It is done. I've just spent the last 3 hours finishing this off and organising it into section. My eyes are tired now. Please, join me in this, it'll be fun! I'll be updating each challenge as and when I complete it, it will be integrated into my journal. How bizarre that I finished this at exactly midnight on the day I was planning on starting! It was meant to be...
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 organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.
Some common goal setting tips:
1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.
2. Stay Focussed. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.
3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.
4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.
5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.
I haven't quite finished my list yet but I've been writing it for about a week now and I'm getting impatient and want to start, lol, so I'll be adding things and making it up to 101 as I go. I won't cheat, though, April 29th 2011 will still be my deadline for the new ones too!
Deadline is April 29th 2011, 1001 days to go as of August 1st 2008.
26 / 101 tasks completed.
462 days to go as of 20th January 2010
Challenges struck through are completed. Challenges in italics are works in progress. Each completed task and work in progress will have a link to a page where I've written about it.
Cars and Motorbikes
1) Pass my driving test.
Completed 08/08/082) Once I've successfully achieved number 1, buy a car!
Completed 10/10/083) Buy a new biking jacket that's sexier and also more likely to protect me in adverse weather or if I fall off. My current one is rubbish and looks like a balloon. Also, new biking trousers.
4) Become more confident and better at cornering on my motorbike
5) Ride the
Cat and Fiddle. ARGH! I'm absolutely terrified of it but it's the most popular biking road in the UK, everyone has ridden it and if you look at how twisty it is you'll see why. I just had a look through the photos behind that link and I'm getting heart palpitations just thinking about it!
Completed 23/8/086) Learn how to change a tyre and basic motorbike / car maintenance.
Photography
7) Be the official set photographer on a film.
8) Do a photoshoot for my sister and her family.
9) Have a photo on display somewhere public, this doesn't include publishing and must be in an exhibition of some sort.
10) Take some good nature photographs of animals or views you don't get in this country.
Finance
11) Earn at least £100 in a month on AQA for 3 months. This is harder than it sounds as the most I've ever managed to make in the 9 months I've worked for them is £60 in a month! I'm not going to say the months have to be consecutive as there's no way I'll be able to do that so it can be any 3 months. (0/3)
12) Make a profit on my knitting.
13) Save £5,000 in a savings account, it doesn't count if it's in my current account.
(£1,501.78)
14) Don't spend any money for 100 separate days. (20/100)
Organise
15) Upload all of my CDs onto iTunes. Completed 20/1/10
16) Organise my photos properly, get the best ones printed into an album complete with press passes / lanyards etc.
17) Transfer my video cassettes on DVD before my VCR dies as you can't buy them any more! For this I will need to buy a DVD player that records.
Personal Development
18) Try something totally new that I would normally say 'no' to.
19) Get a new job.
20) Read 25 books. I know this isn't very many but I seem to have trouble finding time to read.
(26/25),
Suggestions21) Write my life story.
22) Touch a cow without there being a fence or gate to separate us. I know...this is probably the weirdest one you've seen but I've recently developed an irrational fear of cows that I never used to have and it's severely hindering my enjoyment of the countryside as I'm constantly looking out for the damned things!
Completed 25/8/0823) Win a competition. I've never won a competition in my life! OK, so I hardly enter anything but still...
Completed 2nd August 200824) Learn to be more confident with my body, my face, my singing and my personality. I'm really crap at talking to people as I keep thinking that no one will be interested in what I have to say. I know this one doesn't a definitive point when it's completed but I'll know when I'm happy. I suppose it'll be complete when I'm happy being as flamboyant and extravagant singing in front of people as I am when I'm on my own.
25) Appear in a play. I tried this a while back and they wouldn't have me so I gave up. I need to try again!
26) Be on TV again. Try BBC1 as I've already done BBC2, ITV and Channel 4!
27) Have a nice proper photo taken of me...and Photoshop it until I'm happy with it!
Health, Beauty and Exercise
28) Dramatically change my hair either with a cut or a dye.
Completed 11/1/0929) Visit a health spa again and have one of the gorgeous treatments I got last time.
