Deliverable

For all things, a reason.

A question that I need to focus on:

• What successful people can I model in the areas of finance, acting, music, etc.?

This idea is nothing new, but it occurred to me today that I say that I want to be financially successful, yet there are no people in my immediate (or even extended) circle of contacts that are financially successful. I’m surrounded by people who don’t know anything more about money or financial success than I do. It’s like the blind leading the blind. I’m not suggesting that I cast out people in my life because they’re as unsuccessful in this area as I am. I’m suggesting that I need to enlarge my circle so that I bring people into my life that are as successful as I want to be.

It occurred to me this morning that the first step is to identify all of those who are currently in my various circles. There might be degrees of separation to successful people that are closer than I think.

The basic premise is that those who are successful in an area of expertise (finances, music, acting, whatever) think a certain way. They approach life and problems a certain way. This “way of thinking” causes them to take actions that are different than other people. These different actions cause different results than I’m currently getting.

Different thinking = Different actions = Different results

Time to paint the wall. I’ve put it off long enough and can’t do it anymore. This shall be done!

–update: 4:01 p.m.–
The first coat is up on the wall. Taping the ceiling and one wall was a pain. (And I’m still going to have to go back and touch up with white where I goofed here and there.) I love the color. It’s good that they put the coat of linen white down first… It’s acting like a primer so I should be able to finish the whole wall with just the one gallon of paint.

–update: 5:28 p.m.–
The second coat of paint is up on the wall. I really am liking this color the more it’s up there, and think it was a good call. This is going to be a really nice accent wall when it’s through.

–update: 6:08 p.m.–
I’ve put a pretty good coat on the baseboards. I want to let it dry and then check for spots I might have missed. The rest of the wall is drying well.

–update: 8:12 p.m.–
I’m pretty much done with the baseboards. Been walking around my apartment for the last bit just looking at my cool new wall. I’m lovin’ it! The back LR is going to look sweet when it’s all put back together.

Think I’ll sign off painting for the evening.

The super came this morning. He start installing closet doors. He no read instructions. He tap thing-a-mabob into wrong hole. Now doors don’t work. He offer to jury rig the doors with glue. This no good for me. He also only bring one set of doors for one closet cause he say I no tell him to buy two sets of doors. This also no good for me.

Now I have to call the apartment manager and sort this thing out. I still have no closet doors. At this point I just want him to bring the doors to me and I’ll install them myself.

Ridiculous.

“Skills I Wish I Had at the Moment (but probably wouldn’t need as much if I had a ton of money)”…

Woodworking / Cabinet-making

As I’ve begun to work on my home, it’s become evident to me how useful it would be to know something about woodworking. I’d like to cover the radiators in the apartment. (Apparently I’m not alone. Prices start at 145 bucks at the local hardware store and go up from there. I look at these things and I think to myself “they must not take all that long to build and can’t use that all that many raw materials… if only you know what the hell you’re doing!”. Unfortunately in NYC we seem to pay a premium for “not knowing what the hell we’re doing” as well as the “we’re lucky if we own a hammer” tax. Of course, if I had the bucks I wouldn’t worry about such things, but then if I had the bucks I probably wouldn’t live in an apartment that had ugly radiators that needed hiding.

By 2/28/06 I will complete the following:

–Book Stuff–

–Acting Stuff–

• Purchase Backstage on Thursday 2/2/06 (completed: 2/3/06) – Did this Friday instead of Thursday.
• Send out headshots/resume for parts I’d be right for (week of 2/2/06) (didn’t complete this)

–Music Stuff–

• Email C., re: get together on Thursday afternoon (2/2) for guitar hang (completed: 2/1/06) – update: This week’s no good for him. Possible follow-up next week. (update: 2/9/06) I got together with C. this afternoon.

