Clear The List: October 2015

Yet again, another month has passed by much more quickly than expected, but that’s okay, because we’re going into October! 😀 Yay!

Once again, I’m back to talk about the goals I set for myself last month – and I’m going to set some new ones for the month ahead.

October is one of my favourite months, not least because my birthday is in it – which was yesterday! So technically, this is a brand new year for me and I’m feeling excited about being productive and achieving more.

I also moved back to Vienna on the 21st September, so I’m more or less all settled back into my flat and job – so we’re good to go!

September’s Goals

• Study the language of the day for 15m.

Not as good as August, but good enough – I studied for 13/30 days in September. As I was only counting the days if I studied the language intended, it was probably more than this, because I started playing games in German and watching more TV/YouTube videos in that language, to prepare for my return to Austria. I obviously was also busy the week before I returned (trying to see people and visit things) and a few days after I came back, I didn’t do much either. Still, I’m pretty pleased with this.

• Reach certain points in my language textbooks.

I did not reach any of the points in my books that I wanted to, but I did get somewhere. I finished lesson 49 of NPCR 4, for example – which means there’s only one more lesson before I finally finish that textbook! I also finished one of the Spanish units and one of the Slovak units I wanted to get through, though I’m having a little trouble keeping up with my Slovak textbook right now. I’m going to keep this goal the same for October.

• Work out three times a week (preferably five).

Ha, this did not go well at all. I kind of gave up on it a little bit; I think I worked out on three or four days all month. I’m going back into it this month as a fresh start and I’m looking forward to getting back into a routine. I’m still mainly using blogilates videos; I’m entertaining the idea of going running but the dropping temperatures/dark mornings are not making me eager about that.

• Write 500 words per day.

I probably managed around 4,000 words on blog posts this month and little beyond that. I do want to get back into a routine of writing regularly before NaNoWriMo starts next month, but I might bench this goal for now. I’ll see how it goes.

• Blog at least once per week.

Managed, with the exception of the week I flew back to Austria. I still wrote four blog posts last month though, which is more than I’ve done in a while. I’m really enjoying it again and I’m hoping that – once everything’s settled – I can add more posts to my weekly schedule and keep it up. We’ll see how that turns out.

Now, October’s Goals:

• Study the language of the day for 15m.
• Reach certain points in my language textbooks.

So, these two goals are the same as last month. I’ve given myself a language a day (with yesterday being an exception, as I knew I wouldn’t study) and I’d still like to reach certain points in/complete my language textbooks. Here’s how I have it laid out to keep track:

I seem to have plenty of free time when I’m at school (free periods in between classes), so I’ll try and study then, then I have my afternoons off! (Or I can fill my afternoons with more studying, if I feel like it!)

• Read at least 150 pages for the tadoku challenge.

I totally forgot that the tadoku challenge is on again in October, so I only signed up for it yesterday. (If you haven’t heard of the challenge, the aim is to read as much as possible in your target language(s) in one month/two weeks, depending on the challenge length. October is the whole month.) I’ve signed up with German, Mandarin and Spanish and set myself a goal of 150 pages read. Most likely, most of those pages will be in German (I am so close to the end of Die Rebellin oh my god), but I’m hoping I can get about 10 pages in in the other languages too.

• Workout at least three times a week.

I’m going to print this months’ blogilates calendar when I go to school tomorrow and use that as my workout model. A lot of my friends here have joined the gym so I’m hoping that will incite me to get back into it. That and, once I convince myself to get up and workout, I don’t actually hate it as much as I think I should.

• Blog at least once a week.

So yes, I mostly managed this last month – but I’m hoping to do as good a job this time around. I have my GCSE German series (Mondays) and as Wednesdays are my day off this year, I’m hoping to have a post up then, too. However, I’m going to be realistic and say once a week for this month as I can always change it up next week.

There we go! All my goals for this month! I should get busy…

And again, if you fancy joining the Maximise Your Month Linkup, here’s the rules:

1. Share your goal post whether it includes your aspirations for the month or year. Submissions unrelated to the theme or links to your homepage will be deleted.

2. Link back to this post. You can use our button if you wish.

3. Follow the hosts: Esther from Local Adventurer, Hsiao-Ting from Shouting Chow, Mariah from Food, Booze & Baggage, Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages, and Shannon from Eurolinguiste.

4. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: Please visit the site of the person who linked up immediately before you and leave them an encouraging comment! By hosting this linkup, we’re hoping to create a positive community where we can all share our goals. If you do not do this, you will be removed from the linkup.