GOALS - what are they?

 

I was listening to something on YouTube about business / goals today, and this was one of the points made.  I think it was one of the Brian Tracy videos, about his work but not by him, it was on some kind of channel about Motivation.

It has been the only thing keeping me going since my children were very young and I was struggling to survive on Welfare.  It was all I could do.

It was, however, strange to hear on a video about Brian Tracy (a compilation of some kind).

Years ago, I requested some materials from him.  Somewhere along the way, I received a CD that I believe I still have.  It became one of the treasures of my life.  The title was, Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life.  I listen to it when I feel the need to remind myself of what it shares.

Other books important through my life were:

Acres of Diamonds, by Russell Conwell, I believe.  This is a very short booklet that is so worth your time.  I think you can find copies to print out.  I have given this to many people over my lifetime.  I hope I still have my personal copy.

As A Man Thinketh, by James Allen.  You can find a lot of YouTube videos about this short book.   There are audiobooks on YouTube and in libraries.  I also found an updated version at a Barnes and Noble bookstore, which I sent to one of my sons.  I like the smaller classic edition.

I will have to look for my special collection of these kinds of books.  I have most of my belongings/books in storage boxes because of my downsizing efforts.

I have been slowly collecting notes I have about making goals and the goals I have had over time.  I am going to create a Master List again... or try to.  I have quite a lot of goals, small and large.

In some of the materials I have read or listened to, the idea of deciding on an amount of money has been important.  I have never been able to settle on any kind of amount because of my poverty and knowing there was little I could do without a decent amount of start-up funds.  I am trying to decide on an amount this time.  That will take time.  It will be beyond anything I would ever expect to receive, which is not part of the faith equation.  It could be I handicap my efforts before they begin.  I will have to think about this as I try to decide on a realistic amount to begin developing Working Together.  For my own goals, the amount would be smaller.  :-)

That is the content of my life right now.

I have also considered re-doing a challenge I did many years ago... deciding what I would do with a million dollars (I say tax-free!).  I am wondering what I would say this time.  Would it be enough?  

The government would take a lot of it for taxes and my school loans, so that is why I have to decide if it is really a whole million dollars.  (This is why I only buy lottery tickets when the prizes are very huge... there would be money left over for everything else.)

What would you buy with a million dollars?

I say most regular people will buy a new house, new car, and share with their kids and other loved ones.  After that, it becomes a personal focus... what charities they like, etc.

It's hard to separate money from all the things we want in our lives.

That why GOD tells us the choice is always between GOD and Mammon (money).

Well, that's about it for today.  Talking about the effects money has on us is depressing for me.  It reminds me of all the good things I wanted to do.

Until next time,

Deborah Martin 

FAITH :: 2021 Planning

A new year is here.

It's been a challenge to make decisions about what to do for this new year... how to try to reach my RESOLUTION goal for 2021, which is to increase my income so I can start working on my Bucket List... and other things.  :-)

Then I started thinking about PATREON.  I want that to be my main income effort, so I have been working on my page and remembering my stated goal for 2021 at Patreon...

MY  2021  GOAL !!!

Right now, I want to fill my two crafting tiers.

That's 20 for ART  &  10 for JEWELRY.

That's the foundation.

FOR  EVERYONE  is the gravy.

As many as possible for that tier.

Now I am busy with planning how to make these things work.

The planned "flow" for my income is PATREON to ETSY to other selling, including social media and email outreach links.  

So my 30 Patron goal is the first step.

How to find these special 30 people... that is what I am trying to work out this month.  A PLAN.

Faith is the issue because of my current situation.

Depending on GOD.  Trying to find His path.  Looking for ways to overcome the particular problems I face.

I found an email from Thinkr  (free email inspiration... )  recently, with a great title ::

Key insights from

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph

By Ryan Holiday

I have now printed one page from that writing and placed it at the front of my monthly notebook section where I deal with my goals.

This is the PDF page I decided to print... the beginning of the review... it is powerful.

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1. Most people crumble in the face of adversity because they’ve never been given a blueprint for overcoming.

What if the obstacle in front of you isn’t as scary or insurmountable as you think? What if, somewhere in that obstacle was something that could enrich your life? Would you get after it with renewed vigor? If you are like most people, you probably wouldn’t do a thing.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we admit that we become paralyzed atthe mere thought of encountering obstacles. Some of our blocks are societal: soaring inflation rates, unemployment, institutions that don’t work the way they used to, a rapidly evolving technological landscape that leaves us in a constant state of flux and bewilderment. Then there are individual blocks: too small, too poor, too busy, not enough support, not enough confidence, not enough years left. We are experts at listing the things that keep us from moving forward.

