Happy 2010, everyone! It’s a whole new year now, and now that the calendar has rolled over, most people are looking to find ways to improve their lives this year. That’s right, it’s resolution season once again, when we promise ourselves that we’re going to get back in shape, be more diligent about cleaning, spend more time with our families, and get our financial ship in order.
I’m no different, now that it’s 2010, I have a whole list of things that I need and want to do to improve my life. Luckily, to help keep myself motivated and on track, I have this blog and my wonderful readers. If I have all my desired goals written down, review them regularly, and hold myself accountable to both me and all of you, I’m sure that I’ll be much more motivated and dedicated to reaching my goals, however hard they may seem. With that in mind, let’s get to my goals:
When the fireworks are gone, the real work begins
Goal #1: Go back to Grad School
My Reason: I’ve been considering furthering my education for quite a while now. Besides being one way to get more out of my career, it’s also a requirement if I hope to eventually become a university professor (which is something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while now). Better to do it now, when I have few responsibilities or previous commitments to tie me up.
The First Step: Getting into school. I can’t attend if I’m not a student, so my first step has to be to do whatever I can to make it into a good school and continuing my education.
Microsteps (Tiny steps I’ll use to make it towards my goal): 1. Do research into several (around four or five) good grad schools in the area, to narrow down my list of potential places to apply and eventually attend.
2. Start to contact these grad schools, to clarify what is required to apply (especially since most places have the application due near the end of January or so).
3. Apply to every school on the list where I meet all the requirements currently, as soon as possible.
4. Work on meeting the requirements for all the other schools. From my preliminary research, this is going to involve taking the GRE (either the general form and the specific subject tests for my major, or both, depending on the requirements of the school). Which brings me to my next point:
Goal #2: Take the GRE Examinations
My Reason: As mentioned above, the Graduate Record Examinations (GREs, for short) seem to a major key to getting into a good grad school and meeting the rest of my first goal, so I’m going to have to take the appropriate GREs soon if I hope to make it into graduate school.
The First Step: Preparing for the test. It’s been a while since I’ve graduated from college, and as much as I’ve tried to retain what I’ve learned, there’s only so much you can recall if you don’t have to use your knowledge regularly. Since most of my jobs since college have required me to use only a fraction of what I learned in my classes (and frequently a fraction that doesn’t seem relevant to these examinations), it’s going to take quite a bit of preparation to get me back in shape.
Microsteps: 1. Determining what’s on the test. Luckily, there are plenty of practice tests out there (including examples provided by ETS itself), so I should be able to get a good idea of what subject matter will be included.
2. Study, study, STUDY. I have quite a lot of work to do to get my mind back into peak test taking shape. Luckily, I was (and still am) a bit of a hoarder back in college, so I still have many, if not most of the relevant text books, which will make it easier, and much less costly, to get my mind back into shape.
3. Sign up for the test. I can’t forget to schedule myself to take the test sometime in the not too distant future. No sense working so hard to master the material if I never get to show off my stuff.
4. Take the practice tests. Luckily, there seem to be plenty of example tests, both online and in print, which will help me prepare for the GRE Subject Tests as well as the general test. I’ll probably take them like I did with the practice tests in my various classes in college; one a week or so before the scheduled test, to see what I still have to learn, and then two to three days before the test, to see if I have learned it all (and see what should occupy my last minute studying time).
Goal #3: Rebuild My Emergency Fund
My Reason: With my second long period of unemployment within one year, I’ve all but depleted my emergency fund, and need to rebuild it. It’s been a long time since I’ve been quite so low on funds, and if things take a turn for the worse (knock on wood; I’m not sure I can handle if things get worse), I need to be prepared.
The First Step: As with saving for anything, the first step is simply to start setting money aside and do everything I can avoid touching it. There’s nothing really tricky about it, but it requires time and dedication.
Microsteps: 1.Stop tapping into my remaining emergency funds. This should be pretty easy; I’ve all but tapped out my emergency accounts already, so it’s going to be pretty hard to take any more out.
2. Start putting a portion of any income (from unemployment, my future job, or heck, even blogging), and put it into a high yielding savings account. I’ve been trying to do so whenever I was employed, but with my lack of work as of late and various problems with unemployment, I’ve been taking money out more than putting it in. That’s got to change.
3. Cut down on my spending. An important part of any saving plan is to reduce your spending (a penny not spent is a penny saved, or something similar).
4. Don’t touch the emergency fund. Probably the most important part of rebuilding the fund is not to touch it; if I keep pulling money out the moment it actually starts to add up to something, I’ll never have a decent emergency fund. Adding money and not taking it out; that’s all there is to saving.
There; my resolutions for 2010. What have you resolved to do? Any advice on completing these or other resolutions? Has anyone gone more than two months into a get thin/exercise more/become fit resolution before they just gave up?
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