Here is my monthly report on projects, goals, and the lessons I learned along the way.
My 2021 Goals
Professional Goals:
541,730/1,000,000 words for kids (A part of my #1millionwordsforkids goal) (+3,777 words)
705/1,000 Resources (Videos/Worksheets) for Members of The Religion Teacher (+26 resources)
Personal Goals:
31/24 Books Read (+6 books)
36/73 Books of the Bible read from beginning to end (+0 books read)
65/100 30-minute workouts (+8 workouts)
How I Spent My Time in August 2021
I track every minute of time I spend working on projects using an app called Toggl (here is why). Here is a list of the top ten projects I spent the most time on last month:
- 12:50 – The Religion Teacher Email & Customer Service
- 9:49 – Speaking Events (Culver, Indiana, Virtual Catholic Conference, and Diocese of Venice)
- 5:10 – The Religion Teacher Saint Worksheets
- 5:00 – Morning Preview
- 4:56 – Daily Review
- 4:45 – Advent Devotional Book for Kids
- 2:28 – Weekly Review
- 2:28 – The Religion Teacher’s Spanish Worksheets
- 2:05 – The Religion Teacher Newsletter
- 1:44 – Bible Breaks Newsletter
Total Time: 62:54 Hours
August 2021 Highlights & Lessons Learned
Speaking Events
Wait, what? Speaking?
Before COVID, I was traveling to speaking events every other weekend. I’m grateful that my family didn’t have to rely on that income during the pandemic. I know many professional speakers who had to get very creative during in order to make ends meet.
I prepared for three events during August. One event was local and only about an hour away. I was invited to speak by a former associate pastor who I’ve known for years. The other event was completely virtual and a pre-recorded talk. The third event was in September, but I was doing a lot of preparation ahead of time.
With five young kids and a busy family life, I’m not eager to go back to the pre-COVID speaking schedule. Instead, I’m looking forward to working on other projects that fit into our hectic schedule.
My kids missed me:
~60 Hours Again?
Last month I worked a record low number of hours. Well, August wasn’t much better.
We took a vacation at the beginning of the month for my wife’s family reunion. I did almost no work during that week and I paid for it.
A fun highlight of the trip: Watching my second cousin win the gold medal in the Pole Vault with my family. (Actually, we were on the road in the middle of Pennsylvania when the Peacock app froze and we missed her actual winning vault.)
Our parents were cousins (may they both rest in peace) and my mom’s maiden name is Nageotte.
700 Resources for Members
I passed a big milestone in August 2021: 700 resources for members.
When I launched The Religion Teacher membership website, I remember there were only 49 worksheets and videos. I was a little embarrassed to ask people to pay for just 49 resources and a couple of online courses. But people did join and some of them remain members today.
There are now more than 700 videos and worksheets available to members. It’s crazy to think about working on that many worksheets, but I got there one worksheet at a time.
As you can see in the goals above, I set the next milestone at 1,000 resources. It seems like a nice, big round number to reach and provide for members.
Setting a goal like that keeps me motivated. I don’t have to worry too much about what I should be working on when I sit down at my computer each day. I have my sights set on a milestone and I will get there one step at a time.
