I'm feeling lost.

 

Lost in the kind of way that happens when the winds are unwinding around you to finally let go of the storm. There's no direction in sight but I know that time will settle things down. Time's a direction too. It's the fear of the unknown, of taking charge of my life. It feels overwhelming. I have no idea of what I'm doing and yet, intimately, it feels like what I've been trying to achieve for a long time.

 

'Feels like freedom.

 

Freedom is a state of mind. You build toward it. Of course, it's easier when things are going right but you build toward it through hardship; and it grows and fills you when the time is right. It's a breakthrough, reaching the edge of the forest when, two steps earlier, all you could see were dark trees. You grow. Suddenly, you realise that you have what it takes to live out of your own means, to do what you truly want to do without fear of repercussions. Of course, there are limitations: we're not talking about our daily wants, here, freedom isn't robbing a bank and getting a free pass with the cops. We're talking about shaping your environment into whatever it is that you truly want it to be. When you have a vision and believe in it so much that you no longer see it but feel it as a part of everything you do, that you are blind to directions but know in your heart that it's going well, that you're not there, but on your way, and that you'll inevitably reach there, no matter when. Then that vision becomes an unyielding wave that walks with you and takes everything else around with it.

 

Nobody fights the tide and succeeds. When you are free, you cease to try and fight it: you become the tide.

[Jean]

So, 2020 is at the door and it's gonna be a GREAT year! I'm using this log to throw notes and be ready with a battle plan comes the right time.

 

What I want: be awesome.

 

Points of focus:

 

Charisma

• Body hygiene:
  • teeth brushing;
  • flossing;
  • hair cuts;
  • beard trimming;
  • body hair handling (to be determined how).

• Clothes and shoes:
  • invest in the right clothes/shoes to build a style I'm comfortable with;
  • learn what's wrong with my way of ironing (because seriously, guys/gals).

• Home:
  • maintain a minimalistic clean and functional home.

• Physique:
  • run;
  • exercise core and upper body:
    • push-ups;
    • inverted rows;
    • hollow holds;
    • (negative) pull-ups;
  • tai chi.

Finances

• be fluent;
• have spares for personal investments;
• max out my 3A (equivalent IRA) contributions; I've made some projections and it's way less efficient for me to invest with this vehicle rather than straight on the markets.
• build a safety fund.

Personal development

• take a "hiking touring" formation;
• handle my vineyard properly at all stages;
• learn more about one of these topics:
  • stars;
  • plants and trees;
  • animals.

Professional goals

• stay employed throughout the year (make it sustainable);
• take the proper time for filing and logging;
• give feedback to everybody filing a request;
• register every request to deal with it appropriately, even if 8 months later because there is no time for it.

 

Edit:

Metric: pictures.

[Tobbe]

37 minutes ago, Jean said:

learn what's wrong with my way of ironing (because seriously, guys/gals).

 

I gave up on ironing a long time ago... The only thing I iron is my dress shirts. And that's something I wear like maybe a handful of times in a year...

I also work from home... And if I do go to the office it's perfectly fine to show up in a tshirt or a hoodie. If your job has a dress code that requires you to wear a suit or something like that I guess you'd have to iron a bit more  

[Jean]

The purpose of this all is to be attractive. I want people to see me and think "damn, this man means business!" That doesn't necessarily mean suits (because people wearing suits when they might have to go on a construction site really don't mean business) but it does include a suitable shirt, practical but good looking throusers and decent shoes. The shirt requires ironing and I am seriously bad at it, be it because I don't use efficient tools (washing machine and iron) or because my skills are lacking. Probably a bit of both.

[Renate]

9 hours ago, Jean said:

be it because I don't use efficient tools (washing machine and iron) or because my skills are lacking. Probably a bit of both.

 

I am still learning as well haha.

