3 posts tagged “the 101”

The measure of success

Aug 2, 2008
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I am a list-maker and list-item-checker. But I think it would be misguided of me to insist that a 101 goal be checked off before I can consider it a success.

I have skipped a couple of days of flossing. I haven't picked up all my weekly tasks. I'm halfway through my first month on the list and I'm still not sure what all I'm supposed to have finished by the end of it. Imagine the pressure of failure I'd feel if I were already berating myself over these little things.

Life changes aren't supposed to be sudden.

And for that reason, I have decided to measure my success this way: If, by the end of my 1001 days, an item on my list is part of my life, then I'll consider that I did it right.

Giddy Elation

Jul 16, 2008
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About this idea of painting a picture of myself, which I mentioned in my introduction to The 101. When I first wrote that, I'd thought I was painting a picture for other people who didn't know me or hadn't seen me for a while.

But in these first couple of days After The List, I realize the picture is for me.

I've spent much of my life saying Yes to other people's requests. It's something I'll likely do my whole life -- I truly enjoy pleasing others. But for the past several years, maybe most of my life, I have lost who I am. Not because she's gone out of sight, but because I've closed my eyes.

Now: The List. When you write down 101 things you'd like to accomplish, you can't help but see, if nothing else, who you'd like to be.

So my eyes are opening, and I'm still adjusting. Things are slowly (quickly!) coming into focus.

For instance -- this passage. It was written almost entirely during my walk from a cafe to my car. Finally! My obsessive nature has turned away from brooding introspection (a waste) and back to its good work: composing, revising and editing entire paragraphs, all in a cloud of thought that eventually lands, smack, on a page.

I felt so carefree doing this composing/reviewing/editing. I was walking along, tapping my leg as I went. I had a satisfied smile on my face, and moments of giddy elation just to be doing this thing that felt so natural.

This may all go away, or be replaced and then return and then be replaced again by some other experience that eclipses it. But that's nothing to concern myself with now.

This List thing gets more and more interesting.

The 101

Jul 15, 2008
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The Mission
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

For your consumption, a list of 101 things I would like to accomplish over the next 1001 days (my last day: April 12, 2011). Putting this list together was an exercise (it took a day, and 7 pages of a legal pad). Upon putting together the final draft, I realized that the list paints a little picture of me. Perhaps it's me as I would like to be by the end of two-and-three-quarter years, but that counts for something.

I'll be maintaining this blog (at least once a week, according to the list) with updates about The List. And I'll make a spreadsheet to help me track how I'm doing along the way.

This feels like a scientific experiment. And like I'm under a microscope, or in a Petri dish. But I don't mind it, since it's mostly me doing the inspecting.

[Note: I'm not sure why some links are displaying different than others, but nearly every one of my list items should lead you to a longer description of itself.]

I only have one body. I better treat it right.
  1/ Complete 5 hours of exercise a week
  2/ Get down to 105 lbs.
  3/ Maintain goal weight
  4/ Improve posture through exercise, practice
  5/ Increase running distance from 2 to 10 miles
  6/ Participate in a 5K
  7/ Do 10 (full) pull-ups in a row
  8/ Get killer abs before I have a baby
  9/ Maintain a subscription to Women's Health and: do one new exercise from it a week; cook one recipe from it a month
10/ Take my vitamins every day
11/ Drink 3 glasses of red wine each week
12/ Drink my 64 ounces a day
13/ Go without dairy for one week
14/ Go without dairy for one month
15/ Go a week with having only fruits for dessert
16/ Go a month with having only fruits for dessert
17/ No more sunburns!
18/ Floss every day