–Home Stuff–

• Follow up with apartment mgr., re: Credit (completed: 2/1/06) – I’ll get the credit on my March rent. It’s the credit I was expecting and I should be able to purchase the paint as well as a few other home items with it.
• Call the apartment mgr., re: Have them fix the toilet (completed 2/3/06) – The sewer and water guy came and took the tank apart and found the blockage. What a hoot.
• Call the super, set up appt. to hang the closet doors (completed 2/3/06) – He’s supposed to come first thing Monday morning. (update: 2/6/06) See my post here. Ridiculous.
• Paint the Burgundy wall (mostly complete: I put a couple of coats the burgundy wall but had issues with the paint. I need to wash off any dust on the wall and try another coat. Moving the completion of this one forward.)
• Touch up the remaining white areas that need it in the back LR (completed when my folks were here)
• Touch up (paint) the area around the back LR radiator (completed 2/28/06)
• Assemble the Expedit bookshelf (completed 2/4/06 – Thanks M.! : )
• Put the back LR furniture back where it belongs (out of the front LR) (completed)
• Research and find the best and/or cheapest raw materials for the “window framing” project (completed: 2/8/06)
• Purchase the raw materials for the window framing project (completed: 2/8/06)
• Assemble the “window framing” project (paint and attach the frames to window) (completed)
• Purchase a 3 foot display ledge for burgundy wall (probably from Pottery Barn) (move forward – I have a two foot ledge that I may or may not use. Will make a final decision before next weekend)
• Visit fabric store, check out possible fabrics for back LR window (didn’t complete this – will forward to next month)
• Measure the space for the “hallway shelf/cabinet” project and diagram needed supplies (with measurements) (completed>
• Purchase raw materials for “hallway shelf/cabinet” (completed>
• Install “hallway shelf/cabinet” (completed when my folks were here)
• Purchase the raw materials for the shelf/cabinet cover and the underside molding (completed 2/26/06)
• Build & paint the cover for the hallway shelf/cabinet (completed: 2/28/06)
• Build a radiator cover (completed 2/21/06 – built it with my Dad)
• Assemble & paint old closet doors into new “screen” to hide storage area (completed when my parents were here)
• Paint the hallway (Mostly completed when my parents were here… see below for remainder)
• Cut in the corners/touch up (paint) in the hallway (completed: 2/28/06)
• Hang the mirror and pictures in the hallway (completed: 2/28/06)
• Paint the kitchen (moved forward)
• Paint the front LR (Completed when my folks were here)

It’s the first day of February, 2006. I’m finally over (knock on wood) the bout of flu (or whatever the hell it was) that knocked me out of the last 3 days of January. I wanted to capture some thoughts about how January went before posting my February “things I will complete” list.

It’s nice to have the objective record of what I did and did not accomplish in January. It shows that I am slowly but surely working towards my stated goals for 2006. As I look back on January I realize that my focus was almost entirely on the “create a nurturing home environment” part of my 2006 goals. There was no conscious decision to focus on the home stuff. At some point I suppose I’ll have to determine if focusing first on the home stuff was me intuitively realizing that I must have a nurturing home environment if I am to make all these other things happen… or if I was just putting off the inevitable work on my book, acting, music, etc. out of fear. We’ll see how that shakes out.

One thing that I did notice as I was creating my goals was that at times I wasn’t specific enough about the goal. There were times when I listed a large goal like “sell the bike” when what I really needed was the “next action” (fill the tires on the bike, clean it up for sale, take pictures…). I’ll try to work with that in my February goals by breaking things down into parts more.

I also think that I underestimated the whole “paint the apartment” thing. Had I thought it through a bit more I might have realized that if I wanted it done right I’d have to do it myself, which would necessarily take more time than having the super et al do it. I started the process later in the month and then things kinda went to hell. Lesson learned, I hope. February is 4 days shorter than January so I’m not going to waste any time in getting started on these things.

One thing I want to be aware of in February is how to better balance my work on my home with work on my music, acting, teaching, etc. I felt like the balance was way off in January. Something to think about. Overall though, I like the process. I like being able to point to my blog and say “I did this”. It’s a good feeling.