 

1. A rule of thumb for me is that I am probably not pressing enough and/or going too fast. 

 

Make sure your iron is nice and heavy (I think :p)

 

2. USE THE STEAM OPTION. Seriously. 

 

3. Make sure you know what material you are ironing and set up the iron properly.

 

4. Do not rely on having to turn the clothes over. Try to get clothes nice and pressed as much as possible on the first go. 

 

Aftet ironing one side of the item, carefully turn it around, make sure you are not making folds on the 'done' side by ironing the second side.

 

5. Oh ! Iron in " zig zag motions" while keeping the material tense with the other hand.

 

I do not mean making the iron move like an ice skate but making half turns from side to side while ironing. 

 

6. And really, do not skip the difficult to reach parts like in between pockets or the ends of a shirt or so. It really makes a difference.

 

You can be less careful with the part of a shirt that goes in your pants, if you tuck your shirt in.

 

7. Do not think"oh the back will get wrinkled anyway, especially when I am wearing a jacket over it". It wrinkles differently after being ironed nicely.

 

8. After ironing, hang the item if possible so it can cool down before you use it. If it cools down while hung over a chair you risk losing the crisp look.

 

This is what I keep in mind now, for better or for worse 😛

 

Sleeves are my current nemesis. I usually iron them first, I used to leave them for last and risk undoing my ironing work. :')

 

PS - I find it really satisfying to see people with nicely ironed clothes, suits or otherwise. I was one of the few people that had ironed her toga for the bachelor graduation ceremony because it was cheaper to get it from the desk on the day itself. Worth the euros spent though!

[Jean]

 

I'm using this post to store ideas for the week 2 of the Festivus' mini (and will answer properly to the awesome ironing tips later):

 

Gratitudes

1. I'm alive (sounds cheesy but I'd be dead at birth without the application of modern medical means).
2. Life is fun!
3. Whenever I set myself upon improving myself, resources are there to do just that (help like the above about ironing, internet searches, books, friends).
4.  TimeVision and BoxesOverlay.
5.  Earth, Wind and Fire.

 

 

 

[Jean]

Alright, I need this to carry me on. Sorry I'm quite self-centered of late, I've good hope I'm going through the phase where I need it to pursue my growth and will soon leave it behind.

 

So, planning for 2020, what I need to do is:

• write a cover letter to register for the hiking guide course I'm wanting to take;
• update my résumé;
• get a medical attestation that I am fit enough for it;
• get an attestation of my injury insurance from my employer;
• book the needed vacation days and have my employer agree to give me two (unpaid) more;
• actually send my application for the course;

• search for a cheaper place to call home in my area, starting January 10;
• declutter and pre-pack everything I don't use daily to ease the moving and allow me not to start with a bunch of unused stuff to park somewhere;

• write a report on the roadworks that went overbudget;

• actually do my groceries shopping so that I get back to cooking more;
• get back running, push-upping, inverted rowing, assisted pull-uping and hollow holding.

 

Checkpoints are:

 

January 31: have registered for the course.

March 31: have the whole house decluttered and everything I don't use daily sitting in boxes.

June 30: have moved.

 

I'm planning on enjoying the whole year but starting June 30, I won't have any excuse not to show my best game. That means back on the friendship and courtship scene.

 

I'll write more about this all later, this is just so that it gets sorted out and out of my head for a few days.

[Tobbe]

13 hours ago, Jean said:

write a cover letter to register for the hiking guide course I'm wanting to take;

 

Hiking guide course!? How cool is that! Please tell me more about it  

[Jean]

1 hour ago, Tobbe said:

How cool is that!

Very cool!

 

Unfortunately, the documentation is only available in French: http://www.anniviers-formation.ch/uploads/ckeditor/files/Flyer avril 2020-2022_session 1 - Version 09_10_19.pdf

 

It's a formation they've built in order to fill the gap between people wandering aimlessly and mountain guides, who deal with high mountain and sometimes frankly hostile conditions, while hiking guides are limited to mid-height mountain hikes, without glaciers or climbing. Hiking guides are mainly meant to know how to organize a hike, basic safety and lifesaving behaviors and know and be able to talk about plants, geology, animals, local history, astronomy and the likes. It's pretty fulfilling and I hope to get an opportunity to get more in touch with all the topics I've always wanted to dig deeper into but haven't touched in ages. It'd open options for the future, as a side hustle, though I'm mainly wanting to do it for personal development purposes.

