Last night we had our last Financial Peace University. One in person meeting and then the last five were via Zoom. We still got it done and we had a lot of great interaction with everyone. Our facilitators did an excellent job keeping everything going. I made the most of my money and the website. Time to take advantage of my membership and use it. Time to use that everydollar.com app as well. The class will be offered again in the Fall.
Eventually I’d like to be a small group leader. Ed and Pam have done it for a long time and with me coming back to my roots academically, I’d like to take the lead someday. But I also need to practice what I preach too. That’s why I really want to get this working on the budget down pat, plus I need to be serious about having money put away for retirement every month. Maybe it’s time to take Dave’s advice and put some of that money in mutual funds.
Deb Close commended me for participating in FPU as well as sticking with it when the lockdown hit. I commend all the leaders for making me feel welcome and for having a vast knowledge of the subjects. I would have been happier with more time dedicated to the budget (two classes worth learning about it would helped those novices in the class). I think my favorite part of the course was Dave Ramsey’s humor in helping us live like no one else, hearing Chris Hogan give a completely different spin on how millionaires live, and Rachel Cruze’s passion for doing the monthly budget.
You’ll see why I went with the title I did today as I return to the routine of work this Saturday. I got word that things were going to be starting back up on the 9th. But with us coming back, rules are going to be put in place to keep our customers and us safe. I can abide by that. For one thing, masks and gloves will be mandatory. Vans and equipment will need to be sanitized and only eight people to a van. Most of our crew drives anyways except for Uniontown. I came back briefly in late March and early April to help out Rite Aid with stocking their shelves. For my safety, I abandoned it on Good Friday and for the last month, I’ve been off. I miss my coworkers even though they haven’t reached out to me and I’ve done the same. But I’m sure they missed me regardless. However, there are things I haven’t missed being off for this extended time.
First off let me say I’ve seen a lot of personal growth in my life since I haven’t been going anywhere. I’ve grown spiritually for one. I’ve taken time in the morning to read the Scriptures along with some inspirational reading. I’m even taking to the time to pray before I begin my study. With the virtual Toastmasters meetings and the luxury of having the Zoom app at my disposal, I’ve had the opportunity to attend multiple Toastmasters meetings and not have to go anywhere. But I make it seem like what if in the blogs. Therefore I’m growing socially in addition to spiritually.
Mentally, I’ve read a lot more books on my time off. For example, I’ve looked at Chris Hogan’s “Everyday Millionaire” and Rachel Cruze’s “Love Your Life Not Theirs”. I’ve learned a lot from those reads and they’ve tied in to the lessons I’ve learned in Financial Peace University. I’ve built a routine that I’ve honored the last few weeks. I’m not going to go into detail but I encourage you to do the same. I’m interested in learning more from John Maxwell too. I always find something positive to close off these blogs with, so that helps me out mentally and it should help you too.
As jobs return to my schedule, I’m happy to get out of the house. But at the same time I don’t want my growth of the last few weeks to be impeded by old habits. I’m not looking at the schedule anymore than once a day or every couple of days. This will lessen the worry a bit over who confirms and who doesn’t. I’m just going to do my work and at the end of the day move on. I will also respect the social distancing guidelines.
What I’m worried about is becoming complacent. Being off has put things into perspective for me. I didn’t have an effective ground game in place when I was applying the first time around. With me approaching 40 (scary I know) I want to better myself academically. That’s why I want to come back to my roots. It’s never too late to correct a mistake. Not that my professional life has been a mistake, but I know I can do better. I saw that in myself yesterday afternoon when I opened an old accounting textbook. I CAN do better. Obviously the content will get harder but if I felt as confident as I did last night I know I can continue to prosper at this.
It’s time to embark once again on this journey. This time it’s for real.
I missed the Midday meeting because of technical issues with my iPad but I got them worked out for tonight’s Greensburg meeting. We had a great turnout tonight with 14 people showing up. Four speakers participated and the speeches ranged from serious to downright funny. It made for a good flow.
Michelle Teague led a great Table Topics session asking us the question “Never Have I Ever…”. Those who participated gave great answers. I took part in the discussion as well. Never Have I ever purchased an Xbox or PlayStation. I’m a Nintendo guy.
Our evaluators did a great job and provided great feedback. Diane Svec’s topic was very important and her message should be conveyed to everyone. Other groups would benefit from hearing what she has to say.
We have great news that Jim Teague shared with us and that is we have achieved President’s Distinguished status in Greensburg. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we need to get our membership up to be recognized for it. We’re scheduling an Open House on June 17. I remember the last one we had. I achieved my Distinguished Toastmaster at that event on October 2 of last year.
Time to close off the blog. I’m experiencing personal growth but to maximize it, I need to get out of my comfort zone. I’m off to a good start as I come back to my roots. But I need to stay focused. I’ve come too far in this time off to look back and to go back to the way things were. I’m worked too hard for that division lead to give it up now.
Remember to live your best life. Be your best you. ROCK out because you are worth it. Don’t forget to laugh because laughter is the best medicine. Faerie Grace taught us to laugh tonight with her speech. Make tomorrow lovely and don’t forget to rock the heart shades ❤️ ❤️ . That will help you share the love.
Bye everyone. ❤️ you. X’s and O’s.
Stylish 🍒 