A couple of weeks ago at Get Rich Slowly, I wrote about the 101 things in 1001 days project (which I learned about from dienu.com).
The Mission: 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 my part).
Why 1001 Days? Many people have created lists in the past — frequently simple goals such as new year’s resolutions. 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 organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.
Basically, participants create a list of about 100 things they want to do do in roughly the next three years. I think this is an amazing idea, with lots of potential for self-fulfillment. I drafted my list on March 25th, my 38th birthday, but it’s taken me this long to convert it to HTML. Here are the things I aim to accomplish over the next 1001 days:
List updated 31 May 2007
Health and Fitness
14 goals
1. Give up sugar for a week in progress – 3/7 days
2. Eat only home-prepared food for one month
3. Eat vegetarian for one month
4. Get cholesterol to healthy levels
5. Have a colonoscopy
6. Complete a marathon
7. Complete a 100-mile bike ride
8. Play a team sport
9. Do 100 push-ups
10. Bench-press my body weight
11. Complete a one-mile swim
12. Maintain a weight of 170 or below for six months
13. Drink only water for one month 31 May 2007
14. Give up alcohol for three months in progress – 1/3 months
Financial
10 goals
1. Pay off all non-mortgage debt (and keep it off)
2. Fully fund Roth IRA (2006) 10 Apr 07
3. Fully fund Roth IRA (2007)
4. Fully fund Roth IRA (2008)
5. Fully fund Roth IRA (2009)
6. Establish a $5000 personal emergency fund
7. Open a high-yield online savings account
8. Automate bill payments insurance done
9. Automate IRA contributions
10. Get a safety deposit box
Home and Garden
19 goals
1. Get the birds out of the workshop ceiling
2. Repair ceiling upstairs in house
3. Clean all gutters and install gutter guards
4. Finish modernizing the electrical system
5. Build a patio
6. Prune the holly trees
7. Learn how to use the chainsaw properly
8. Finish building the horseshoe pit
9. Hire somebody to paint the house
10. Open all windows that are painted shut
11. Park my car in the garage (this entails a lot of sub-steps)
12. Remove debris file from beneath the cedar
13. Add new spigots outside
14. Get a rug or carpet for the library
15. Acquire some nice office furniture
16. Create home maintenance checklist (and follow it)
17. Erect a hammock
18. Aquire a chipper
19. Set up workshop for woodworking
Personal
11 goals
1. Purge wardrobe of anything I haven’t worn in the past two years in progress
2. Get a massage
3. Learn to shave with a safety razor 15 May 2007
4. Update my address book
5. Sell record collection
6. Get rid of computer books
7. Sell CDs, keeping only hard-to-find favorites
8. Sell comic books
9. Sell board games
10. Hold a gourmet potluck in progress – date scheduled
11. Create the Indispensable Comic Strip Reprint Library in progress
Self-Improvement
7 goals
1. Take a speech-com class (Dale Carnegie?)
2. Take a drawing class
3. Take a Spanish class
4. Take a yoga class
5. Take a cooking class
6. Give a good radio interview
7. Give a good television interview
Adventure
6 goals
1. Get tickets for World Cup South Africa
2. Skydive
3. Go on a trip by myself
4. Go white-water rafting
5. Ride in a hot-air balloon
6. Learn to shoot a gun Kris beat me to this and taunts me about it
Entertainment
3 goals
1. See all Oscar-winners for Best Picture 53/79, though I want to review some
2. See all Oscar-winners for Best Documentary 5/64
3. Bowl 300 on Wii Sports
Photography
3 goals
1. Sell/publish a second photo
2. Digitize all photos
3. Sell $100 of images at iStockPhoto
Reading
5 goals
1. Read all of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past 1/7
2. Read all of Shakespeare’s plays (no matter what Kris says) 13/37
3. Read all of Dickens 5/17
4. Read all Hugo & Nebula winners in progress
5. Read all Pulitzer winners (for fiction) 7/54
Writing
8 goals
1. Compile and print a Friends Cookbook
2. Sell a short story
3. Sell a poem
4. Sell a magazine article
5. Write a book
6. Publish a book
7. Participate in National Novel Writing Month
8. Digitize all of my creative writing
Work
15 goals
1. Implement GRS forums 15 Apr 07
2. Implement GRS book section
3. Implement GRS tools and calculators section
4. Start a GRS podcast in progress
5. Complete GRS redesign
6. Complete Animal Intelligence redesign in negotiations
7. Move all old foldedspace entries to the new database in progress
8. Launch Success Daily site created — building content
9. Launch Vintage Pop
10. Launch Too Much Cat domains purchased
11. Interview Robert Kiyosaki (or host guest post)
12. Interview Dave Ramsey (or host guest post)
13. Achieve $10,000 web income in one month
14. 1,000,000 visitors in one month to GRS
15. 100,000 RSS subscribers at GRS
I’ll be the first to admit that this is an ambitious list, but I look forward to tackling each item on here. I’ve already finished a couple since I drafted this, and several more are in progress. (I should have the podcast up-and-running in the next month or so.) Some of these will take all 1001 days. Reading Proust? As much as I love him, this is a tall order!