 

The course is comprised of several units, each taking roughly one week, over the spawn of 2 years (roughly 5 units per year), it grants access to a swiss federal exam granting the right to perform this profession officially. The units are:

 

Year 1:

Safety and lifesaving;

Basic nature knowledge (geology, vegetation, animals);

Hike organizing and experiencing one;

Marketing, client relationship, conflicts handling;

Winter conditions (specificity, hazards, equipment).

 

Year 2:

Human activities and history;

Advanced Nature (plants, types of rocks, glaciers, planets and constellations);

Marketing, accounting and legal liabilities;

Organizing and living a hike;

Advanced winter (behavior and responsibilities, using mountain cabins, knowing one's limits and the limits of the group).

 

It covers the main relevant areas, is oriented toward praxis, the lessons are given in a mountain cabin where we can stay the night and enjoy the atmosphere... it'll be taking all my vacation days but it's well worth it and I expect it to be more rejuvenating than anything else I could have done with this time. I'm really looking forward to it!

 

 

[fitnessgurl]

2 hours ago, Jean said:

Very cool!

 

Unfortunately, the documentation is only available in French: http://www.anniviers-formation.ch/uploads/ckeditor/files/Flyer avril 2020-2022_session 1 - Version 09_10_19.pdf

 

It's a formation they've built in order to fill the gap between people wandering aimlessly and mountain guides, who deal with high mountain and sometimes frankly hostile conditions, while hiking guides are limited to mid-height mountain hikes, without glaciers or climbing. Hiking guides are mainly meant to know how to organize a hike, basic safety and lifesaving behaviors and know and be able to talk about plants, geology, animals, local history, astronomy and the likes. It's pretty fulfilling and I hope to get an opportunity to get more in touch with all the topics I've always wanted to dig deeper into but haven't touched in ages. It'd open options for the future, as a side hustle, though I'm mainly wanting to do it for personal development purposes.

 

The course is comprised of several units, each taking roughly one week, over the spawn of 2 years (roughly 5 units per year), it grants access to a swiss federal exam granting the right to perform this profession officially. The units are:

 

Year 1:

Safety and lifesaving;

Basic nature knowledge (geology, vegetation, animals);

Hike organizing and experiencing one;

Marketing, client relationship, conflicts handling;

Winter conditions (specificity, hazards, equipment).

 

Year 2:

Human activities and history;

Advanced Nature (plants, types of rocks, glaciers, planets and constellations);

Marketing, accounting and legal liabilities;

Organizing and living a hike;

Advanced winter (behavior and responsibilities, using mountain cabins, knowing one's limits and the limits of the group).

 

It covers the main relevant areas, is oriented toward praxis, the lessons are given in a mountain cabin where we can stay the night and enjoy the atmosphere... it'll be taking all my vacation days but it's well worth it and I expect it to be more rejuvenating than anything else I could have done with this time. I'm really looking forward to it!

 

 

Oooh...this sounds wonderful!

[Tobbe]

12 hours ago, Jean said:

The course is comprised of several units, each taking roughly one week, over the spawn of 2 years (roughly 5 units per year)

 

How the hell are you supposed to remember anything from the first five weeks a year later when it's time for the last five weeks   

 

10 hours ago, fitnessgurl said:

It covers the main relevant areas, is oriented toward praxis, the lessons are given in a mountain cabin where we can stay the night and enjoy the atmosphere...

 

That's awesome! So much better than any old school classroom  

 

12 hours ago, Jean said:

I expect it to be more rejuvenating than anything else I could have done with this time.

 

I think you're right. Kind of like my survival class I took this summer. It was great.

