Can you believe we are in the last quarter of 2021?!?!!! It still hasn’t sunk in yet that another year has passed amidst the mess that the virus caused. With things returning to normal slowly (and with the vaccination drive gathering steam in India) I am hopeful that 2022 will be a better year. To cement this belief, I want to challenge myself to improve on some aspects in the last quarter of 2021 so that I can enter 2022, as a more confident, happier adult.
Challenge #1: Be more financially prudent and save money
If you’ve been around for a while, you probably know that I have started my own business and a lot of my savings have been invested in the business. All the earnings from the business are currently going back into the business so my earnings are practically none. This means that I am living off of my savings which is a little scary. But while I had my expenses under control over the past year, they have gone a little out of control over the past 2 months. So taking inspiration from trevviesidehustle – I will be challenging myself to save more in the last quarter.
How – No shopping (other than skin care which is basic), reduced eating out, buying groceries smartly (maybe do a food challenge like Taz does) and in general be prudent with money, look for some side hustles to earn a little extra
I do have an amount in mind but I don’t want to post it since I think it is personal.
PS: It is already off to a rocky start – I went to Starbucks yesterday to get myself a pumpkin spice latte because I wanted to pretend like it is fall in Delhi (it isn’t, it literally started raining the second I finished my drink)
Challenge #2: Get healthy
Recovering mentally from the trauma of the second wave of COVID in India led me back to my old friend FOOD. I just gave in and binged ate through these last few months to get over the trauma. But now I am in a much better place mentally and really need to get back to being healthy.
How – Focus of this quarter is to start working out every single day for atleast 30-45 minutes. I have stopped binged eating but will shift focus on getting back to eating healthier. I also want to work on my mental health.
Challenge #3: Read more
While I was doing well on the reading the first 6 months of the year, I’ve practically given up on it these past 3 months. I am going to try and read atleast 2 books per month for the rest of the year.
PS: I’m reading my first Tom Clancy right now. Do you like spy thrillers?
Challenge #4: Get back to the blogging world
With a lot of my favourite bloggers being AWOL, the blogging world became a little sadder for me. I haven’t been the most around since August with work and life taking over. I also haven’t felt like writing too much. But I want to take this last quarter to finally work on my blog and help it find it’s direction again. I’ve lost some steam these past two months but here’s to making a grand comeback. I hope to monetize the blog this month and want to finalize a few aspects of this blog before I do.
How has 2021 been for you and what are your goals for this last quarter? Is there something you hope to do?
PS: I want to do my Blogger Recommendation post this month – so if you have any recommendations – drop them below!
While you are at it, check out my other recent posts as well –
- Content I Binged Watched Recently: Netflix, Hotstar (Hulu)
- Things On Dating Apps That Make Me Really Doubt My Generation’s Ability to Love
- Need A Serotonin Boost? Here Are Some Tips (Guest Post)
- Come To The Beach With Me: Goa 2023
- April Reads: Mini-Book Reviews & More
Happy Panda 
Yes, it’s incredible how fast the time flies by! Great challenges! Good luck 🍀 😉
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Thank you – I hope I am able to complete some of these challenges. ☺️
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I’m not looking beyond October at the mo, but currently on a 30-day of a consumption reset, I’m reading one fiction book and have committed to writing 30 blog posts. Good luck with yours! Laura
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30 blog posts – wow!!! Good luck with you challenge 👍
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Those all sound like great ways to pivot, and I can’t wait to see/hear how monetizing goes, that’s so exciting! Hmm, my goal is to def try to maintain my weight throughout the holidays. I totally get breaking down and going to Starbucks! Fall is so inspiring that way. I might allow myself like 3 or 4 pounds of weight gain but I REALLY don’t want to gain much since I spent all January-February-March trying to lose the weight from last holiday season! 🤣🙄🥺😊
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Festival season is upon us in India from next week and it is going to be tough to lose weight but I’m going to try. Why is losing weight so hard and putting it on so easy? :’)
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Because food is DELICIOUS!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
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All the best…God bless you 🙏🌹🙏
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Thank you so much! 🙂
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I totally feel you! I feel like I’m stuck in molasses.. Can’t seem to get any grip or traction… All the health & fitness and reading mojo in me has disappeared… All I what to do is drink coffee, eat bread with cheese and snack on salty chips 😭😳🤔🤤
I have goals.. Better fitness, read more, blog better… But I’m giving myself time I think… I don’t want to start and feel like a failure.. Maybe I’m waiting for the pandemic to be over?? But who knows when that will be!!
Glad to hear your part of the world is getting vaccinated! 🌍❤️😊
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I SO GET YOU!!! But I’ve reached the point where my clothes are getting really tight so I am in panic mode. 😦
Maybe we can motivate each other to keep up with working out/blogging/reading?
