Welcome to this September 2021 Monthly Blog Review!
If you haven’t seen one of these monthly reviews before, each month we like to provide a little update on what’s happening at TFF and also in our personal lives. We’ll share any announcements, what we’re working on, our stats for the month, and then conclude with our personal reviews of the month.
Let’s dive in!
New Blog Posts
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In September we published the following posts:
- Why I Sometimes Struggle To Enjoy Vacations
- August 2021 Monthly Blog Review
- The World of Finance Has Consumed Me
- How To Get Back To Work After A Vacation As A Teenager
- A Definitive Guide On How to Balance Life, Work, & School
- How To Set Yourself Apart From The Competition
- 10 Ways To Develop Self-Awareness As A Teenager
- What Video Games Can Teach You About Success
New Podcast Episodes
In addition to those blog posts, we also published the following podcast episodes:
- Rent By The Room Investing With Taylor Thompson
- The Growth Mindset With Leo Valentino
- Why I Will Be An Entrepreneur For The Rest Of My Life
- Working Toward Success With Sannibel Carter
- The Benefits Of A Door To Door Sales Job With JD Randall
- Ray Dalio’s 5 Step Process For Success
- Solving Financial Illiteracy With Armita Hosseini
- How to Get Rid of Your Bad Habits
- How to have fun
What We Worked On
This month there are no new announcements, so we’ll jump straight into what we worked on. Unfortunately, we didn’t work on much when it came to TFF. September was the first full month that we all were back in school. All of us became much busier than we were over summer and TFF paid the price for it. As much as we enjoy working on TFF, it does tend to take the backburner amongst our other priorities and obligations. I (Jacob) even took a majority of the last month off from writing blog posts to give myself more time to get everything prepped for college. However, we’re trying to get back in the swing of things now and hopefully will have some more exciting news come October.
Statistics
If you have been following our recent monthly reviews, you’ll know that we haven’t been too impressed with our statistics lately. Unfortunately, that trend has continued into this month. We’ve tried to make some changes but aren’t having too much luck. We’re just going to stick to our guns, remain consistent, and ride this one out. Regardless, here are our stats for the month (up to the 25th of Sep):
- 3,200 Users
- 10,000 Pageviews
- 500 Podcast Downloads
- 77,000 Pinterest Impressions
- 105,000 Google Search Console Impressions
- 2,000 Google Search Console Clicks
Personal Lives
Now that we’ve got through the TFF updates, let’s jump into the personal reviews for the month:
Jacob
For the most part, September has been a big sigh of relief for me. As I stated in my last monthly review, August was the craziest month of my life. Luckily, things settled down, and are starting to feel normal again.
I moved into college almost exactly a month ago and got off to a great start. After I got settled in, I went to a ton of events, and started to meet a lot of cool people. I got to go to my first week of classes and really enjoyed it. Then, halfway through the month, I got incredibly sick. I went to go get tested for COVID-19 and found out that I was positive. Within a few short hours, I was whisked away to a nearby hotel where I quarantined. I had no in-person interaction for 10 days…no family, no friends, no nothing. On one hand, it was kind of sad and lonely, but on the other hand, it was a dream come true.
All of the sudden I had 10 days to relax, recover, and get stuff done. The truth was that I really needed some downtime to catch up. The previous month and the first few weeks of September had been completely crazy and I had no time to myself. I tried to use my quarantine for good by catching up on YouTube, Netflix, and video games. I also got a lot of stuff done though and was ready to hit the ground running upon my return.
After quarantine I had about a week and a half left until the end of the month. This time was incredibly busy once again, but I felt much more in control this time. I had taken care of me, got some important work done, and was ready to get back out there and socialize with people. Looking back now, I think this month was exactly what I needed. Yes, there were ups and downs, but that is just part of life. I’m glad that I stayed positive, took what I was given, and made the best of it.
I’m still adjusting to the new normal, but I’m getting closer every day. I was reflecting today on how it seems like things have finally slowed down. My entire summer and first month of college were insane, but things are finally starting to calm down. It’s such a bizarre feeling for me because I’ve got so used to the craziness. It just feels weird to not be working every minute of the day, making tons of progress on my businesses, and seeing growth in my life. In reality, things are just different now. I’m still working, I’m still making progress, and I’m definitely still growing…just in different ways.
Dani
As said in last month’s review post, August has been around change so the goal this month was to get settled. Fortunately, that goal has been achieved, and I’m working very hard to balance all my priorities.
Tennis has been taking the majority of my time, so I do struggle to get time to just relax. I sometimes have to do complete my homework after I eat dinner when I get home, so that leaves even less time for myself. Homework in 9th grade hasn’t been that bad for me. I would often hear students talking about having to stay up till 1 AM just to complete the assignments, but if you don’t procrastinate and just get started on it, you’ll never have to do that. I’m able to finish by 8:15 p.m. even with tennis, so time management is a skill that I’ve been using much of during the past few weeks and will be continuing to use in the future as well.
One thing I have noticed is that I’ve been sleeping so much earlier than I used to. I thought that being in 9th grade would push my bedtime to later, but it’s been the opposite. I start my nightly routine around 9:20 so that I’m in bed by 9:45. This sounds super early, even to me, but I guess my new lifestyle has been draining a lot of physical and mental energy.
October is the last month of Tennis, so I’m taking it day by day. I’m hoping to get through the month of October because as soon as November starts, I’ll have much more free time on my hands. But, I still love tennis and the new experiences and memories I have created with the team!
I have a few tests coming up and an essay to write, so I have to schedule time in my routine to study and write. I found an effective study plan that works for me, and it’s basically just starting 2 days before the test. The first day, I reread the notes and do a broad review of the concept. The next day, the day before the test, I go over the specific lessons and practice that. If you guys have a study routine that works for you, comment down below because I’d love to see different systems!
Overall, September has been a fun month and I’ve been able to balance my schedule well. All I need to do is continue this for October to have a successful month!
Chase
I swear, these monthly reviews really help me feel how fast the time moves each month. Whenever it comes time to write these, I find myself looking backward at the goals and milestones that I’ve accomplished over the proceeding thirty days.
To be fully honest, I was a bit disappointed with myself when I looked back at September. I started the month full of ambition and drive, but after only a few days fell off the train and slipped into an unhealthy routine that didn’t support my work at TFF, School, or life in general. I fell off my sleep schedule and exercised less than I should have.
Despite this, there have been causes for celebration in No Simp September(which I failed miserably). I hit my 2 year anniversary with my girlfriend and reunited with friends and family that I hadn’t seen in months. I did well in my classes, and generally just sat back and enjoyed life.
Moving forward, I want to work harder on the systems that run my life and the discipline that it takes to enforce them. I want to actually make progress in my business life, and spend less time on the couch playing video games. I want to work towards TFF’s goals and crush my own. We’re in the final quarter baby, it’s time to make some serious wins!