 

12 hours ago, Jean said:

I'm really looking forward to it!

 

Hope you get the opportunity to join the program.

[Jean]

1 hour ago, Tobbe said:

How the hell are you supposed to remember anything from the first five weeks a year later when it's time for the last five weeks   

 

My bet is that by practicing it, it stays in. Those are skills you're meant to use whenever you go hiking so I guess that I'll achieve it by going out more.

 

 

1 hour ago, Tobbe said:

I think you're right. Kind of like my survival class I took this summer. It was great.

 

Glad that went well for you! I'm guessing it's the same kind of approach, indeed. One of my target is to hone my mid-mountain survival skills and perhaps meld the whole in some kind of stress management/risk management/survival skills in a mountain environment philosophy. It's something I'd really like to live more in accordance to and something tells me there's a developing market for it.

[Tobbe]

8 hours ago, Jean said:

My bet is that by practicing it, it stays in. Those are skills you're meant to use whenever you go hiking so I guess that I'll achieve it by going out more.

 

For sure! And what a great extra motivation to actually get out more in nature  🌲🌲

 

Let me know if you ever need a guinea pig to practice what you've been taught. I'd love to see more of your part of the world 🌍

[Jean]

So, I'm late on A LOT of things but I need to put down a battleplan in order to work through this year.

 

We're in January, that means there's work to do.

 

Monthly goal

• Having registered for the hiking guide course.

 

Daily goals

• Wake up early, go to work for 6:30 am.
• At work: keep current with the payments. Always register my hours. Prioritize things. Stand up for that prioritization. Tell people the risks linked to their decisions when they make them, even if they're not in the mood. If they're yelling, do so by e-mail when things have cooled down.
• At noon: run, exercise (push-ups, inverted bodyweight rows, hollow holds, squats), shower, eat. Time for that : 1.5 hours.
• When back home in the evening: start my "at home routine": alternate between 30 min of gaming, 15 min of cleaning/decluttering, cooking and scoring the objectives of the day.
• Objectives for the day:
  • Make 1 phone call to visit an appartment, starting week 3 (I'm letting time for people to settle into the year).
  • Spend 1 hour on my cover letter / résumé / other things to do to register to my course.
  • Don't spend too much time tracking my finances: just follow the plan, it's working. Don't spend on useless shit, focus on the other targets, live.

On the weekends

• Go groceries shopping on Saturday.
• Whenever there's at least one sunny day in it, pack something to grill, a salad, some bread and a beer and go to the vineyard. I can work there, take steps to make it more welcoming or just enjoy my time. The purpose is to build the habit of going there and enjoying myself.

 

I'll also have to work on those sleeping habits but let's see how this pans out before going further.

 

Let's get that momentum rolling: Acrion - Gates to Heaven (techno warning for those of you who don't like these kinds of sounds, folks!).

 

And a thought to carry with me because, dang man, stop doing it!

[Jupiter]

[Renate]

7 hours ago, Jean said:

30 min of gaming

 

Maybe this is selfevident but pick a game that has stuff you find enjoyable to do that can be done in that period of time. if that makes sense haha

 

Good gameplan. Rooting for you!

 

[Jean]

8 hours ago, analoggirl said:

pick a game that has stuff you find enjoyable to do that can be done in that period of time.

 

Since I haven't managed to get KotOR 2 running on my laptop, Baldur's Gate (2) is my go to. I'm setting a let's play in the background and the episodes last for 30 minutes so it's easy to follow the timing.

 

On another topic, one day in and it's already bullshit. It seems like if I want to do things properly, I have to put in the extra hours. People have a sense of what can be done in a specific timeframe that I'll never understand (sure, let's plan some roadwork in town with multiple people adjacent to it, on a piece of road stuck between two other pieces that don't belong to us, using eminent domain to widen it and say that it'll all be done within the year because, sure, let alone the technical and administrative job that must be done on it, none of the very wealthy neighbors loosing some piece of land because of it will take it to the courts. xD).