20% vaccinated and A LOT more to go! 🙂
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Oh wow! 20%!? That’s crazy low but hopefully it’ll hit the road running soon??🏃♂️🙏
I honestly want to be motivated but it’s so hard… I keep giving myself a deadline and I miss it everytime! But I will cheer you on!
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20% of 1.4bn is quite a bit – even more vaccinations than the US. But our population is so much 😭😭
I do the same especially with regards to working out – but here’s hoping I stick to working out. 🙈
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Ohhh true! Sorry didn’t think of it in that sense! That is a lot!
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Do you participate in blogmas? Just came to my mind out of curiosity!
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I didn’t last year and I don’t think I will this year either. IDK how people do it – I can’t keep up with my regular blogging schedule as of now. 😦
Will you be participating?
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Ugh I’m debating……. It’s a lot… I’d hate to start and not finish though…
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My fear exactly. I don’t wanna do like 5-6 posts and then leave. Though I did see some people do Blogmas with posts on alternate days which is more doable.
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3 months left of 2021! That’s crazy. Sometimes it feels like it is still 2020. I guess I need to start writing the date more so I can keep up. Haha!
Your list is pretty similar to mine. 1. I just made an expense tracker for the remainder of the year to help get my financial situation back on track. 2. I’m working on a plan for staying healthy too. Now that the weather is cooling off, I’m not going to be playing pickleball outside 3 days a week as I have been. 3. I read a lot! A lot of children’s books.😉 I’ve been meaning to make an effort to pick up at least one book for myself when we visit the library but I keep forgetting. You inspired me to set it as an actual goal. 4. I’d like to start publishing 2 posts a week again over the fall and winter. I just need to sit down and spend some time developing a plan.
Good luck with your challenges!
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Thank you so much. Good luck to you too. ❤️
I am so with you on making a plan for blogging. For most of my blogging journey I was winging it but with so much going on in life it’s been difficult to manage without a plan.
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Good luck with the challenge. Such a smart idea to pair health and savings goals together. Can’t wait to read about how you go 👍.
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Thank you! I hope I’m able to achieve my goals. It’s so hard to stay away from the 100 festive sales going on in India right now.
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Those sound like great goals. I wish the best for you and your country next year. In my last quarter, I am focusing on starting my business
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Thank you so much. Good luck with setting up your business. We can exchange notes on being business owners. ☺️❤️
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I would absolutely love it! Feel free to email me any time! 🙂
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Unlike some people, you seem to have a lot of common sense. My wife and I started putting something into a tax-sheltered annuity from the second year of our careers. We were able to retire early because we planned. After we retired, we got a lot of “How can you already be retired?” questions. It wasn’t luck; it involved planning. The trick is finding the right balance between living for today while also planning for the future.
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Aaah that’s amazing! I definitely don’t over spend but I do spend money on some frivolous things like coffee and clothes. When I was with my corporate job, I had a fixed plan for saving, investing and spending. But with the business I’ve had to use up most of my liquid savings so it is a little scary. 🙈
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I wouldn’t consider coffee or clothes as frivolous spending. Owning your own business requires a lot of upfront investment, so that’s understandable.
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Amazing post! I should also work on setting a few challenges for myself as well!🤍 Goodluckkk
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Thank you. Would love to know what challenges you’re setting up for yourself. ❤️
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Okayyy 🤍🧍🏽♀️
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I cannot believe it’s October, this year has flown by. These are great goals and a lot of them are similar to mine!
I’m wishing you the best of luck, I know you can do it!!
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Thank you so much! 🙂
IKR? I feel like July-September just flew by and I didn’t even get a chance to enjoy them!
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WFH is a blessing for many who want to workout but couldn’t do so because of time constraints 🙂
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True that! Other than the lockdown days, I have been going to office – hence the lack of time to work out. 😦
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Oops. Sorry about that :O
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I can’t believe how much I resonated with this post. I definitely need to start reading more and saving more money (broke college student syndrome?). I also definitely need to focus on blogging more regularly since these last few months have been so hectic!
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Good luck with your challenge! That does look quite practical. 30-45 mins of workout a day is good enough. Some greedy jackasses would plan for 2 hours a day and end up hardly getting 2 hours of exercise for a week! And oh, I realised you didn’t post in a while and I missed you. 🙂
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Good Luck with your challenge! Thank you for returning to the blogging world. I have noticed that inactivity is at an all time high within this community and I am hoping that everyone finds their way back soon (if its still what they are passionate about of course). I’m hoping to get some consistency going as well in this last quarter.
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I’m still dealing with messed up sense of smell & taste since I had covid in January — however, the quarantine, while I hate this whole situation as much as anyone else, its given me more time to work on my novel & to work out regularly at home & to not eat ‘party food’, which is my achilles heel…
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It’s great how you are making the best of the hand we’ve been dealt!!! 😊
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❤
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Sounds great
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Right..
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Those are great challenges! Congrats on you successes.
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