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BIRTHDAY GOAL · SEPT 29
Three things done before the candles.
Set Aug 24, 2026 · 36 days · "most likely before"
Goal 1 — all three tax years filed. 2023, 2024, 2025 submitted to the IRS. This is the gate on the VA loan, the fourplex, and the entire five-year map. Nothing on any other page happens until this does.
Goal 2 — Loan Signing Agent certified. NNA Notary Signing Agent course, exam, and background screening complete. This converts "loan signings by order" on meridiansigning.com from a line of text into a $75–150-per-appointment service, dispatched through the signing platforms already documented in the Snapdocs playbook.
Goal 3 — under 200 lbs. Starting weight 206 on Aug 24. Target: the scale reads 1XX on the morning of 9/29.
Why these two together are bigger than they look
Filed taxes make you mortgage-ready. The LSA cert makes Meridian lender-ready. And the weight goal makes the other two easier, not harder — the discipline is the same muscle, and a 36-day stretch with three visible scoreboards beats one abstract intention every time. On September 29 you'd be a notary the title companies can dispatch, with an IRS record clean enough for a VA underwriter, in the 100s for the first birthday in a while.
Track A — the taxes, week by week
1by Sun Aug 30 · preparer booked, 2023 assembled
- Book the tax preparer this week — the appointment is the commitment device
- Tell them two things up front: a VA loan is coming (deduction elections change qualifying income), and notarial fees are SE-tax exempt (§1402 — most preparers never see a notary)
- Assemble 2023: Uber/Lyft/DoorDash 1099s (the Uber 2023 forms are already gathered), NEXA 1099, bank statements, mileage evidence
2by Sun Sep 6 · 2023 filed, 2024 assembled
- 2023 return signed and submitted
- 2024 documents assembled while the folder-pulling muscle is warm
3by Sun Sep 13 · 2024 filed, 2025 assembled
- 2024 submitted
- 2025 assembled — freshest records, easiest year
4by Sun Sep 20 · 2025 filed. Done.
- 2025 submitted — all three years in, nine days of buffer left
Filing is not paying, and that must not stop you. If the returns show balances owed, file anyway — the failure-to-file penalty is ~10x the failure-to-pay penalty, and the IRS offers installment agreements you can set up online in minutes. Owing money with filed returns is a payment plan. Unfiled returns are the thing that blocks the mortgage. Never let the bill delay the filing.
Track B — the LSA certification
| Step | Time | Target |
|---|
| Enroll: NNA Notary Signing Agent course + exam + background screening package (nationalnotary.org) | 15 min | this week |
| Course | 3–6 hrs, self-paced | by Sep 6 |
| Exam (online, open until passed) | ~1 hr | by Sep 13 |
| Background screening clears | 1–2 weeks processing | by Sep 27 |
| Profiles live: Snapdocs, SigningOrder, Notary Café | 1 evening | by 9/29 |
The screening is the schedule risk — it's third-party processing you can't rush. Enrolling this week is what protects the birthday; enrolling in mid-September is how it slips.
Standing rule, §8224: you can never notarize a loan you originated. LSA work and NEXA work stay in separate lanes, always.
Track C — 206 → 199
6+ pounds in 36 days is 1.2 lbs a week — the textbook sustainable rate. No crash required; a crash would actually risk the goal, because crash losses rebound before the 29th.
| Sunday weigh-in | Target |
|---|
| Aug 30 | 204.5 |
| Sep 6 | 203 |
| Sep 13 | 201.5 |
| Sep 20 | 200 |
| Sep 27 | under 200 — two days of margin |
The whole method, three rules
- ~500 calories a day under maintenance. The easiest version for a driver's schedule: no drive-thru while working, no calories from drinks (the sodas and sweet coffees alone can be 400+/day), and dinner stops by 8pm.
- Protein at every meal — it protects muscle in a deficit and kills the snacking that does the real damage.
- Walk 30 minutes daily. Between gig runs or the Venice boardwalk — it's on your street. Walking is the deficit's quiet second engine and it costs nothing.
One weigh-in a week, Sunday morning, after the bathroom, before food or coffee. Same scale, same conditions. Daily weigh-ins whipsaw 2–3 lbs on water and wreck morale; the Sunday number is the only one that counts, and it goes into the Monday check-in.
The math on goal 2
Loan signings pay $75–150 per appointment and title companies dispatch them daily. At even 4 signings a week, that's $1,200–2,400/month added to Meridian — roughly triple the general-notary rate per hour, with the client (title/escrow) doing the marketing for you. The cert costs about $200–300 all-in and pays for itself in the first two appointments.
The rule for the next 36 days
Anything that isn't these two things, Meridian revenue, or family is deferred until 9/30. New ideas get written down and parked — the notebook is allowed, the detour is not. The last stretch of this session generated a five-year map precisely so the next 36 days could be this narrow.
Jermaine Fields · birthday goal set Aug 24, 2026 · Monday check-ins scheduled through 9/29 · notarial-fee SE exemption per Schedule SE instructions · NNA certification per nationalnotary.org · IRS installment agreements at irs.gov/payments