 

Alright, enough venting, back to decluttering! Thanks for being here.

 

 

[Tobbe]

I can see why you'd need to vent with situations like that! It's frustrating enough to just hear about. Can't imagine how stressful it must be when it directly affects your day-to-day work... 

[Renate]

Oh wow. Frustrating indeed. 

[Tobbe]

On 1/6/2020 at 7:51 AM, Jean said:

So, I'm late on A LOT of things but I need to put down a battleplan in order to work through this year.

 

We're in January, that means there's work to do.

 

Monthly goal

• Having registered for the hiking guide course.

 

Daily goals

• Wake up early, go to work for 6:30 am.
• At work: keep current with the payments. Always register my hours. Prioritize things. Stand up for that prioritization. Tell people the risks linked to their decisions when they make them, even if they're not in the mood. If they're yelling, do so by e-mail when things have cooled down.
• At noon: run, exercise (push-ups, inverted bodyweight rows, hollow holds, squats), shower, eat. Time for that : 1.5 hours.
• When back home in the evening: start my "at home routine": alternate between 30 min of gaming, 15 min of cleaning/decluttering, cooking and scoring the objectives of the day.
• Objectives for the day:
  • Make 1 phone call to visit an appartment, starting week 3 (I'm letting time for people to settle into the year).
  • Spend 1 hour on my cover letter / résumé / other things to do to register to my course.
  • Don't spend too much time tracking my finances: just follow the plan, it's working. Don't spend on useless shit, focus on the other targets, live.

On the weekends

• Go groceries shopping on Saturday.
• Whenever there's at least one sunny day in it, pack something to grill, a salad, some bread and a beer and go to the vineyard. I can work there, take steps to make it more welcoming or just enjoy my time. The purpose is to build the habit of going there and enjoying myself.

 

I'll also have to work on those sleeping habits but let's see how this pans out before going further.

 

Let's get that momentum rolling: Acrion - Gates to Heaven (techno warning for those of you who don't like these kinds of sounds, folks!).

 

And a thought to carry with me because, dang man, stop doing it!

 

Ment to reply to this, but forgot 🙈

Lots of great stuff listed there, but a few stand out more than the others  

 

 

On 1/6/2020 at 7:51 AM, Jean said:

Don't spend too much time tracking my finances: just follow the plan, it's working. Don't spend on useless shit, focus on the other targets, live.

 

 

"Don't spend on useless shit", it really doesn't have to be more difficult than that!

 

On 1/6/2020 at 7:51 AM, Jean said:

Whenever there's at least one sunny day in it, pack something to grill, a salad, some bread and a beer and go to the vineyard. I can work there, take steps to make it more welcoming or just enjoy my time. The purpose is to build the habit of going there and enjoying myself.

 

Sounds awesome! But isn't it sacrilege to drink beer at a vineyard?  Anyway, great plan to try to make your brain associate "going to the vineyard" to "enjoying myself"! 

 

On 1/6/2020 at 7:51 AM, Jean said:

Let's get that momentum rolling: Acrion - Gates to Heaven

 

Great tune! Very happy sounding 

[Jean]

13 hours ago, Tobbe said:

Can't imagine how stressful it must be when it directly affects your day-to-day work

 

Right now, I'd say not very stressful: it's all still in the "distant" future. I'm just already seeing things pile up and how they'll all compete for getting achieved as the year unfolds. How much of this is my imagination and how much is true? I don't know but I do have the feeling not to live in the same world as the people around me.

 

 

7 hours ago, analoggirl said:

Oh wow. Frustrating indeed. 

 

I do like to vent, so I'm probably making it sound more frustrating than it actually is (the only real important matters will be attended to early this year, so everything else is just glitter that I can let slide without real consequences. Learning when not to care is really liberating). Thanks for your words.

 

 

7 hours ago, Tobbe said:

"Don't spend on useless shit", it really doesn't have to be more difficult than that!

