Change of Heart
The beauty of designing your own life curriculum is that you can adjust it and delete, refine, and change your "assignments" as your interests change or as life circumstances dictate. Well, folks, this is exactly what I've done. After a year of trying to broaden my horizons, complete "to-do" items that I keep putting off, and to learn a little something along the way, I found that some things I thought were important to me, well, just aren't. [Like learning Photoshop, for instance.]
Another thing I learned is that while it might sound good to say I accomplished X, deep down I'm not motivated to work towards some goals. Therefore, several goals got the ax. For example, I originally had one goal devoted to completing language lessons in French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese. First of all, that's just crazy and unrealistic, especially considering that I have 998 other goals to achieve (And oh yeah, I work full-time too).
Secondly, as much as I love the sound of both Japanese and Arabic, my heart just wasn't in it. As a result, I narrowed down my language goals to three languages (French, Spanish, and Chinese) and made each a separate goal. [If you're curious, I chose these languages because I've taken formal classes in each of these in the past and I'd like to capitalize on that previous learning and investment of time and money. Also, I'm a little bitter with myself that I'm still very much a beginner in all three of these languages. Bad Brooke!]
Whoa Nelly - Don't Go Overboard!
Another adjustment I made to several of the goals is to ratchet down expectations. For some goals, I was making myself do way too much on a weekly or monthly basis causing two things to happen. 1) The goals were too much to ask given my time constraints and so I wasn't making any progress and 2) when I failed to meet the goals I just felt like crap, like I was letting myself down, which led to thoughts about how I suck and never meet any goals I set, yada yada yada. Basically, it was bad for my own self confidence and definitely was taking the fun out of this experiment. And I'm all about the fun!
After all, no one is making me do this. There's no degree at the end of it and definitely no prize money (that I'm aware of!). It's something I'm choosing to do for myself and I definitely shouldn't feel like crap as a result. So, for example, previously I had listed making two new recipes every month (resulting in 66 new recipes over the course of the project). Well, two recipes per month was not happening given my work/travel schedule PLUS all the other goals on my list. So I changed it to just 30 new recipes total. I already feel better about the list and a lot more confident in my ability to achieve each goal.
State of the Niner Project
Since I love numbers and stats, here's a quick breakdown of what I've accomplished in this first year of my life curriculum:
18 - The number of goals I've completed to date.
17 - The number of goals currently in progress.
81 - Number of goals I still have yet to complete (including those in progress).
16 - The number of goals I've completed, but still need to blog about. (Okay, so I'm a little behind.)
524 - The number of people who have visited "The Niner Project" page. (I was shocked that anyone but my Mom and Granny had checked it out! Thanks to everyone who stopped by; it's nice to know there are some folks out there cheering for me. :)
16 - The number of goals that I deleted/added/revised for this update post.
3.8 - The number of goals I need to complete per month for the remainder of the project to accomplish all 99 goals.
So here it is, in all its updated glory, the new and improved Niner Project.
KNOWLEDGE/LEARNING THINGS
1. Take an upholstery course
2. Complete a Yoga Teacher Training course (200-hr program)-Coming December 2010
3. Complete all the lessons for Spanish on my Rosetta Stone language CD
4. Complete all the lessons for French on my Rosetta Stone language CD
5. Complete all the lessons for Chinese on my Rosetta Stone language CD
7. Take guitar lessons
8. Learn how to change a bike tire
9. Learn to refinish hardwood floors
CAREER/FINANCIAL THINGS
10. Max out Roth IRA every year
11. Start/Write a study abroad blog – Inside Study Abroad
12. Start a professional website
13. Sell five pieces of refreshed furniture (1/5)
14. Film, edit, and publish 10 The New Dorothy travel videos (0/10)
15. Start/Write a college prep blog
ACTIVITIES/LOCAL THINGS
16. Train for and complete two sprint triathlons (Summer 2011 & Summer 2012)
17. Run a 10k
18. Don't drive/use the car for 2 weeks
20. Sing karaoke - solo & sober
21. Visit every thrift store in Fort Collins (0/???)
23. Visit the Black Hills
24. Take a belly dancing class
25. Throw a party
26. Participate in the Tour de Fat 2011 (with my family to celebrate my 30th birthday)
TRAVEL THINGS
28. Travel Tales – write a post about a past travel adventure (3/70)
29. Visit Australia (Coming December 2011)
30. Visit a random city – Albuquerque, NM
31. Visit the Grand Canyon
32. Spend a long weekend in NYC
33. Visit Martha's Vineyard
34. Visit eight of the following US states! Washington, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Maine, Louisiana, Delaware, Wisconsin, North Dakota) (1/8)
35. Visit Vancouver (Coming May 2011)
SHOPPING THINGS
36. Buy all new underwear
38. Buy a sewing machine
39. Start Netflix (in order to accomplish #43)
42. Buy some quality/effective sports bras
VIEWING/READING PLEASURE THINGS
44. Read 15 new books (0/15)
45. Read Recruit or Die - finally
FOODIE THINGS
49. Eat like a caveman for one month
50. Find and make 30 new recipes (4/30)
51. Finish one master-cleanse
54. Make something in the Crockpot
HOMEY THINGS
56. Organize all old floppies/CDs/external hard drive documents
60. Complete picture frame project
61. Get a plant and keep it alive for six months
62. Start an herb garden
63. Create five “how-to” videos (0/5)
RELATIONSHIP THINGS
64. Organize 10 game nights with friends (0/10)
65. Send five hand-written notes/postcards per month (0/165)
66. Send three friends a personal digital message every month (0/99)
67. Document stories from my parents' and grandparents' lives; 3 each (0/21)
68. Call my brother/parents/grandparents once per month (1/33)
69. Call Q, A, and B every month (0/33)
PROJECT/TASKY THINGS
70. Create a college photo book
71. Create a grad school photo book
72. Create a China photo book
73. Create a photo book for 2007
74. Create a photo book for 2008+SAS
75. Create a photo book for 2009
76. Create a photo book for 2010
77. Start a compost container
GOODWILL THINGS
79. Provide college-prep counseling for students from my high school
80. Make treats for my colleagues (0/3)
82. Volunteer for Economics for Leaders (EFL)
83. Donate $1 for every goal completed; donate $3 for every goal not completed
84. Throw someone a surprise party
PERSONAL THINGS
86. No social media for one week (facebook/twitter/rss reader)
87. Wake up two hours before work for two weeks
90. No TV/movies/videos for one week
91. Go to bed at 9pm for one week
92. Complete the 30-Day Shred
93. Get a Brazilian
94. Workout before work for one week
MISCELLANEOUS THINGS
95. Open a Charles Schwab checking account
96. ????
97. ????
98. ????
99. ????
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