I've decided that it would be best to break up my monthly accounting report into two sections. This way if folks have triggers regarding either money or time they can easily skip the ones they have issue with while still accessing the one they want.
Time:
The other axis of my "Showing Up" Pledge is time investment of 10%. This can take a wide range of forms but it cannot be simply time spent making myself a better person. That is important but standard work. There was a time where taking time to become informed would count and it is possible that for some of you following along on this journey that it is the best way to spend your time. If you join me in this pledge you can make your own rules about what counts and what does not count. Another type of work that I am not counting is standard social media slacktivism. If I'm only reacting, it doesn't count. Exceptions will be made for situations where I do research for a response that I believe will mentor and move someone forward on their path in this fight. It is somewhat arbitrary but I know when I feel like I'm doing work and I know when I feel like the work I'm doing has a good chance of seeing a return on its investment.
September has 30 days in it, which is a total of 720 hours to use for everything that must fit into the month. 10% of my time is 72 hours.
Blog Posts: 5.25 hours
I've been working on a few different blog posts to get this community up and rolling with a sense of what we are even doing here. It has been slower going than I had hoped but I was able to publish a few blog posts in addition to some drafts that are waiting in the wings for later:
- Labor Day Resolutions and Project Kickoff
- Showing Up with Kiva
- Statement-Wear
- The September Accounting Reports
Podcast: 13.25 hours
I'm working with a very special team to produce a podcast. We are working on getting a little bit of a backlog of episodes. I am getting my computer up to the task and learning how to edit audio. I'm also learning about all the other pieces of producing a podcast. There is a lot to learn and I'm not ready to announce the podcast or even the copy to describe what it is yet but hopefully I will have those pieces in place before the end of next month.
Micro-Volunteering & Micro-Citizenship: 4.5 hours
Flu Shot: 0.5 hours
I know that I should have gotten flu shots before this point. I'm a bit ashamed to say that this is the first year I've actually followed through. When I was younger I didn't really understand the impact that the flu can have on vulnerable folks. As I got older I became one of the vulnerable folks as I have psoriatic arthritis and my medication lowers my immune system. Mostly after that point I was too lazy or busy or exhausted or something... always too "something" to look into whether I could have the flu shot on my medication. This year I decided it was important as part of showing up to do this small citizenship step. Flu shots can protect folks who can't get flu shots and folks who could be in significant danger if they catch the flu. With the Trump Administration and ICE's decision to not vaccinate the folks detained in camps, we could end up seeing just how bad a lack of herd immunity can be. I hope that they reverse this decision but in the meantime, we should all get our flu shots if we can, every little bit of herd immunity helps.
Conversations that Count: 3 hours
Time Required for the Monetary Donation Work: 1 hours
Failures / Consequences / Next Steps: -49 hours
10% of time especially is a challenge. I want to acknowledge that I failed to reach my goal this month and find a path forward that honors the commitment I made while also not sabotaging my work next month. One option would be to compensate my time misses with monetary contributions. I have a measurement of what my time is currently worth to this society and I could attempt to trade that amount to cover the loss of time. This is too steep for me as for this month it would mean $1838.88 over my normal monetary obligation. If I instead were to pay a $15/hr minimum wage it would be $1080 for 72 hours which is high enough that I can't just easily trade but low enough that if I put in sincere effort to meet my time goals I will not hurt myself too badly financially to make up the difference.I am also someone who tends to be rather hard on myself and beat myself up over failures. It is possible that just honestly owning my performance and moving forward would be a better model for others.
If you have any other recommendations for how I can honor this obligation even in my failure, I would appreciate your thoughts. I will give myself one week past the end of the month to determine and make whole the obligations of the month. Time can only be used during the month, though, as my time obligations are high enough that paying it late in the next month will only cause me to start off the next month behind.
Please comment on any thoughts you have for how I should handle this deficit. I will take all recommendations under advisement and make a determination by October 7th.
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