30) Have a bath once a week for a month. (3/4)
31) Use a face mask at least once a week for 2 months to see how much it improves my skin. (8/8)
Completed32) Attempt 20 press ups a day for 2 weeks. I say 'attempt', I'm not lazy or anything but my right wrist sometimes is really weak and rubbish and won't hold my weight. If I can't do normal press ups, I'll do a variation eg on my knees or off the side of the sofa. (days 0/14)
33) Get another piercing to make it a nice round 10. I have 9 so far, all in my head! I've been trying to think of another place to get one for years but there's nothing else I fancy. I might just have to bite the bullet and get my belly button done.
Completed 10/10/0934) Learn how to do the smokey-eyed kohl eyeliner thing without it smudging all over my face after 5 minutes.
35) Learn to do the splits.
36) Learn how to accessorise. I tend to wear the same jewellery all the time and never know what to do with my hair or belts or scarves or anything.
Work in progress.37) Do 20 sit ups a day for 2 weeks. (days 14/14)
Completed 16/10/08 Hobbies
38) Choreograph, record and post on the internet my own pole dancing routine.
39) Watch every episode of Six Feet Under. I just really like it but seem to have missed a lot of it for some reason. (39/63)
40) Make a profit by singing, either by winning something in a competition or getting paid to do it. The latter is very unlikely but you never know, our band may go somewhere!
41) Get good enough at pole dancing so I might enter competitions
Films
42) See all of the AFIs
100 Films to see before you die. Am I cheating because I've already seen 21 of them before I start?
(70/100)43) Follow film news more closely, seeing as though I want to work in the industry!
44) Watch 3 Quentin Tarantino films from beginning to end. I hate Tarantino but everyone else in the world seems to think he's a genius, so I'm going to do this to see if I can work out what I'm missing. I've tried to watch most of them but never managed to get to the end. (1/3) (Pulp Fiction)
45) Have a movie marathon either at my house or someone else's; all the Lord of the Rings or all the Star Wars or all the...something else!
Completed 14/9/08 46) Visit the cinema 75 times.
(47/75)47) See every
best picture Oscar winner since 1960. I'm choosing not to see any before this date simply because I don't know how easy or difficult they'll be to get hold of. I know I'm cheating, I've already seen 16 of them. (23/51)
48) See a film at an Imax cinema
49) Watch 100 films on TV or DVD that I've never seen before separate to the AFI's top 100 list.
(100/100) Travel
50) Visit a new country. Countries I've been to are Germany, Spain, France, Greece, South Africa, Morocco, USA, Wales, Scotland and England so these won't count.
51) Plan a surprise trip somewhere for me and Jay.
52) Holiday in the UK at somewhere like Center Parcs, for example.
53) Get lost on purpose. Maybe not 'get lost' exactly, but take a different route somewhere I've never been 'just because' and see what I might find.
Completed 22/4/0954) Visit South Africa again. It's 18 years since I was last there, I was only there for 6 weeks and was far too young to remember living there but I seem to have an odd connection with the place and miss it a lot for some reason.
Food and Drink
55) Successfully bake a cake that doesn't end up bearing more resemblance to a biscuit (cookie).
Completed 27/8/0856) Eat vegetarian food only for one week.
(Completed 10th August 2008)57) Try 5 new foods separate to the ones in number 59 (1/5)(Gnocchi)
58) Eat the recommended 5-a-day fruit and veg for a week; I usually only manage 2 or 3. (days 0/7)
59) Try 5 new cheeses and 5 new meats from the deli instead of just sticking to chedder, breaded ham and Danish salami! (cheese 1/5 [Pie D'anglais], meat 0/5)
60) Don't eat any crisps, chocolate, biscuits, cakes etc. for 2 weeks, snack on fruit, raw vegetables, nuts, seeds and raisins instead. I don't eat a massive amount of junk snacks anyway but I thought I'd see how easy or difficult it would be to cut them out altogether.
61) Don't drink any fizzy pop for 2 weeks running. Fizzy water is ok. This will be hard as I already don't drink tea or coffee!
