Self reliance – a line in the sand

Today seems as good a day as any to officially announce the official beginning of my plan to become self reliant. This is my sixtieth post on this blog. I started a new job today. We just had one whopper of a thunderstorm rip through the valley, giving everything a good washing.

So here’s the deal. I am setting self reliance goals for the next year. Note that I do not expect to be self reliant by that time, only that I will have significant progress to show in each area. And what are those areas, you might ask? You might, but you’re notoriously quiet at times like these, so I’ll ask for you. Those areas are:

  • Health
  • Employment
  • Home Storage
  • Financial
  • Emergency Preparedness
  • Social

Note: I reserve the right to change this as time goes on. That’s another goal.

So what are my goals for the coming year?

 

 

 

Health – I will work up to the point where I can jog three times a week for half an hour, and do stretching and muscular conditioning three other days each week. On the seventh day we shall rest.
(Current State: Today I am only walking the dog briskly every morning for 15-20 minutes.)

 

 

 

Employment – I will become an expert at social media marketing, both at the individual and business level.
– I will be in stable employment I enjoy, making no less than $48,000 gross per year.
(Current State: Today I started a position selling social media services on a strictly commission basis. In short, I am fully employed, but fully unpaid. I know a fair bit about social media, but am far from considering myself an expert).

Home Storage – I will have in storage a minimum of six months worth of the basic staples and primary foodstuff my family uses regularly. Everything will be on a rotation plan that is carried out no less than quarterly.
(Current State: We have something of nearly everything we use regularly in storage, but the amount varies from a few weeks to eight months or more.)

Financial – This is largely dependent on the Employment goal above, but I will be putting at least 10% of our income back into our savings and investments with the goal of:

  1. Replacing any principle we had to take from our retirement savings (We have not had to touch the principle as yet).
  2. Restore our emergency savings back up to pre-layoff levels of 2009. (Amazingly enough, it’s still within a few thousand dollars of that point now).
  3. Returning to fully funding our retirement programs each year. (We’re obviously not doing this currently)
  4. Putting money away toward our next trip home to visit the in-laws.

(Note: These goals are subject to change if my financial adviser recommends a different priority)

Emergency Preparedness – I will research and define a minimal level of preparedness for our family. We will achieve that level within the year.

Social – This is a big one for me. I am basically an introvert. I use that knowledge of my introversion as a crutch to not have to connect with people. This has not served me as well as I often like to think. I stink at networking, which is probably one reason why I have been significantly underemployed for over a year now. I could blame the economy, but the fact is, most jobs are found by networking, and I have not done hardly any. This must change.
– I will overcome my fear of cold-contacting people.
– I will make contact with a different person in my network each week.

And now for a few goals not directly related to my own self reliance, but to this site:
– I will establish a full definition of each of the above areas, including a means of assessing one’s level of self reliance in each area and the steps needed to get there.
– I will establish a newsletter for all those interested in taking specific, regular action in their own lives to achieve self reliance as well.
– I will establish a more complete and in-depth site that not only serves as a great resource for achieving self reliance, but allows me compensation for my efforts here. Yes, that means I do plan to monetize this site eventually. I may as well be up front about that now. I would like to make money doing what I love.

But rest assured that I will not do so unless a) I am am providing sufficient value to you, and b) it won’t not become intrusive or the focus of the site. If I’m doing good work and helping you improve your lives I think that should be worth a little something–especially if you get something out of it at the same time.

So there it is. What do you think? I’m open to your comments about my goals–especially my goals for this site. Let me know what you think.