Day Zero

Happy new year, friends! To jump right into things and ignore the absence you've been subject to recently, I'd like to share with you my new resolutions. Mind you, I didn't say "new year's" resolutions; these are simply new goals I aim to complete within the next 1,001 days. In other words, they're long standing habits I hope to develop in my spare time...101 of them. The reasons for such an undertaking are many-fold. First, 365 days is hardly enough time to plan for, work on, and undertake many of the goals I want to have. Second, many goals shouldn't be confined to an all-or-nothing mentality. It's okay to miss a week here or there in your efforts, so long as you have the ability to be successful later. And if nothing else, I'll at least be able to cross off some goals, even if I'm unsuccessful at completing all of them. So in addition to the purpose DW served before today, I will also be incorporating pictures and posts of these events as they get completed.

Some qualifiers: Many of these goals will need a little explaining as they come up, and of course none of them are completely transparent towards their intended purpose. In other words, they shouldn't be judged solely at face value. For right now, they serve as simply a guidepost to be expanded upon in future posts. This is also my first time undertaking such an adventure, so many of the goals which may seem worthwhile right now may end up being trivial. Alternatively, many of those that seem more on the trivial side right now may end up being my greatest challenges. Whatever happens, it'll be a learning experience useful when I attempt to complete #101. And just so it's out there, the stop-date for this list is Tuesday, September 28, 2010.

You can see that they're divided up by what area in my life they most serve to improve. Additionally, many give certain time qualifiers or consistency standards to live up to which are, again, merely guideposts and serve as simply a minimum requirement. If you're interested in a similar adventure, the title of this post is linked to the site from which I got this idea. I'll be updating the general layout of DW to reflect the recent shift in focus, as well as posting more about the shift in the coming days (along with getting started on the goals). But without further ado, here's The List:

Finance:
1. Specifically save money in three different accounts
2. Keep finance records up to date
3. Remain under my envelopes per month
4. Put $800 away each month
5. Keep monthly credit balances under $300
6. Develop means for a passive income
7. Make a will

Purchases and Expenditures:
8. Purchase a house
9. Take on any remaining bills
10. Buy a motorcycle
11. Buy a good road bike

Lifestyle & Experiences:
12. Update my blog once a week
13. Spend one week a year in solitude
14. Grab a pint once a week
15. Be in a committed relationship
16. Reflect on how I’m using my freetime once a month
17. Recap each day at the end of that day, then let it go
18. Go camping once a summer
19. Try a new restaurant each month
20. Cook a new recipe bi-weekly
21. Take one not-for-credit class a year
22. Go to a play once a year
23. Learn to play golf
24. Learn to play the piano
25. Learn yoga
26. Go ice-fishing
27. Take a bike tour/weeklong camping trip around Wisconsin
28. Read one non-philosophy, non-fiction book a month
29. Read one fiction book a month
30. Memorize 5 new poems
31. Eat at the dining nook table once a week

Household:
32. Clean the house weekly
33. Clear off flat surfaces bi-weekly
34. Create a personal library database
35. Get rid of 101 materialistic items
36. Make a list of what I’m looking for in a new house and what I can afford
37. Clean my car weekly
38. Wash my car monthly
39. Wax car once every 3 months
40. Keep up-to-date on car maintenance
41. Brush Relic once a week
42. Get Relic a friend
43. Plant and maintain a garden through a season
44. Organize files in my home office once a semester
45. Organize desk and files at work once a semester
46. Make the bed everyday for a month
47. Do the dishes before bed everyday for a month

Career:
48. Pass Premils
49. Outline dissertation topic
50. Become independent of my second jobs
51. Teach my own course
52. Sacrifice independence at work
53. Keep CV current updated at the end of each semester
54. Get published
55. Keep schedules up-to-date
56. Time manage to create one day of rest per week
57. Attend an Eastern APA
58. Go to at least one conference per year

Travel:
59. Make it to Mardi Gras
60. Make it to each friend’s wedding
61. Make it to Texas
62. Make it to Ithica
63. Make it home twice a year
64. Take a long weekend to nowhere
65. Get a passport
66. Leave the country
67. Take a family vacation

Health and Wellbeing:
68. Make a 101-things-that-make-me-happy list
69. Shop farmers market once a month
70. Work out 3 times a week
71. Learn 1 pack of vocabulary words a week
72. Volunteer tutoring or reading
73. Give blood 6 times per year
74. Get a real massage
75. Bike to campus every day the weather permits it
76. Go on a meditation retreat
77. Meditate daily for three months
78. Keep a daily to-do list
79. Do a years worth of 5-minute writing
80. Compliment others 3 times daily
81. Take my vitamins
82. Take one month of martial arts classes
83. Do home exercises daily
84. Do stretches nightly
85. Train for and run a 5K
86. Take a month off from alcohol
87. Bring packed lunch to work for 1 month straight
88. Go strict vegan for 1 month
89. Achieve a BMI < 13% (Currently 19.5%)
90. Be able to bench my own body weight
91. Remove all caffeine for one month

Relationships:
92. Call home once a week
93. E-mail home twice a week
94. Keep in touch with "My Five" once a month
95. Remember friends’ birthdays
96. Get a family portrait taken
97. Put up more pictures of friends on my walls
98. Write a letter each week
99. Have a dinner party once a season
100. Play more games with friends

Goal-setting:
101. Make a new 101 in 1,0001 List