62) Don't drink any alcohol for 2 weeks running. I can't run it alongside number 37 as if I'm in a pub, I just have to have something fizzy so this will have to be separate!
63) Try 5 new recipes, because I cannot cook!
(2/5)64) Cook a 2 course meal for my parents.
Social
65)Meet at least 5 more of my online friends in real life.
Completed 14/3/09, (11/5)66) Host a cocktail party.
67) Go on a boat (one that won’t make me sick) or do something else that I don't want to do but Pete wants to do with me.
68) For one month, keep up with replying to diary notes on OpenDiary and on LiveJournal, not letting them get older than 2 days. (Days 0/31)
69) Buy someone flowers for no reason.
70) Write 10 snail mail letters to someone / some people before I forget how to write! (0/10)
71) Spend a day with my sister; no children, no boyfriends, no parents!
72) Hug at least 5 people in 1 day. I feel embarrassed by hugs for some reason so I really need to learn to be more affectionate. Completed 24/12/08
73) Go to a West End theatre at least twice. I know this isn't very many times but I think I've only been to the theatre to see a professional production 5 times in my life. 2 of these were Ewan McGregor inspired so I'm not even sure if they count...
74) Send 10 people random gifts through the post (0/10)
75) Buy a ticket for a live band instead of going with a press pass so that I can enjoy the whole thing and not have to leave after 3 songs.
Complete 4/2/10 Creative
76) Give at least 10 home made cards to friends and family instead of buying them.
(4/10)77) Learn a new craft.
78) Have a letter published in a national magazine. I've done it with photos so now I'd like to also see my words published. It will most likely be about motorbikes, films, pole dancing or knitting. I have an odd mixture of hobbies...
79) Make a short film with my friends.
80) Give 5 handmade things as gifts.
1/5 Charity
81) Donate 100,000 grains of rice on freerice.org (20,000/100,000)
82) Do some fundraising.
In Progress and now
Complete, 25/5/0983) Volunteer with a charity.
84) Sponsor an animal.
85) Finally pay back the kindness of my friends when I had no money to eat and people sent me food and money. For this I will pass the kindness on by sending food or money to someone who really needs it.
86) Give blood 5 more times. You can only go 3 times a year so in the next 32 months there should be 8 opportunities. I can't make every session so I probably won't be able to go 8 times.
Complete (5/5)87) Send 5 letters of appreciation to companies. People are always quick to complain but no one compliments people enough when things go right as it's just expected that it will. (0/5)
Misc
88) Grow a plant from a seed; something I've never managed to do in my entire life!
Complete 28/6/0989) Meet Ewan McGregor again and actually have a conversation with him this time instead of just babbling random noises isanely.
90) Own some pet fish.
91) Write a rota of daily and weekly chores and stick to it.
92) Go horseriding. I've only ever done it twice in my life and loved it both times.
93) Go to a 'Pick Your Own Fruit' farm.
94) Read the Bible. I'm an atheist so this might seem like an odd one but I've heard some really beautiful verses from the Bible about love and life in general and I want to read more for myself.
95) Go-karting.
And Finally…
I'm leaving 4 blank spaces for two reasons. One is because I'm lazy and I've run out of ideas but the main reason is because I want to truly challenge myself. Now this is where you come in. I want you, my very dear friends, to think of things that I can put here. Think of something that you think I will benefit from or just something you think I might have fun doing. Don't be offended if I don't choose your suggestion, it will only be because I honestly I don't have the means or drive to do it. So get creative :o)
96) Watch a sunset and stay awake to watch the next sunrise (suggested by Erika)
97) Swim in a sea that you have never swum in before (suggested by Erika) I swam in the Bristol Channel lol. June 2009.
98) Make my own clothes and wear them outside (suggested by Erika)
99) Once a week, click on the links on
Care2.com and
here. (22/143) I've got some catching up to do as I only started this one nine months after the start so I'm 36 weeks behind...
100) Document as many of these as possible with a write up and photographs.
101) Donate £2 to charity for each incomplete task on the list. I will choose the charity at the time.