It’s the end of June, which means we’re about the pass the first half of the year. Crazy, huh? I thought this would be a good time to do a mid-year review to sum up how things are going so far!
In the beginning of the year, I made a big deal of how I want to simplify things in my life. I have made some strides towards that! For example, I did clean up my work and personal desks (though my personal one is getting cluttered again and needs another clean), and I’ve tidied up other parts of the house.
Simplifying the amount of things I own will always be a continual process, but I’ve already made a big donation of clothing and kitchen supplies. My husband and I are working on another pile of clothing to donate, and I also found out about a clothing recycling service. That will be great for clothing that are too worn down to donate. I’ve been making progress on clearing out one of our storage rooms as well and have thrown away or recycled many things in there.
Simplifying my workload and delegating more responsibilities to others was a big deal to me and is probably the biggest change. I went from managing two teams of 7 developers each (14 direct reports), down to one larger team of 10 developers. I rebalanced the teams (one didn’t need as many resources), and I promoted one of my developers to manage the smaller of the two teams. I also promoted another to a senior position, so he can help with code reviews and mentoring, and another developer started leading a couple of my projects. I’m still really busy, but going down to a single team and having a couple developers help out with responsibilities has helped immensely.
I’ve also made a bit of progress towards simplifying my hobbies but not much. I finally expired one of my old Anime domains, and I’ve been talking to my dad about my photography equipment. After he retires, he wants better photography equipment, so a few of my unused lenses may go to him. There’s still more to be done!
In terms of goals, I only made gaming ones because I felt that New Year’s resolutions weren’t working for me. And uh… I’m not doing the best on my gaming goals. I’ve only played 10 games so far (goal is 30), and my backlog is still at 48 games (I want to bring this down to 40). I blame this on spending so much time in Breath of the Wild (but oh so worth it) and taking a month off to focus on cosplay. There is still hope, but I have a lot to go!
Other major things worth noting:
- I went to Pennsylvania twice and was able to meet up with Joy both times.
- I saw my younger brother get married.
- I finished two cosplays: Yuri (Yuri on Ice) and Tashigi (One Piece), and I helped a friend make a McCree (Overwatch) cosplay.
- I went to an Anime convention in Austin and another in Fort Worth.
- I joined a new paid stock photography program.
- I did 6 photoshoots for cosplayers. (3 at Ikkicon, 3 at A-kon)
- I celebrated my birthday with a lot of food.
When I took a break from everything for cosplay, I got out of the habit of doing monthly recaps and setting goals for the next month. I’m going to get back into that! Here are my goals for July:
- Start looking for new furniture to organize the house more.
- Finish post processing all photoshoots.
- Draw something. I had this on a monthly goal previously that I didn’t quite do, so here it is again. Time to get back into this hobby.
Well, that’s my year so far. How has yours been?
I can’t believe how fast 2017 is flying by so far. It’s always good to simplify things! I’m trying to do the same with getting rid of a bunch of stuff in my room. I like the way you rebalanced your responsibilities. Better to manage one larger team with fewer people – everyone can get the time they need with you if anything! You’re close to bringing your backlog down to 40! 8 more games to go 😉
It’s cool that you met up with Joy twice this year! Congratulations to your brother on getting married!
Good luck with your goals next month. I remember you making it a tradition to draw the current year’s zodiac!
2017 is flying by so fast, I’ve barely had time to even look at the giant list of goals I made myself! I can’t believe how quickly it’s going. It’s crazy!
Congrats on doing so well with simplifying your life! I know how hard it is to keep a desk tidy, mine’s always a mess! Hopefully you manage to keep to it.
I’ve also been getting rid of things. We don’t really have the space to store so much, so it’s definitely worth doing. When I sorted my wardrobe there were bin bags full of stuff that I hadn’t worn in years. It’s ridiculous how much stuff we all hang onto!
Good luck completing all those games! Ive stopped myself from buying too many this year because I have so many still to complete. I’d love to get Breath of Wild (and a Nintendo Switch lol) though!
It’s scary how June has flown by so quickly! It’s scary how we are almost at the end of the year, we will all be writing about Christmas soon. Yikes!
One of my goals was to simplify my life too and it has been going well on some months but I still have a lot to work on, for instance, clothes I need to start clearing out because I don’t wear them anymore and other belongings that also need removing from my life because they aren’t useful or bring value to my life. Reading this post has actually motivated me to clean my room and tidy up all my belongings! I have a habit of hanging on to things “just in case” but have realised that it’s not actually needed.
Happy for you with your gaming goals – Breath of Wild sounds awesome! Congrats on completing it! 😀
I can’t believe 2017 is already half over. Time definitely flies by as we get older, huh? X_X I like the idea of you doing a mid-year review! That’s a good way to summarise what has happened so far 😀
Yay for de-cluttering . . . though that story of de-cluttering only for the thing to become cluttered again sounds just like me, haha!
It’s good you’re donating things you no longer need. It’s better to do that than siply trashing them! Simplying for your workload is a good thing, too. It’s smart to delegate tasks and give others the opportunities to learn new skills and advance their careers 🙂
You did quite a bit in terms of your hobbies! From cosplaying to meeting new friends (Hi, Joy!) to gaming (even if Breath of Wild did take over your life, haha!) to your photography — it’s amazing how much you’ve done when you put them all into a list like this. ^^ I hope the rest of your 2017 goes well and just as productive!
Simplifying things/decluttering is one of my goals for this month and I think I’m a minimalist at heart.
Good luck with the rest of 2017 🙂
It is so weird to think that half the year is gone! :S
It’s great to hear that you have been making progress towards simplifying your life. A clothing recycling service sounds like such a great way to reuse materials that can’t be used for clothing. 😀 I am sure that simplifying your workload has made a big difference and hopefully gives you more time for you.
Wishing you the best for the remainder of the year! 😀
I can’t believe that half a year is already gone! Well, my half of the year wasn’t so great in the beginning but as I pull to the middle of the year, it’s been great even if I haven’t done much. I still did a lot in terms of growing as a person and whatnot. I enjoyed seeing you that day at AKon and happy that you managed to finish some much in half a year and so I hope that the rest of the year will be even greater!
Simplifying and minimizing my possessions and life is definitely one of my big goals this year too. I feel like I simply have way too much clutter and unnecessary things clogging up my life, which is made more and more apparent every time I travel for week-2 weeks at a time. I really don’t need any of it except my electronics, clothes, and toiletries…! What’s all the rest of this junk??
I want to find a place to donate clothes I don’t wear, but every time, I get confused about where to take them, and don’t do it. (I give them to my mom instead, which, I guess, works…) I’m also trying to be more mindful when I buy clothes… Before, I would buy them if they’re acceptable on me and cheap, but these days, I focus on LOVING IT, and paying the price for it, if needs be, so that I know I’ll wear them instead of leaving them hanging, unused, because I bought it because it seemed ok and affordable, but turns out I don’t really like.
I’d imagine there are a lot of projects you could do, especially with your sewing skills, with used fabrics, like making little purses and towel holders and rags and stuff, that could probably then also be donated! Would be exciting to see what you guys come up with! 🙂
Wow, it’s already the second half of the year?! Where has the time gone? LOL!
Congrats on your progress towards simplifying your life! That’s something I’ve strived to do as well and so far it’s going well, but it’s really hard to get rid of stuff sometimes! 😛
I honestly can’t believe we are halfway through 2017 already. It’s just nuts. Your year has been busy busy. I wish I could say mine has been as eventful, but not quite LOL