While the momentum is swinging my way, I plan to finish out September with a strategy of remaining on the offensive.

“Act, or be acted upon” has been my guiding motto this month, and it seems to be paying off. I took, not requested, a vacation from work and supplied the replacement staff for myself while I was gone. I fully enjoyed my time away and pursued activities that I enjoyed. When our guided tours were dragging and slowing us down, we ditched them and proceeded on our own, having more fun and learning more.

Before leaving town, I had confirmation that I had been hired by a new company and that I would start my job upon returning from vacation. This made it necessary for me to “fire” my current employers without working out a two week notice (three weeks if you discount my vacation), which was absolutely not going to happen. I took a first strike strategy, forsook my vacation pay and submitted my immediate resignation via internet from the road. My all-time favorite resignation letter is the one James Bond emails in Casino Royale. I love it’s brevity and it’s “I am sooo done with you assholes” tone. I adapted it and submitted it hours before getting on the cruise ship:

I herby submit my resignation from {deleted company name} effective immediately. JC.

No muss, no fuss, gonna need you to mooooove on.

As I start my new position, I have to hit the ground running. There is an impression left by the previous chef that needs to be smoked out. I won’t be listening to much “Joe useta to do this, Joe useta do that…” If someone’s got a case of the “useta’s” I have to roll them over. My first week is going to be spent getting up to speed and organizing. Then I have to work on communication with my other departments, planning, executing, recruiting, and a whole bunch of stuff. There is no way I can lean back and let this stuff come to me. I have to go on the offensive and both make it happen and make it come to me.

And while my momentum remains strong and my action continues to generate results, there are other projects I need to attack offensively and conquer.

• Clean up and organize my garage (sounds mundane, but its part of a larger plan)
• Lose that vacation weight (knew I’d gain some while away, but now I’m going to chase it off before it becomes entrenched)
• Go to that restaurant I’ve been dying to go to but have been putting off (making sure this is not in conflict with weight loss attempt)
• Rework my financials to accomodate the upcoming dip in paychecks until my new job’s salary kicks in (only a couple of weeks max, but one cannot move forward offensively without a strong line of supply)
• Get those home repairs done that I’ve been putting off (half because of time constraints, half because of pure-entee laziness)
• Start planning our next vacation (because I need to remind myself that is is okay to take some time off after working hard)

My Teddy Roosevelt mug firmly in hand, forward I go…