 

Oh my, yes! But hey, how can I pass up the opportunity to graph it all in 5 different ways then compare my data with every mean and guideline I can find, then adapt it and "correct" it to make it what I consider like a better fit with the underlying reality (reality in finances? C'mon! It's not like we're talking of the economy, we're in the realm of wizardry here!) and then run my data through it again because, who knows, maybe the formulas have changed when I wasn't watching and the same numbers will yield different results? (And would you guess? They sometimes do and I then have the pleasure of spending the whole evening and part of the night searching where that 0.02 difference comes from.)

 

It's kind of amazing how the starting hypotheses and the interpretation of the results can change the same numbers into signs of success or utter doom. 'Makes you think about what truly happens when the market pikes up or dives down... human psychology at its best.

 

ETA: Holy Caloohey! My financial file has 26 sheets and it's all been sorted during the holidays too (so no "I don't use this sheet and have just forgotten about it" in there). I'm doomed, I tell you.

 

7 hours ago, Tobbe said:

But isn't it sacrilege to drink beer at a vineyard?

 

It's sacrilege to drink wine all alone too. I guess I'll finally have to muster the guts to invite people with me. Let's see how I'll manage to push that back to tomorrow day after day until the end of the year, shall we?

 

 

7 hours ago, Tobbe said:

Great tune! Very happy sounding 

 

Techno has this way of energizing me that is just perfect in times like these. Thanks for your words.

[Jean]

I've come out with a theme for 2020:

 

And nothing will stop me.

 

 

That's a good theme. One that I would gain to adhere to more because the plan is only holding half together. Half is enough, but I can do more.

 

On 1/6/2020 at 1:51 AM, Jean said:

Daily goals

• Wake up early, go to work for 6:30 am. ✔️
• At work: keep current with the payments. Always register my hours. Prioritize things. Stand up for that prioritization. Tell people the risks linked to their decisions when they make them, even if they're not in the mood. If they're yelling, do so by e-mail when things have cooled down. ✔️
• At noon: run, exercise (push-ups, inverted bodyweight rows, hollow holds, squats), shower, eat. Time for that : 1.5 hours. I haven't put a foot outside, not even in the evening when time constraints aren't an excuse. I don't feel ready for it, I'll let it slide 'till the weekend and focus on it Saturday and Sunday to build the habit.
• When back home in the evening: start my "at home routine": alternate between 30 min of gaming, 15 min of cleaning/decluttering, cooking and scoring the objectives of the day. ✔️
• Objectives for the day:
  • Make 1 phone call to visit an appartment, starting week 3 (I'm letting time for people to settle into the year). N/A
  • Spend 1 hour on my cover letter / résumé / other things to do to register to my course. Not done as of yet. I'm putting a focus on it right when my next mug of coffee will be ready and calling.
  • Don't spend too much time tracking my finances: just follow the plan, it's working. Don't spend on useless shit, focus on the other targets, live. THIS will be my undoing. Oh boy it will!

 

[Tobbe]

On 1/8/2020 at 11:37 PM, Jean said:

Spend 1 hour on my cover letter / résumé / other things to do to register to my course. Not done as of yet. I'm putting a focus on it right when my next mug of coffee will be ready and calling.

 

So, any update on this?   (Just holding you accountable...)

[Jean]

Greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

The coffe was awesome!

 

...

 

Oh, wait, you were speaking about spending time on my résumé and cover letter? The résumé is done, I'm not 100% happy with it because I've used my "work" résumé as a template and it's oriented toward professional skills while they're probably more interested in my life experiences but that'll have to do (I've no idea why they're asking for it in the first place, so...). I'm about to start working on the cover letter (thanks to you, I'd have given myself a pass without your post) so I'll keep you updated on that.

 

The real good news is that the routine works and that my home is slowly getting into a shape where I can have strangers visit it, so I'll soon be able to announce that I'm not staying here and feel better shopping around for another condo.

 

Thanks for the accountability!