This is my 101st post! Woohoo! To mark this milestone, I plan to not only listen to the Depeche Mode album of the same name, but I also joined the Day Zero Project. According to the website, “Day Zero is a place to record your goals, discover new challenges, and gain motivation to achieve them.” In other words, I created a list of 101 things I want to do in the next 1,001 days. Because as we already know, I am clearly insane. (many thanks to my friend Stoopmama for the inspiration! The Day Zero Project inspiration, not the insanity inspiration. I get that all on my own, thankyouverymuch.).
I’m not sure why I’m a fan of milestones. My type-A self is perhaps reassured to have a before and after point; ways to measure progress (or lack of) and accomplishments (or, once again, lack of). This post’s milestone, as post #101, hopefully illustrates that I am, in fact, committed to this blog and, more broadly, my writing. Yay! While I am fully aware that I have mixed success in terms of meeting such lofty goals (see, Triathlons and 365Project), I think these 101 things are perfectly attainable in 1001 days: between today, Tues. Nov. 22, 2011, and Tues., Aug. 14, 2014. (holy shit I’ll be 39 then. maybe I need to add more plastic surgery goals to this list??).
So who out there is with me and Stoopmama? We can track our miserable lack of progress together!
Here is additional information from the Day Zero Project website:
The Challenge:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past – frequently simple challenges such as New Year’s resolutions or a ‘Bucket List’. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips, study semesters, or outdoor activities.
So for better or for worse, I pasted my list (in no particular order) below. You can also track my project here. In my typical fashion, I will be brutally honest about how I’m doing. Because that’s how I roll: I don’t need to add it on my list of things to do 🙂
- Become Yoga Alliance-certified
- Teach yoga classes at a yoga studio
- Become “intermediate” flying trapeze student
- Run a 10 mile race
- Read Anna Karenina
- Finish my brother’s photo album
- Adopt a dog
- Attend my 20th high school reunion
- Visit Lafayette College
- Pay off my credit cards
- Visit my grandparents’ graves at least four times a year
- Attend a Buffalo Bills game in Buffalo
- Go to Hawaii
- Build a photography portfolio
- Expand my business
- Buy my first home
- Get another tattoo
- Bake bread from scratch
- See a Broadway play
- Visit a new Smithsonian museum
- Spend a holiday volunteering at a food bank
- Meditate
- Bake vegan cupcakes
- Host a vegan dinner party
- Master a handstand
- Learn how to apply false eyelashes
- Be an extra in a movie
- Begin writing a book
- Build the “Life After Normal” brand
- Get new veneers
- Stop parking illegally
- Go to Australia and New Zealand
- See a Broadway musical
- Make my own jewelry
- Dress up for Halloween
- Donate blood
- See 10 classic movies I’ve never seen
- Pet a lion or a tiger
- Sing karaoke
- Wear makeup more often
- Dress up for no reason
- Mentor a younger PR professional
- Mentor an at-risk youth
- Drive less. Bike more
- Grow a vegetable
- Watch all six Star Wars movies
- Watch all the Harry Potter movies
- Vote for an American Idol
- Vote for Obama
- Go to Spain
- Improve my Spanish
- Learn basic French
- Write a thank-you note
- Send more greeting cards (snail mail, not e-mail)
- Live authentically
- Use Twitter regularly
- Be featured in another magazine
- Learn to play the guitar
- Play the piano regularly
- Perform on the piano in public
- Re-learn Rachmaninoff’s Prelude Op. 32, No. 2
- Do 10 chin ups
- Take a vacation with my girlfriends
- Wear the “sexy” underwear for no reason
- Drink champagne for no reason
- Go on a vacation by myself
- Visit the GWU bookstore
- Visit the new MLK monument
- Publish an article with MY byline
- Go to a jazz club
- Max out my 401(k) contribution
- Try Bikram Yoga
- Try Ashtanga yoga
- Try Iyengar yoga
- Try vinyasa yoga
- Play softball
- Go to a NHL hockey game
- Call my grandma
- Call my mother
- Call my father
- Have a birthday party
- Finish a crossword puzzle
- Do a 5-day juice cleanse
- Sunbathe at a nude beach. Nude
- Attend a formal black tie event
- Cheer on people running a marathon
- Go out dancing
- Get professional headshots
- Go snowboarding
- Go wakeboarding
- Visit a state I’ve never been to before
- Sew something
- See a taping of the Ellen Show
- Create my wedding album … regardless of what happens with my marriage
- Use Wii Fit
- Play the lottery
- Play video games
- Get botox
- Learn to play chess
- Go hiking
- When I start dating again, be completely honest in terms of what I feel. No games
For #37 – may I suggest (if you haven’t already seen these):
The Third Man
The Thin Man
Singin in the Rain
All About Eve
Chinatown
North by Northwest
It Happened One Night
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Apartment
Bringing Up Baby
The Lady Eve
Anatomy of a Murder
The Philadelphia Story
Laura, This is so great! You have motivated me to think of doing the same. And congrats on the 101st5 post!! I love your blog.
For #20, I recommend the National Museum of the American Indian — helped do the PR when it opened when I lived in DC! Beautiful and they have a GREAT cafe!
For #24, Please send me an an invite! 😉
For #45: I hear tomatoes are easy. 🙂
For #62: You go girl, my goal is just to do ONE unassisted chin up!
Hugs,
Lena