GabeJohansson.com

Man. Husband. Father. Black Coffee Enjoyer.

Category: Goals

  • May 2025 Life Update – Debt, Credit, Fitness, And More

    May 2025 Life Update – Debt, Credit, Fitness, And More

    It’s crazy how fast April went by considering how little progress I made towards my goals for this year.

    I shut down a side business I was building, I remained unemployed, and my fitness progress was nowhere to be found, although I didn’t lose any progress either.

    All in all, I could have done dramatically better.

    Fortunately, May is already starting off strong so let’s talk about it:

    My Main Goal Has Been Achieved

    The biggest thing I was working on in the month of April was landing a career with long term potential.

    I’m happy to say that’s exactly what I was able to do, and the new position starts Monday the 5th.

    I even documented a bit of the process in a recent YouTube video which you can see here:

    Here’s the thing though…

    The job mission doesn’t end here, because this is only the beginning.

    I got an entry level position with the company, and it’s going to take a lot of work, dedication, and patience to get where I want to go…

    But the potential is there, unlike jobs of the past, which is exciting.

    Even then, we can now continue on with the next part:

    Ramping Up The Debt Snowball

    For the last couple months, we’ve taken our foot off the gas on paying down debt because of the no job situation.

    Fortunately, we haven’t missed a single payment so that’s good, but we still have a long way to go.

    You can check out the last debt update here

    To sum it up real quick, we were down to $30,673 in credit card debt on April 1st, 2025.

    And as of May 1st, 2025 paying only minimums and having to use a couple cards to get by.

    We’re down to $30,193.

    Not bad… not bad at all.

    However, based on the budget projections for the new job, we should be able to really ramp up the payments again and start paying the smaller balance cards off left and right.

    I’m also tracking my FICO scores, and here’s where we’re at as of the 1st of the month:

    • Transunion: 656
    • Equifax: 660
    • Experian: 637

    The scores already went up from my recent update here so we’re just going to keep plugging along.

    The Fitness Plan For May

    My fitness plan is incredibly simple and barely deserves its own section, but it really comes down to 3 main things:

    1. Eat 2,400 calories, at least 120g protein, and track everything in MyFitnessPal
    2. Monday Upper body, Wednesday lower body, Thursday upper body, Friday Arms
    3. Walk an average of 5,000 steps per day, which is going to be insanely easy with the new job

    I don’t have much of a specific goal, but getting stronger without gaining fat is the main thing I’m working on.

    In any case, here are my current stats:

    • Bodyweight: 170.4lbs
    • Bench press: 165lbs x 6
    • Barbell Rows: 145lbs x 10
    • Squats: 185lbs x 7
    • Deadlifts: 250lbs x 5
    • Overhead Press: 115lbs x 4
    • Pull-ups: Bodyweight x 8

    Definitely have a lot of work to do to beat my previous bests of mid-2015, but I’m also nearly 10 years older, 40 pounds lighter, and in no real rush to do so.

    But it will happen in due time.

    The New Online Business Plan

    I’ll definitely have to make a whole post on this, but the plan moving forward is almost an anti-business business plan.

    There’s no specific niche.

    There’s no specific customer avatar.

    I’m not even trying to sell things, even though I have things for sale.

    The long term goal is to eventually turn this whole thing into a publishing business funded by my own information products.

    For the time being, I’m just going to post a lot.

    Here’s where my accounts are as of May 1st:

    • My Blog: 4 total posts and 113 page views
    • My NEW Newsletter: 1 subscriber (yes, it’s me)
    • YouTube: 2,047 subscribers
    • Instagram: 898 followers
    • TikTok: 1,019 followers
    • X: 2,678 followers
    • Threads: 199 followers
    • Medium: 372 followers

    The main things I’m focused on are my blog, newsletter, and YouTube, and everything else is more of a “if I want to and when I can find the time” kind of thing.

    My Month Is Gonna Be May

    I’m convinced for whatever reason this coming month is going to be big for me and my family.

    Speaking of family, I’m doing all this stuff while taking care of my wife and 2 daughters, our pug and frenchie mix Mable, and our 3 cats.

    They’re really my biggest reason for constantly wanting to improve, because the better I can do in life, the better life they can all have.

    Time to make it happen.

    Talk soon,
    -Gabe

  • Why I’m Getting Back Into Blogging In 2025

    Why I’m Getting Back Into Blogging In 2025

    The last time I took blogging seriously was in 2015 when I was blogging… about blogging.

    And while it went quite well considering I attracted thousands of visitors, built a newsletter to hundreds of subscribers, and sold a bunch of blog themes and books…

    It didn’t last because I was too focused on making money.

    Since then, I’ve started a few other blogs, but those were really just a place where I could repost my YouTube vlogs (more on that in a bit) or daily emails to my newsletter.

    This Time Around, I’m Doing Something Different

    There’s been this thing on my mind for years, but I never got around to it because of the same reason my blogging blog failed…

    I’ve been too focused on trying to build an income online which has resulted in 2 things:

    1. I keep trying to “find my niche” and make hundreds of videos only about whatever topic I choose, and…
    2. I never allow myself to be myself and talk about the stuff I really want to talk about out of fear that the algorithms of the internet won’t send me an audience

    And the truth is, any of these businesses could have worked if I stuck with them longer, but I never really wanted to because I eventually get burnt out of trying to appease the algorithms.

    I’m saying this after getting millions of views on social media over the years.

    The Thing I’ve Been Wanting To Do Is This:

    Instead of sticking to a niche like my life depended on it (which it doesn’t), I’m simply going to BE the niche myself.

    I have multiple unrelated interests and I want to use writing to share those interests with whoever might also be interested.

    It will probably be harder and take longer to build a real audience.

    But I also won’t be putting myself in a box I can’t wait to get out of.

    On top of that, I’m sure I’m not the only 36 year old dad of 2 trying to figure out my place in life, so while I’m going to enjoy the freedom of expression I’m giving myself…

    If I can help anyone with the life insights I’ve gained through my moderately crazy time here in this Earthly realm, that’s cool too.

    Here’s The Plan Moving Forward:

    I have a handful of goal categories, with goals in each category:

    • Financial
    • Fitness
    • Family
      • Become a better man
      • Become a better husband
      • Become a better father
      • Do more fun activities
    • Personal
      • Actually learn to play chess (367 Rapid on Chess.com lol)
      • Actually learn to play guitar

    My bright idea is to talk about all of these things, what I’ve learned and experienced so far, and my progress over time.

    I also plan on talking about what I write here on my other platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X, Threads, Facebook and whatever else pops up over time.

    I have no idea how it’ll play out…

    But that’s the fun part.

    Let’s do this thing.

    Talk soon,
    -Gabe