What Is Your Short Term Goal?

Blogger's note: The Q&A blog entry is written with limited editing for grammar and content.

What's the answer to your question? I want consistency in my life. The entire 2013 has been inconsistent. It's frustrating. I'm unhappy. I have been struggling to live a consistent normal life.

Consistency is important to live a good life. I wrote a blog that consistency, control, choices, and being proactive are the four keys to life a good life. I have been lacking consistency. I want it back.

Here's the link to my blog: The Three C's And A P: Choices, Consistency, Control, Proactive

Another way to answer the question is I'm catching up. I'm significantly catching up in my life. It's time to cross out the items in my to-do list that was supposed to be accomplished months ago.

What are you doing to live a consistent life? I'm being more proactive. I'm focusing to accomplish my goal and my list of tasks. At the same time, I do my best to help out in the house including washing dishes, laundry, and cooking. I plan ahead for the next 24-48 hours and I plan ahead for the weekend. Having the short-term goal is making all of these easier.

What are the results so far? The results are immediate. The first result was big. I cleaned the entire house including vacuuming and mopping the floors. I was recovering from allergies I experienced in the middle of May. I started cleaning the house after Memorial Day. The house is much easier to breath. I plan to clean the house every three weeks because the house gets dirty easily. It's prevention to avoid allergies and getting sick.

The last weekend of May I watched eight episodes of anime to catch up on the Spring 2013 season. That was huge. I fell behind many episodes in various series.

I started going back to the gym on the first week of June. I got my breaks repaired, added more freon to my car's A/C, and replaced my cabin air filter. I went to my dentist appointment for my regular checkup. I'm selling DVDs on half.com priced to sell. I resume reading books and writing blogs.

How do you feel so far? Stress free, being professional. Life is good. I live life with a personality. I'm not making little mistakes anymore. I made too many in April and May. I feel my life is going back up instead of going nowhere. I feel accomplished.

When did you start working on the short term goal? I started on Tue May 28, the day after Memorial Day and after Fanime Con 2013.

How long do you need to succeed? I like to accomplish my goal in 3-4 weeks. I accept finishing the first week of July after Fourth Of July.

What inspired you to create the consistent life goal? I was inspired on Thur May 23 when I realized I needed to clean the entire house. The house was dirty and dusty. I realized my allergies I suffered starting in mid May was the result of my dirty and dusty house. I devoted time to clean the house. I might as well devote additional days and weeks to take a break, relax, and recuperate. I have a fresh mind when my life begins with consistency.

What about job searching? I thought of changes to my job search; for example, consolidating searching for analyst positions. I used to search for business analyst, research analyst, data analyst, etc. When I resume job searching, I search for all analyst positions. I consider bringing back searching for accounting jobs.

I have been receiving inquires about positions that match my job skills for the past 10 days.

You don't believe in goals, at least short term goals. Obviously, your biggest goals at the moment are getting a job and moving out. This is my opportunity to really reset, refocus, and free my mind. When I'm ready and settling in to a consistent life, I'm ready to job hunt with a new mind refreshed and renewed.

How much do you think you spend? The biggest expense is gas because some of what I'm doing is outside the house. Dentist and auto repairs were costs already budgeted before the short-term goal was established.

I do my best to save money, take advantage of sales should I need to purchase anything, and avoid splurging which I'm very good at.

Is this the 2007 summer sabbatical that failed? Absolutely not. I'm going to earn my consistent life. I'm not going to take this opportunity for granted. I'm not going to repeat what happened in 2007.

This is like getting back to Winter 2009 after you lost your job at Cisco. Definitely yes. I remember the beginning of 2009 was like a blessing in disguise after my contact was terminated. It was a period when I need to grow up and find the real Raymond Mar. I needed a life time out. I was confused, lost, and I didn't know what to do.

Similarly, I need to find consistency. I need to fulfill my obligations I neglected for at least a month. I only had one interview so far this year. The break for job hunting can benefit me such that I can think of smarter and more efficient ways to job search, as mentioned earlier. I already thought of a couple ideas. I take advantage of being jobless to find my life consistency just like in 2009 finding Raymond Mar, who is now the grown up, wiser, stronger, and more mature Raymond Mar.

Like in 2009, you found new hobbies such as ballroom dancing and hiking. Is there anything new you want to do? Yes, I want to play more Mahjong. Yes, I already know the basics. The new part is I want to play with more people and have more opportunities. I met a person at Fanime Con who hosts Mahjong on Meetup. I used my old account and signed up for Mahjong Meetups in the Bay Area. This is a good opportunity to meet new people.

Another kinda new thing is I want to sell some personal items on eBay and half.com. I already have an account. I haven't sold online in years.

I want to catch up on D. Gray Man Japanese comic. It's going to be a first I'm caught up on a current comic series. I finished reading Fullmetal Alchemist, my only comic series I finished.

And I plan to visit the city of Pacifica and the Computer History Museum both for the first time.

What are you going to do after you succeed? I'm going back to job hunting with new perspectives, stronger focus, and changes to how I search for a job. I'm going to find time to take online training classes starting with basics Excel and Access. I want to learn salesforce.com and Oracle.

I continue reading books, working out at the gym, spend time with my girlfriend and my friends, taking care of the house, and, as always, finding new adventures and experiencing new experiences.

Do you have any advice for people in your similar situation? Enjoy life. Even unemployed people deserve time off or a vacation. Take a break, refocus, and come back with a new perspective and a refresh mind. The job market is improving very slowly at best. In my opinion, the job market continues to be tough for at least two years. Hundreds of people apply for open positions. That's my mindset, and its reality.

The bottom line is to find something you always wanted to do. Then do it. Take advantage of your unemployment. Find a week or two and go on vacation. The world is not going to end tomorrow.

Somehow, someway, everyone is going to pull through and survive the current tough economic conditions.