Somewhere within ourselves we know this is true, and that there is apart of us that feels much more comfortable with those excuses keeping us where we are. But then there’s another part of us that is tired of the feelings of depression, anger, fear, and frustration that arise whenever we capitulate to our obstacles at the office, at school, and at home.

At the same time, we see people who not only approach obstacles with confident, deliberate strides, but seem to gain from each challenge. The very things that have us mired in life’s marshes seem to launch them to the moon. Moreover, earlier generations faced and overcame far more formidable obstacles—which is part of the reason why posterity has fewer obstacles—but somehow we still feel pushed back into a corner and are afraid to leave it.

We need a concrete strategy and field-tested worldview to help us get where we would like to go by transforming setbacks into setups for success. Maybe no one has ever taught you this, but it is never too late to begin learning.

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And this is just one page. Putting it in my notebook keeps me reminded of what it says.

Then I got an email from Luke Fatooros with a line that hit me about where we put our focus most of the time... on the path to success and not on the things that keep us from our goals.  The idea was to make a plan to overcome the things that stand in your way.  That seemed like a new idea to me.  I tend to look for ways to reach the goals I want to reach.  I don't pay a lot of attention on the mountains that stand in my way.

I am thinking about how to apply all this information to my life.

Thirty people doesn't sound like a lot of people to find, especially after trying to find a million.  The issues seem to be the same, the number is just not as big.

If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!  Add them to the comments section.  I will share what I come up with in a future post.

May we all be blessed for our desires to honor GOD in our lives, and be protected from those who hate GOD and only wish to do us harm.  Amen.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

My Patreon page graphic... new for 2021... I love it!  :-)

FAITH :: Thinking more about the future, making plans for 2021

It's Friday... I'm running late and justifying my post for the start of Sabbath time.  I really haven't quite decided ALL of the boundaries of a Sabbath, so I write letters, write posts, and do things I am wondering about.  No one can just sit and do nothing.  And this is my circumstance right now.  Someday I hope to get better at doing Sabbaths GOD's way... whatever that is.

I finally made my Thanksgiving egg rolls - out of pulsed veggies and thick bean soup I made this week.  I also made bean "dip" out of the other beans I had on hand, for the extra "chips" I made using the last of the wontons.  The egg rolls turned out pretty good.  I fried them as raw bits of veggie, including some rutabaga, and they actually cooked enough.  Add BRAGGS soy sauce and it was a great idea.  I have some frozen now, for later.  :-)

I decided to not go food shopping, so that means using up what I have.  I made soup with a bunch of the frozen veggies I had from earlier shopping... a way to keep it longer and have it available later in the month.  I am trying to see what options I have with my own frozen veggies.  When I buy them in the market, I figure they will last as long as needed.  I don't prep like a commercial business, so I am learning what I can do.

It's time to make the shopping list/s for December.  I have been noticing what went down in quantity and needs to be restocked.  I have been trying to decide how much I need of everything.  I'm hoping to get my back-up pantry to a reasonable place in January, for the 2021 year.  I can't do a whole year yet, but I am trying to get as much ahead as I can.

With CHRISTMAS part of the December to-do, I hope to get as much as I can done the first week of the month.  Mailing, ordering, Christmas cards, decisions about what to give.  I gather all kinds of things and then see what my mailing budget is... sometimes there isn't enough to send what I would like to send, so the choices have to be changed.

I don't get replies from anything these days... online, emails, USPS, etc.  It is a prayer issue for me.  I trust GOD "for the end of this story," so I just do my part and wait to see what happens.  It's a learning experience for my perspectives about GOD... and people. It shows me the problems of internet control. And unsaved people who want to rule the world.  

We assume everything is honest, legitimate, trustworthy, real, private... but, it isn't always the case.  We see how people with no morals put cameras in rentals. The black market grows without our knowledge or permission.  I don't know what that will mean to our future, but we know it isn't going to be good.  Think: It's a Wonderful Life without the good.

America is becoming one of those dark places.

BUT...

