At the start of the year I posted my time saving and other resolutions for the year to come. The original post can be found here. In the spirit of transparency, here's an update on how I'm getting on after a few months:
Work
1. Email. I resolved to only check emails a couple of times a day at work. This is difficult. There's often emails or attachments I need to refer to so I end up doing it a bit more often than I'd like. I have cut down and it's no longer the first thing I do in the morning. It's made a lot of difference. I can focus on what I need to.
I've also moved to a zero inbox rule. As in deal with every email as soon as I get it. Or flag it and move it to do later. This is also hugely helpful to efficiency.
2. Prioritise. I resolved to do the most important thing first. I now write down the main job for the next day the day before. If there's something I don't want to do, but should, I make it that.
3. Review and debrief. Assessing progress and reviewing important events. Steady progress with this one. The fact this blog post is only just out suggests it should be more timely! When I have done it it's been hugely helpful.
4. Complete tasks. Avoiding multi tasking. This is more ingrained in me than it thought. There's more unwinding to do on this one.
Smartphone
Here is the list of changes I resolved to make:
1. Black and white screen. 2. Simplified homescreen
3. Rescuetime
4. Notifications
5. Eliminating "just-check"
Take a look at this original post for the full details.
To summarise, I have done all of these things. I black and white my screen regularly, my homescreen is simpler and less distracting. Rescuetime is checked every so often. Notifications are generally off. There's are still those little orange(or black and white!) circles with a number in that pop up. I've tried everywhere to turn them off but can't work it out. If anyone knows how, let me know! For just check- see multi tasking above - still an issue.
The other resolutions are as follows:
Earn £1,200 on top of my salary. Let's be honest, this is the thing you're interested in the most. Can Sam put his money where his mouth is?
So far my extra earnings in 2018 are:
Cashback (Topcashback): £96.
Yes nearly £100 in the first three months of the year. I've really focused on it and it shows how much can be earned using the sites. If you aren't using cashback sites yet, you absolutely should be. For more details check out the post I did on cashback here. It's not hard, and will earn you money.
Cashback (Slidejoy): £4 (amazon vouchers)
I went for vouchers because you can get a bit more. For the minimal effort I put in it's a useful little extra. Again this post will show you how.
Dividends: £58.80
I have some stocks and shares which paid out a bit this year.
Ebay selling: £121.14 (less fees of £8.70 = £112.44)
I've sold a handful of games and DVDs so far this year. Some new, some second hand. I found I had plenty of items lying around which we just weren't using.
My favourite sale was a £2 coin(Yes really!). I had a coin in my wallet that looked like an interesting pattern so I googled it. Apparently it was fairly rare and collectable!
I received £9.17 for it. There's a few different patterns which are pretty rare and worth more than face value. For a full list see this article
Total is £271.24, just behind the £100 per month that I was shooting for. Steady, not spectacular progress. But I'm happy enough at this stage with plenty of ideas of where to try next.
Other Resolutions:
Read 25 books: 6 down, two nearly done, well on track.
Write 25 blog articles: This is blog 6- with 3 or 4 in the pipeline so very happy with progress.
Learn Spanish: Mi nombre es Sam y hablo español! I'm working my way through the Duolingo app. Apparently I'm 51% fluent but I'm not sure I believe it!
Now, on to the next quarter!
If you're enjoying Dough. give the new facebook page a like!
Comments
Post a Comment