Goals And Reflection

Goals

Teddy’s told me a lot about his goals and he seems to already be settling on a purpose. His primary purpose is to become a scientist, someone who invents things. He’s really interested in making things, which makes sense given his pedigree. I believe he would be more suited to being an engineer so we need to figure out how to get him there. Since mathematics is a core skill of this pathway I suspect we’ll be focusing heavily on it. I am glad he knows now what his purpose is in life and so far is consistent in what he wants to do.

I’ve also spent time working on my own goals. I’m also changing my personal workflows, which remain unchanged since 2009. In the past I’ve always done the same thing. For work, I keep a “work diary” which is essentially an interstitial journal of what I am doing so I can stay on track. I’ve also kept a small written journal where by goal I try to write one page a day. Finally, I use an electronic reminder app for my personal to do items. I am changing all of these things up though and have new processes in place. I will work on this more as the new flows come into focus more.

Morning Routine

My first change is my morning routine. I do not like how I start the day. I feel like what I normally do sucks too much dopamine from me and makes me less productive throughout the day. I usually peruse social media and the news and I want to focus on my health more. I will utilizing a planning and mood app, a meditation app, and a fitness app to track my health instead and mentally prepare myself for the day. Perhaps I will do the social media/news thing later. I feel like if I can start my day off better I can be more productive and emotionally better centered. Here are some of the apps I’ve chosen so far –

Apple Health – tracking weight, blood pressure, and sleep every morning first thing is paramount to making sure I am doing the bare minimum. Apple Health offers lots of tracking mechanisms and I am using it to plot my progress here. Free with iPhone.

Stoic – a planning and journaling app. Every morning I check in my mood, the goals I am setting for myself that day, how I feel etc. It also offers inspirational quotes and focuses for the day. Annual fee.

10% Healthier – a meditation app. I am using it to train myself in my emotions. I am getting better at managing those and this app is very helpful. Annual fee.

Apple Fitness – a 20 minute workout every morning can’t hurt Apple Fitness has it all! Monthly fee.

Aging Correctly

I know it is early to start thinking about aging but I think it needs to be on my front burner. I know people just a few years older than me riding jazzy scooters at the grocery store and on heart medication. A few already had heart attacks and are battling diabetes. I do not want to be a statistic so I am starting now, primarily with nutrition. I already strength train and I am the strongest I’ve ever been right now, but food is so paramount to health I cannot continue eating poorly. I’ve already transitioned it to eating better and I’ve noticed a huge improvement in my digestive health and energy. I will continue exploring it more.

Career Goals

I am nearing the last half of my career and I am reflecting upon the first half and what I want to do with it. First I am still floored that I was able to transition out of what I was doing and into tech, although I do not feel that transition is complete. I am still relying heavily on my analytical skills and I’ve not developed the core data engineering skills I desire. I am much better at SQL but I’ve not delved too deeply into ETL technologies other than what I use now nor can I utilize Python the way I was hoping to by now. I also have not completed by AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam. As such I’m launching tech.joshuarust.com as a way to continue building and following my career aspirations and staying on track.