This weekend is the end of the month and so many things need to be done yet.  I am still praying about WT and what to do.  I made some decisions about cancelling emails that aren't essential, but I also am going to try a suggestion I found somewhere that says to have a separate email address for all these sign-up options.  That seems pretty wise, and will keep the spam out of the necessary emails.

Monday will have to be the day of decision for me and WT.  :-)  One person can only do so much, especially without the funds to make changes.  I always say that we can only do our best... the rest is in GOD's Hands.

I may see you again on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or...   I need to find a public, Christian, space and this seems to be the best option for me.  It's one of the decisions I am working on.

Patreon.

Etsy.

Twitter.

Faith blog.

That seems to be the focus so far.

WT is meant to hand off to GOD's choice for it.  I just wanted to have more done before that happened.  We can't change the past, only the future.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

http://work2gather.us

and more...

Monday, 2 July 2018

I just spent a long time at christianbooks.com looking at their sale items... linked to from an email I decided to check out.  I am a sucker for sales, but I am also getting better at resisting them... most of the time.  I like to put all the things I might want to get into my cart, then I go through them at the end and decide how much I can spend, if I want to spend anything, and then go through the re-evaluation process.  This did take me some time... there were 9 pages of 50 items there... and I made the decision to go through all of them to see what they had available.

If I didn't have a budget to deal with, I could have ordered quite a few items there tonight.  I discovered they have "product videos" about the books, which I liked... good idea.  One was the author, another was more of a narrated story... but, I decided I like that idea.  I also discovered their version of a sneak peek... and checked out the table of contents for the books, and the text sample on some.  It also helped me to see if I REALLY needed to have that item.  :-)

Some of the things I noticed along my way were the topics shown, the number of pages, the years of publication, and the titles.  I really became aware of how important the titles are... in the process of choosing which ones to explore, the titles were about all that I had available unless I knew the author.  I didn't know too many of the authors because I never buy new books and don't follow all things Christian in the world.  Now that I am working on my own first book effort, these things had a lot more meaning to me.

I suppose it was more like research into the Christian market.

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I didn't really browse the BANKER TO THE POOR book over the weekend.  It became something I didn't feel I needed to know in total.  I am kind of still in the process of exploring it randomly.  I found something called the SIXTEEN DECISIONS on a page and liked them.  I want to explore them more... I got "distracted" by other things today.  So I keep the book in view to prompt me in the direction of my goal for the book.  I think I want to copy the list of 16 items so far.  They seemed interesting.  I may go ahead and share them with you on another day... after I read that section of the book at least.  :-)

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Time gets away from me when I get focused on something.

I do think I have a lot to get done. So I will get to bed now and see if I can do more tomorrow!

Until next time,
In Christ,

Deborah Martin
work2gather.us


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May GOD hear my heart and answer my prayers.
May the world find its way back to goodness.
May our lives mean something more than selfish consumption.
May we find our happiness in helping others with less than we have, with more needs than we have, and within our abilities.
May the days be warm and not too hot.
May we have the food we like to eat.
May we always share.
May our minds grow, our time be enough, and our hearts full of love.
May GOD help those who look to Him for their survival.
Amen.

Monday, 30 April 2018

It is the last day of April...  I have been doing my prep for May... budget, goal pages, planning, and thinking about what to focus on.  I have too many directions to move in, and need to make one path to do first... well, that is what I keep trying to do, but I get "distracted" or need to do something else.  I am trying to get better at that... which is why I am working on some crafting pages for my goal notebook.  :-)

What to do first...

I cut out some future homemade stamp circles today.  I tried out some design ideas in pen and paper to decide how I want them to look.  I decided I need more of a destination to make those kinds of decisions right now... what do I want to make with mini-stamps???

I have some jewelry I need to finish.  This will be done soon... some are gifts that have been in process too long!

I want to try some candy/caramel recipes for selling options.

I have my paints on my desk, and found the papers I want to start with.  I am thinking that these ideas will ship more easily than anything else... maybe.  I need to spend some time experimenting with colors and topics... to draw, to paint, to ???    I hope I can create something decent, nice, great! as time goes by.

I discovered some old eBay details today... and I have a pile of things to photograph and list... I just haven't found a solution to my shipping problems yet.  I live in a complicated situation these days.  I hope that GOD will help me figure out a best way to deal with this.  If my printing issues go away, that will make the shipping problems go away.

My ideas for different types of clays are in need of dedicated time.  I really am getting excited about some of them.  I need to deal with the process, storage, equipment, mess...  it's always something... I think I can tackle the various creative destinations I want to go if I find a way to do them one at a time.

