So the first month of 2012 is over and as I mentioned in a previous post I carried out my monthly review (very corporate I know). I even put together a financials document to keep a track of how each month performs and to give me a quick overview on the year to date.

After a slightly slow start I’m really excited that in January I earned (after tax) more than I did in a month working at Nokia. It’s not a huge amount more and I know it’s only 1 month but I’m hoping this is a start of continuously out earning what I did in “corporate world”.

During this month I’ve also reflected on how my life has changed after escaping the rat race and there’s been a few things along the way I wasn’t expecting:

I’m a pretty chilled out guy as most of my close friends and family will confirm but I’ve found that my new life is making me more relaxed yet at the same time more focused. I know that every minute of every day is mine and I control it entirely.

Bit of a daunting thought at first but I’m getting the hang of it and getting into the swing of controlling it but still achieving.

This one is the odd ball. Because I’m in control of my time it means that I feel less rushed when I go off to run errands like doing the weekly shop, it’s less about getting back to relax and more about just taking my time and watching everyone else running around panicing because they’re running late.

I’ve started really thinking about what I’m eating (not that I ate badly before). But I’m buying in food that I usually never got or I would buy but forget I had and it would then go off, which is resulting in me eating even healthier and enjoying cooking as it’s not so much of a rush.

I think this comes from the more relaxed but increased focus as I’m finding my creativity is improving and new ideas are flowing with much greater ease. I’ve got back into designing again something which I thought I’d never get back to how I used to be but it’s all coming back with improved ideas and updated styles which really helps developing other ideas and concepts.

As well as the design side, the improved creativity is helping inspire even more projects and ideas to develop (which adds a challenge of when I’m going to get a chance to work on them!). Building new relationships and collaborations will be a big factor in ensuring that these ideas get out instead of staying stuck in my head!

Looking forward to the next few months and smashing my personal targets!

Side note: this track came on whilst I was writing this thought I’d share. Great tune from Washed Out, check out their album.