A note from my journal

 Life got in the way, so I have not touched my blog for ages. For almost 6 months to be exact.

Since 2015 I have been working very hard to get hold of my finances, pay debts and move forward. While I was not immune (like everyone else) to Covid, family problems and health issues, I managed to carry on through all the hurdles. I set up my little goals and persevered.

It cost me lots of strong will, frustration, and determination to get where I am now. Was it easy?

No, it was tough, really tough. So many times I just wanted to give up, to lie down and just sleep.

What helped me? My diary and written goals which made me accountable. And discipline. Discipline to review my goals every two weeks to make sure I was on the right path.

I also took another action which saved me lots of money, time and headache. I stopped attending all the courses where every five minutes I was told I would be able to make tons of money if only I took this and that course (!).

I admit, there are good courses worth attending, but you do not have to go for absolutely everything. Most of the time you can learn most of the time by researching the internet and by basically doing the things that you were going to do. Make mistakes, learn from them and move forward. 

In business, if you don't pay your staff or your bills, your business will fail. It's just common sense.

If you can't manage a few quid, you will not be able to manage any bigger amount of money.

If you can't delay gratification and you spend money that should be used to pay your suppliers, you will not be afloat for long. Running business requires discipline, planning and strategic thinking. Plus it needs people. No people equals no business.

Today I hit a milestone. I paid my credit card debt off. It has been a long journey, full of tears, hard work and personal choices. 

I went through stages of  being over the moon one day to completely depressed the other. It was not a straight road. If things could go wrong, they did as they always do, but I did it!

What can I say? I feel I achieved a great thing. I learnt a great deal about finances, discipline and trust. It was a costly lesson but I grew as a person. I am very grateful for this learning. Nobody can take it away from me. 👍💪

 I was nicely surprised as an entrepreneur to have one of my Twitter accounts reinstated. A big "Thank you" goes to Elon Musk for allowing it back. 🙏

To be honest, I don't feel it should have been banned in the first place as I have never promoted anything harmful or nasty. I lost the majority of my followers and the work I had done but I am not going to sit and cry over it. I am coming back stronger and more determined. 

I treat this little hiccup as a learning curve. If I did not have any Twitter presence I would not have learned by my mistakes. To the NEW 2023.

 Goals for 2022

So I wrote goals for 2022 in my daily journal. I didn't do it dead spot on 1st January, instead I took time over the few weeks in January, working on various areas of my life. Nothing is set in stone, goals can be modified to suit circumstances, but I created a framework to adhere to.

It is really useful for me, as it motivates me to push harder to achieve my goals. Since I am a spreadsheet person, some of my goals went into a personal spreadsheet together with a target numbers.

I set up some investment goals, which may have to be modified a bit depending on the outside world. Whatever I can control is being take care of. Things I cannot control, I have to agree with without moaning. I take reasonable risk taking into consideration my personal circumstances.

My circumstances are different from yours, so what works for me does not have to work for you.

There are, however, some things that are universal and can be applied to anybody.

1. Write your goals down with dates you expect to achieve them,

2. Don't try to fit in with other people. It's your life and your circumstances are unique to you.

3. Celebrate your little achievements. Give yourself a pat on the back, do something that makes you smile.

4. Review your goals regularly. Amend them, add new ones.

5. Find joy in any work you do for living. Do it to the best of your ability.

6. Constantly learn and self-develop.

7. Read/listen to podcasts.

8. Exercise.

The list is not exclusive, but it's a good start. It works for me. Hope it will help you too.

 As I mentioned in my blog in September 2020 I started trading. At the moment I invested in 9 stocks. I sold one which I lost money on, the other 9 as of today (14th June 2021) are in green, making money. I had to wait for a few months for a particular stock to start making money. I was confident it would.

I cannot call myself a proficient trader but I am learning. Making some mistakes but moving forward. One thing I learnt and I would repeat to anybody who is thinking about investing: your investment can go up and down. Don't ever invest what you can't lose.

By the way, etoro is one of the platforms where I invest.

Online trading

Over a week ago, after a thorough research and watching the market over the last few years, I took a plunge and bought shares.

#1 LIFE HACK for Motivation & Happiness | A Gary Vaynerchuk Original