Welcome to this November 2021 Monthly Blog Review!
Each month we like to post an update on how things went for us at Teen Financial Freedom as well as how things went for us personally. We share what content came out, any news or announcements, what we’ve been working on, then share our personal sections at the end.
Let’s dive in!
New Blog Posts
Here are the new blog posts that came out this month:
- October 2021 Monthly Blog Review
- Personal Finance Tips For Teens – Part 1
- Habits of Successful Students in 2021
- Productivity Hacks To Get Things Done in 2022
- The Case for Applied Financial Literacy Education
- The 12 Best Jobs For Teens in 2021
- A Day In My Life As a High School Student (Freshman Edition)
- I Hit A Stage Of Burnout
New Podcast Episodes
Here are the new podcast episodes that came out this month:
- Uncovering Your Money Nerve with Bob wheeler
- You’re Not As Busy As You Think You Are
- How I made ten thousand dollars in 2021
- How I Manage Over Ten Thousand Dollars
- Everything You Need To Know About Crypto
- How to get into stocks as a Teen
- How To Fix Your Sleep
- Do Vaccines affect the Economy?
What We Worked On
November was supposed to be the month where we turned things around at TFF. Unfortunately, that was not the case. While we all saw things slow down in November, we had other issues come up. Several members of our team had some personal issues this month. I, Jacob, dealt with some serious burnout this month after the craziest 3 months of my life. Other team members can relate with the fact that we struggled with motivation and getting things done for TFF this month. Our goal is to get things turned around in December before the end of the year.
Statistics
Here are our statistics from the last month:
- 2,700 Users
- 8,000 Pageviews
- 500 Podcast Downloads
- 45,000 Pinterest Impressions
- 106,000 Google Search Console Impressions
- 1,700 Google Search Console Clicks
Personal Lives
Finally, let’s get into our personal sections for the month of November!
Jacob
Looking back now, November was my worst month in awhile. The last few months were the craziest of my life. This month, everything came to a screeching halt. If you read my last month’s review, you’ll know that I called October the busiest month of my life. School started ramping up and actually getting difficult, my extracurriculars starting requiring a lot more time, and my businesses all had long to-do lists. On top of all that, I threw in a week long trip in the middle of the month to celebrate some family birthdays.
Looking back now, I think that trip threw me off a little bit. I had just gotten into the groove of everything and started to have a little momentum when it came time for that trip. Of course, I enjoyed the trip, but it threw me off upon my return. I immediately was swamped with a ton of school, a ton of business things I wanted to do, and a ton of social events. I recall feeling more overwhelmed than ever before. But, I got through it and once it done, everything stopped.
School became easy again. My businesses hit road blocks. I got sick of hanging out with people. I lost all motivation and energy. Before long I found myself in a productivity rut. The next few weeks were pretty rough. My sleep schedule became terrible as I struggled to get 8 hours of sleep without sleeping in. I became exhausted all the time to the point of not being able to function because of constant fatigue. My workouts and other habits got much worse as I stopped caring. All I ever wanted to do was sleep, watch YouTube, or play video games. I retreated back to my old self.
It took me awhile to recognize that I hit a major stage of burnout. Rather than fight it, I tried to accept this fact and even embrace it. I gave myself more time to slow down, relax, and not spend every waking minute working. Secretly, I was hoping I could get over this quickly. I thought I could just give myself a week or two and then be back on track. However, it has taken much longer than that. It’s currently the end of November and nothing has changed.
Which leads me to today. I’m currently wrapping up my Thanksgiving break. I got to spend a lot of time with family and relaxing, but also a fair bit of work on school and specifically TFF over the break. I have a busy week ahead planned as I head back to college and prepare to wrap up the final few weeks of the semester. However, my main focus is on getting my life turned back around. I want to start making small changes in December to get back on track. I know I’ll be ready to conquer a new year after a great December!
Dani
I think the best way for me to describe my November is by splitting it up into three different parts. The first part is from November 1 – 7. The second part is November 8 – 18. The third and last part is from the 19th till the end. Each week has been a different experience for me and now that I think about it, I’m glad that I’ve been able to do different things and have a range of emotions and experiences in a single month.
November 1 – 7: The first week of November was sort of like an adjusting period. Tennis had just ended so I was figuring out how my new schedule would look like and what it would consist of. On one day, I remember procrastinating my homework until after dinner, and another day, I recall having too much homework to even have a proper lunch.
November 8 – 18: These ten days were the most productive days of the month. I not only wrote a blog post, but also scheduled a couple of guest posts for you to read. I had a few tests during this time period, so I did spend a lot of time studying.
November 19 – 30: On the 19th, my family and I went on vacation to Hawaii and it was a lot of fun! I got to surf and snorkel, and I am super grateful that I got the opportunity to try these new activities. I think this is the first vacation where we got to relax more instead of running around and driving to new places every day. We came back on the 25th. Shortly after, family members came and we got to enjoy with them as well. Overall, the last part of November has been the most relaxing and the most fun of the month.
Despite having a lot of fun, November has not been the greatest month for me. My goal was to get back into working out consistently, but that hasn’t happened yet. I am going to push myself even harder next month so I can get back into it. Also, since coming back from Hawaii, my sleep schedule has been all over the place and I can’t seem to have the motivation to wake up early.
I’m excited that November ends soon so December can be a fresh start for me to go after my goals and work hard, at least before Winter break. November was like a transition month, and I’m looking forward to hustling in the next coming days.
Ian
These months have been going by quick since I joined The Teen Financial Freedom team. Before we know, 2022 will be upon us. This all feels like a blink of an eye from 2016 (which a friend just replied to an email I sent him in 2016).
Enough with that, the month of November has been very hectic for me. For instance, I didn’t get to celebrate thanksgiving recently after my grandfather suffered a medical emergency and spent two weeks in the hospital.
Before life went 10x as crazy, I have been stressed with the pre finals time of the winter semester. I have been doing mostly well in my classes except English and pre-calculus. In pre-calculus, I had to work smart and hard to get my grade up 5% and I still have a lot of improvement to make. English class is preparing for a major essay, which can make or break my mental health this winter semester.
My businesses did suffer a blow during the two-week period I was focused on my family. My eBay shop has been slowly recovering in sales after a major blow in October due to some silly errors. My recycling business has been holding stable while I am on track to make $12,000 dollars this year.
I hope the best for December as it will be very stressful with winter semester finals, holidays, and wrapping up the year. Next time we talk it will be 2022, please email us how you November was and what your 2022 plans are! Our email can be found under the resources tab!
Chase
To be fully honest, November has been really good for me. I didn’t get tons of work done, but I was able to really reflect on a lot of things in my life. There have been a number of major changes, most of which were positive and happy for me!
In my personal life, I ended my two year relationship after a deep reflection on what I wanted for myself moving forward in my life, and in hindsight, ending that relationship was a long time in coming. That relationship had been dragging me down for a long time, and I’m ready to get back to doing what I love and crush my goals.
In my professional life, I’ve ended working with most other jobs that I held. I’ve let go of a lot of the things holding me back, and I’m ready to look towards the future, personally and professionally. School is reaching its end for the semester, and while the final few weeks may be difficult, it signals the beginning of a time of productivity for me!
All in all, November has been really, really amazing for me, and I’m excited for the future. Winter is my most productive time, so I am ready to destroy some goals and change my life forever.