Managed to post the first of what I hope turns out to be dozens, maybe even hundreds of entries. I’m excited, nervous and yet calm all at the same time. I feel confident (more so than last time) that I will complete this goal at the end of its 6 month duration.

I have a bit of planning and brainstorming to do, as evident from an email exchange between myself and a reader. I hadn’t given much thought to what I want to do after quitting my job. Aside from help people and write, I mean. So I’ll be thinking and writing about that over the next few days.

Also, I have to post an update on my debt resolution plans. They’re bold, I will admit, but anything worth doing or having requires effort. Time to roll up my sleeves and get it done!

Feel free to visit the blog. Read, rate and comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts, opinions and feedback!

TheNext6Months.com3 weeks ago

I meant to post this last night, but after such a long day, I decided against it. Besides, I still had a handful of documents to review and read over before next week. But I am proud to say that the website dedicated to this goal, TheNExt6Months.com is up and running. You can expect the first post this weekend, and a new post every 3 days.

I did manage to meet my deadline of having the site up by 8pm last night. Good news for me, bad news for my friend as he didn’t get to keep the $500. :D
I did run into a few problems though. Some of the elements on the site wouldn’t display properly on tablet devices. The navigation bar kept disappearing, but after some finagling (actually it was more like inserting the proper characters into the javascript files) the site works perfectly.

I’m looking forward to posting and updating everyone via the site. I already have a few posts to edit and upload. I will, from time to time, include updates via 43Things as well. 1 month ago

I just wanted to post a quick update before heading to work tonight, that I’ve uploaded some of the core files to the server for my blog and everything appears to checkout fine. I will have to go back and fine tune some of the styling elements and links, but for the most part, it’s finished! (They layout, look and feel anyhow). Once my custom edits have been balanced within the layout, the only remaining step will be to plug in my personal content, set up the contact form, and begin blogging. So far so good. Looking forward to completing this site, as well as this goal!!

:D <- that’s suppose to be an over-zealous happy face in case anyone was curious, lol 1 month ago

The last attempt to complete this goal ended in utter failure. Largely do to chasing the wrong ideals rather than instituting a practical course of action to make it happen. I had a few pathetic excuses for myself which you can read about HERE if you so choose.

But this time will be different. This time I will be organized and focused as I prepare for life after the work place. One of the things I am doing differently is setting up an online journal of sorts that will catalog my daily progress towards finally completing said goal. I will continue to update here via 43Things, but the bulk of these posts will appear on a separate website since many of my friends do not follow 43Things or are not members of the site.

Actually, I intended to setup this journal during the last attempt on this goal, but managed to talk myself out of it for feeling it wasn’t necessary. It was absolutely necessary! I believe had I had more people following along closely to what I was doing, it would have given me more incentive to make it happen, and it would have most definitely kept me focused. This time around, I’m going to put up the online journal and make use of it on a daily basis.

The web address is TheNext6Months.com. It’s being setup via Amazon’s S3 web service. I’ve never set up a website via Amazon before, but have always wanted to, and i figured this would be a great time to learn.

As of right now the site only displays an error message, which is fine, because I’ve yet to upload any files to the “server”. I am adding content and building the site as we speak and it should be live and in living color no later than this Wednesday evening, and to be sure I complete this deadline, I’ve placed $500 in a jar and handed it to a friend. If the website is not up by 8pm Wednesday evening, he and his wife may keep the money. Not 8pm and 5 seconds, but 8pm sharp! So you can rest assured, this website will be completed well before then. :D

To save time, I’ve purchased a template to use instead of building the site from scratch. This way all will have to do is make a few changes to the style sheets if desired, plug in my content and upload, and she’s done!

Wish me luck. My 6 Months to freedom begins this week. And in the end, I’m either going to be standing tall and satisfied that I’ve made the jump, or I’m going to eat this words yet again, and be laughed, mocked and ridicule for eternity for failing.

:( 1 month ago

I added this goal last August because I was fed up with the excessive (and very unnecessary) drama at my place of work. It’s a part time job that I use to pay my utilities,insurance and other minor expenses, but last August was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It wasn’t one particular incident, more so an accumulation of things that made the one incident which triggered the response of adding this goal to my list of things to do in 2012. Well, It’s March 2013,

AND I’M STILL THERE!! UGGHHHH!!!

I won’t make excuses for it. It’s because I didn’t adequately prepare to leave the job. Sure, I worked on a number of things, i.e. increasing the number of investment initiatives, whether it be the traditional sort such as stocks, funds, bonds etc, or investments in small businesses and one attempt to partake in seed funding for a startup; to working more from home in my off time from work, taking on more clients for my web design and what I call “Wordpress manipulation”, and a few other things to supplement my part time income. The problem with all of that was that it was ill planned and ill-strategized.

My only focus was on making money. Which is good in a sense, but that was not preparing me to leave my job. Whenever I thought about work, all I could see was red, and my thinking automatically went to “Make more money. Quit!” There was no real plan or strategy for life after Hell (work).

Aside from ill-planning, my other problem is that I’m impulsive. I’m the kind of person that makes up his mind, and just goes for it, risks and complications be damned. I’ll take giant leaps on faith and won’t think twice about it (until I’m 2 inches from the ground, that is), which is not as great of a mantra to live by all the time. So, after this “straw that broke the camel’s back” moment at work last August, all I thought about was making more money so I could sever ties with my employer.

When quitting one’s job, a person needs a more practical and realistic approach. Simply making more money isn’t going to alleviate the problem in and of itself. There needs to be a planned focus, a strategy of some kind at least, for how I’m going to do this, and not go off half cocked. So I’m going to “reboot” this goal, and give myself yet another, 6 months to make this happen. And to do it RIGHT! And the first thing I’m going to do, is sit down and form a list of all expenses to be paid to get a visual on the minimum income requirement I’ll need to be free of Hell.

I failed once with this goal, but I won’t do it again. I have to make this happen, and for more reasons that not wanting to deal with workplace drama. There’s drama, foolishness and buffoonery-ism in just about any work environment or setting, so saying I want to quit because of workplace drama is ridiculous in the grand scheme of things. And also, borderline childish. (To me anyway.)

The true reason, is that there are a number of opportunities in the world. Different places to travel, foods to taste, cultures to immerse yourself in, languages to learn, natural wonders to see and photograph, people to meet and help. I want to live my life doing something more meaningful to me, and working a job is not on the list. I’ve held a job since I was 17, and now in my 30’s I want to spend more time doing and working for me than the man. We only have one life to live, and I want to start making the most of mine. I’ve beaten depression. I’ve beaten alcoholism. Now I just want to live. 2 months ago

I’ve been mulling over this decision for the past few months (literally!) and after last night/this morning I’m confident in my decision to leave my job in pursuit of something more rewarding and fulfilling. I’m not happy there, and though the pay is fairly decent, the job is not conducive to what I want to be doing with my life. Honestly, after I fell into my depression, I stayed there 6 years longer than I anticipated. I allowed myself to become complacent, and put all of my dreams on hold for fear of failure. (Depression does that to you.) But I’m better now; mentally, physically and emotionally, and it’s time I pursue something worthwhile. Besides, right now is perfect because I have no children, no wife, no attachments (outside of friends and family), so what’s really stopping me? Besides my own inhibitions, I mean….

NOTHING!

Time to go for broke and see what all this world has to really offer. I’d rather die saying “I tried!”, as opposed to saying “I wish…” 9 months ago