Can you guess which goals I think are going to be most difficult to meet?
This is great! As I read through the list, the only items that gave me pause were items 13 through 15 under the “work” category, and the only reason they strike me as loftier goals than the others is simply that I don’t know enough about how blog income/popularity works over time. Heck, if you generate $10,000 in web income in one month, I will cook you a meal that will knock your socks off. And, ticking off anything from the list is an achievement worth celebrating.
I might have to make a list of my own, at the very least to help me identify what is most important to me right now. I have lots of ideas brewing and at the moment most are scribbled in a handful of steno pads.
I love you immensimosity.
That’s quite the list and has got me thinking of something similar. Congrats on deciding to participate in National Novel Writing Month. Three years ago this changed my life tremendously. I hope it does the same for you.
Most difficult? Hard to pick.
Most painful? Easy:
Why do I say this? Because I’m learning to shave with a straight razor. Last week I was terrified when I thought I’d shaved off my upper lip! Oh well… chicks dig scars, right?
Oh, and a styptic pencil really drives home the lesson that one should not cut oneself – effective at stopping blood flow, but stings like bejeezus!
This list makes me excited. I’m putting off so many personal goals (“I’ll do that after med school. I’ll do that after we’ve moved. I’ll do that after we’re toilet-trained….”) but now maybe I’ll try a list of my own.
This is more of question for Get Rich Slowly, but what’s this “high-yield online savings account”? Is it just a money market account? Also, what’s with the $5K emergency fund, aren’t we all supposed to be hauling around six months of income for emergencies?
Finally, there is one item on the list that a failure to complete will obviate all others: Home and Garden #7. Get on it.
You raised the bar with those goals, as several of them are quite ambitious. It is funny, from my point-of-view, that it took making a list like this to help me realize that I actually have desires outside the normal, every day grind (never a goal setting person).
I made my list and thought “there is no way I can come up with another idea for something to do / think / say / write / go / want / etc” in any other ways. Now, I am running into those “Ohh .. that sounds like fun” or “Hmm .. I don’t know if I could do that, maybe I should try” moments.
Looking forward to watching you make it through that list.
JD, this list of goals is such an awesome idea! I like that there’s a mix, of serious to frivolous (even though I laud the idea of bowling 300 on Wii!), in all aspects of one’s life.
Now you’ve got me thinking about a list for myself…
Oh, and John, chicks do dig scars. At least this chick does. 🙂
Good luck on meeting your goals, bub. You wrote them down, and that’s the first step. Keep at ’em and don’t give up for anything. It’ll pay off in the end, believe me. I’m proud of you. Good luck on deep-sixing your debt, too.
Pretty cool list. I remember appreciating dienu’s project when you linked to it. Way to go doing it yourself. And it sounds like you’ve inspired a few others along the way.
The hardest thing? Maybe writing a book. It was smart of you to make it separate from publishing it. To write the book you want to write will be a lot of work. But you have some helper goals in there (like the GRS book section).
Good luck! Will you keep us updated with new posts, or shall we bookmark this page and periodically check in?
Health and Fitness #’s 7, 9 and 12. Is this all at once?
I think Adventure #1 would be the hardest.
What a great list. I used to have a list but I haven’t updated in a while. This is good inspiration and makes me look at all aspects of my life, specifically financial.
Colonoscopy in the next 1001 days? unless there is a family history, colonoscopy is not usually necessary/recommended before age 50. But it is a responsible thing to do after that.
OK, is anybody going to start a pool? I’m betting the House and Garden section will be the least likely to be fully accomplished. That list alone could occupy a person’s free time for 3 years.
Good luck, though! Definitely want to see updates. Oh, and the forums at GRS look great!
Great idea, I will try with mine as well. You have really hard work to do mi friend! good luck!
and about the poll? Proust is going to be hard, very hard!
My favorite is this one:
Park my car in the garage (this entails a lot of sub-steps)
One can only imagine…
Great list, I did something similar (but not as extensive) last year, which was how I came to be blogging, which is how I came across your site.
Ok I know this was posted a while and I’m going to get a little personal here: do you actually need a colonoscopy? As someone with a medical condition that requires them occasionally I can say with some certainty they are not something I would opt for randomly. Also, they are not without some risk and can damage your large bowel. Honestly unless you believe you are at specific risk of bowel cancer or you are experiencing symptoms that are concerning you (in which case see a dr now, not in 1001 days) I would not recommend one until you are in your fifties and actually at higher risk of bowel cancer. Just my two cents.