That is what I am trying to figure out these days.  Today I was clearing spaces for that goal.  :-)

I have a new (used) mini fridge now... my son and his wife brought it back from California... from my mother's belongings.  She downsized recently.  It is much taller than the ones I have seen in the stores here... and should work out great if the mechanics of the appliance are OK.  I'm going to let it run for a week or so before I trust it enough to live with it permanently...  I'm holding the older, bigger one as a back-up in case this isn't a good used deal.  :-)   Food is everything.  Fresh produce is expensive.  Refrigerators matter.

I voted today... here in Oregon voting is a mail-in process.  I really think they need to limit elections and save money... all over the country.  I discovered they cost millions and millions of dollars to hold, even if you mail ballots.  We don't need excess elections.  We need to save money.  I decided the national elections are every two years because of the Senate races, so that seems like the only option.  I think we can save more money by not having divisive primary elections.  Let's just list all the candidates and have a run-off if there is a too-close race.  If we can't do that, I also think we need just one primary option, with all the candidates listed and everyone eligible to vote for whoever they want... end this party separation... let the vote be about the person who is best for the job, no matter what party you are.

Ideally, that would be great... but, we know that people will still vote along party lines.  The big difference is that they have the citizen option to vote for anyone they want to in any particular election.  This is why we don't really need a primary.  Let everyone be available for the big day... lots of choices!  If we have to have a run-off election, it is still better than what we have now.

You see how I think...

Yardwork keeps calling to me but I never seem to answer it.  :-)  I know it is there, needs to be done, and it is MY task... so... I hope the sun won't beat too hot or the rain be too wet and cold... then I will get out there...  really,  I am sure I will.  haha

Life is really ordinary, isn't it...   We think everyone else has such a better life than we do... mostly because we really don't know what their lives are like.  Ordinary is nice.

You know I am praying for the big bucks to do Working Together... well, I always wanted a big secret check so I could have the cash but not have everyone know about it.  I don't think that will work totally, but maybe for a little while... I guess it depends on how GOD brings the money.  A lottery win... that would be public.  I haven't figured out too many other options, but I still pray....

That's my life... always praying for blessings and struggling without them...  :-)
One of the funniest cards I ever got was a sign of my life... the message was that when my ship came in, I would probably be at the airport.   :-)   These days, I have been thinking of the verse/thought about how GOD moves in our world, in our lives...

The Lord moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform...

We don't always understand it, we may not even see the way things connect, but GOD achieves His goals in the most amazing ways at times.  I try to watch what happens and figure out where He is going... just in case it involves me.  :-)

Until next time,
In Christ,

Deborah Martin
work2gather.us

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May your days be good, filled with faith, and meaningful.
May our country find its way back to holiness.
May the Body of Christ unite.
May our governments remember their GOD.
May GOD provide for all the things we need.
May we become One Body.
Amen.

Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Hello to all... what a beautiful day!  
Lots of sunshine and a warm wind.
I love to look at it from inside the cool house...  :-)  

Well, I love the sun, but it doesn't love me... it makes me ill if I get too much of it... I think I was close to heatstroke once, when I was young, so I try not to push the envelope on dying.  I went out to do some yardwork this morning... now that I have it started, it will be more motivating to get it done.  There ate so many berry vines and ivy patches where I live.  I have one space I am trying to clear out.

My son got a new (used) rototiller so I am wondering what parts of the yard will get a visit.  I hate to think of doing all this manual labor and then a machine comes in and destroys it!  

There's some kind of plum tree in the section I am working on.  I was able to eat a few of them, and then made some kind of sauce out of them.  I am finishing it up this month.  I only was able to get two canning jars... the large jam jars... of plum sauce.  I think I will make it into plum jelly if I can this year.

I have plans for the blackberries, too... I wonder how many we will get this year.

I figured out one time that it would take about ten years to really get some good fruit from a new tree... and that is planting one that has been growing in a nursery.  I am not sure how long it takes to grow a fruit tree from seed.  My son planted a fig, a mixed cherry tree with five different grafts on it, and I think he may have planted an olive tree... some other kind of food tree, I'm not sure right now what it is. He has also been growing a coffee bush, but it looks dead today... I saw one coffee berry on it last summer, so it is possible!  And the Meyer Lemon is popular in these parts... he has one of those.

They like blueberries, so there are several of those bushes.  Herbs, too.

Growing your own food is really great.  Someday I hope to see my own food harvests.  You know it's healthy, you know where it came from, you know how it was grown, and fresh is so much tastier than store-bought... which is why Farmer's Markets are the next best thing.   :-)

I hope you will be able to grow a lot of your own food.

What else?  I'm not sure...  I just started checking my online stuff... I have an Amazon selling video to watch...the last of the four in their series.  I have some other work to do online, too.

I cut some of the lilacs in the yard and brought them in the house to see how they would do... how strong the scent would be.  Not many, just a small vase.  I haven't seen any roses yet... it is pretty early for them, I think.  The neighbor raises LOTS of roses, so I need to check his yard!  :-)  I did discover some pretty white flowers.  I wonder if my son and his wife planted them... I don't remember seeing them last spring... they are pretty.

I guess I better get busy... doing something useful...  maybe I need a nap...  :-)

Until next time,

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

work2gather.us

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May GOD be good to those who love Him.

May our hearts be good, our words kind, our thoughts pure, our habits godly, our nights safe.

May the power of our Enemy and his minions be thwarted at every turn.

May our prayers be filled with faith, and be answered quickly.

May GOD help our country.

Amen.

Tuesday, 20 February 2018

The snow has been gently falling ALL day!!!  I am amazed!  The news I just heard is that it will pile up overnight, so the ground will be white again.  I love watching the big flakes fall down in the light of street lamps... but, any light will do.  :-) 

Dinner is cooking, I figured I might as well get to this now.  I'm trying to return to my scheduled life of blogging now that I found it is the best option for the long term.  I haven't worked on my big schedule yet, but it is on my desk.

I did watch the first video in my mini-course today...twice.  There wasn't a way to stop and back up the video to see a part more than once.  I decided to time the presentation on the second time through.  I may watch it again, or save myself for the next one... on money management.

After seeing the kajabi.com presentation, I am wondering what kind of courses I might think of doing.  I have to figure out video first... but it has been on my mind since I discovered NiceNet.org so many years ago.  I still have an account there (as far as I know) and have been trying to reach the point of presenting links to class efforts there.  It's a free site, long before Khan Academy, but it wasn't very enhanced back then.  I don't know what it is now.  I will have to rediscover it when I get there.

I have been wanting to do a lot of things I see on the internet... and hope to soon.  I am using this opportunity to revisit my goals in a new way (via the Best Year Ever course and workbook) to try to make a better priority list.  I love her version of the SMART Goals formula.  She calls it CRUSHING IT.  You need to check this out.  By the end of this, I may share the formula with you and have a link to something that explains it better.

With a goal as big as Working Together, finding the first thing to focus on has always been a challenge.  If I had more resources, I know I would have done better.  I will just keep going forward the best I can.

I see the influence of other people in her materials... like Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace program and SMART Goals.  I'm not sure what else I would recognize yet.

This is what we do... we seek out answers from all kinds of sources, try them out, and make them our own. I constantly recreate my goal pages.  There really isn't one easy way to achieve anything... it is all hard work that takes years of our lives.  I, personally, think I must be more like Edison (and maybe Lincoln), because I know all the ways that don't work... and keep looking for the one that will.  :-) 

It is the process that eliminates those who really don't want to find their goals.

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I happened to rest upstairs when a Hallmark movie on "conflict resolution" was on.  I really don't recall the name.  I liked watching their solutions to changing the way we do things... How these changes are going to affect our lives.  It is only a movie, I know, but the details can be seen in real lives.

It is like that Brian Tracy CD I have :: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life.  It is so true.  It often takes a lifetime to figure these things out... which is very sad.  When my sons began to get in trouble with the law, I wished the prisons would use their time to teach the things I wasn't able to because they left, because they wouldn't listen to me, because they were out of control.  I know they try to do state-approved materials, but there is so much more that would benefit the process.  Instead, it becomes a waste of life... all that time is wasted... they often come out worse.

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Well, that's enough for tonight.  Dinner is done and I need to go eat it.  :-)
Until next time...
In Christ,

Deborah Martin

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May GOD touch our lives with His great Love and Mercy and Blessings.
May we appreciate what we have.
May we find a way to share.
May our choices only be good for our world.
May life find a way to keep going... and heal the damage we have done.
May the country we love be worthy of our affections.
May we find food, shelter, love, and dreams that come true.
Amen.