The mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in 1001 days.
The criteria: Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of effort on your part)
Start Date: 10/13/2009
Finish Date: 7/10/2012
THE LIST:
Travel Goal
1. Road trip and camp through Canada from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver, British Columbia
2. Go to Europe and spend at least two weeks of the trip traveling alone, immersing myself in the culture
3. Go to South Africa
4. Visit all fifty states in the United State
5. Live backcountry in Yellowstone National Park for 4 weeks
6. Stick my feet in the Atlantic Ocean at sunrise, drive or fly cross-country and then stick my feet in the Pacific at sunset during one contiguous trip.
‘Fest Goals
7. Attend Burning Man for the entire week
8. Attend Transformus for the entire festival
9. Attend the Calgary Stampede
10. Attend the Exotic Erotic Ball in appropriate (or non-appropriate) dress (San Francisco, CA)
11. Attend the Mother Earth Gathering (Silverfalls, OR)
12. Attend Mardi Gras in New Orleans
13. Attend the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CA
14. Attend NY Green Fest in Alfred, NY
15. Attend the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, TN
16. Attend South by Southwest in Austin, TX
17. Attend BlogHer
Activity Goals
18. Learn to snowboard and then practice my new skill often
19. Swim 300 meters (12 laps) without getting winded
20. Tread water for 10 or more minutes
21. Get my SCUBA certification
22. Climb the top ten rock climbing routes in the US: Nutcracker, CA, Stolen Chimney, UT, Ellingwood Arete, CO, Disappointment Cleaver / Ingraham Glacier Route, WA, Garden of the Gods, CO, Joshua Tree, Idyllwild, CA, McConnell’s Mill State Park, Pennsylvania, Grand Canyon, AZ, Shagg Crag, ME, and Triple Buckets, VT
23. Kayak in the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean
24. Learn to juggle
25. Learn how to fish
26. Take a hot air balloon ride
27. Jump out of a perfectly good and functional airplane (aka tandem skydiving)
28. Complete a triathlon.
29. Learn how to surf.
30. Learn to roll a kayak.
31. Swim with sharks
32. Learn to salsa
33. Ride the top five steel roller coasters and top five wooden roller coasters in the United States (http://attractions.uptake.com/blog/top-10-roller-coasters-4014.html)
34. Visit the top ten zoos in the United States
35. Become a proficient horseback rider again (English)
36. Go zorbing
37. Learn to play chess
38. Watch all 100 of AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies
39. Shake hands with a celebrity
40. Ride a mechanical bull
Cooking/Food Goals
41. Participate in 32 monthly Daring Cooks challenges
42. Participate in 32 monthly Daring Bakers challenges
43. Bake every cupcake in Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes book (175 of them)
44. Make eco-friendly meals that support the mission and philosophy of the Slow Food Movement
45. Make the perfect cup of coffee
46. Study the art of making tea
47. Try a new dish –something I have not had before – when going out to eat.
Environmental Goals
48. Reduce trash output to one bag of trash per week
49. Drive less than 100 miles per month (excluding road trips)
50. Determine my carbon footprint and reduce it by half. Track how I do this via blogging/photographs
51. No more conspicuous disposable plastic use. Ever.
52. Join a CSA and make healthy, wholesome meals from what I receive
53. Walk and shop (or metro) to the local farmers market (year round here)
54. Buy meat and milk and cheese from local dairies
55. Buy other ingredients/food items from Trader Joes. No more Whole Foods
56. Compost
57. Reduce the number of power vampires in the house by half
Creative Goals
58. Blog/photograph every experience on this list on a daily basis from start date to finish date
59. Learn how to use my sewing machine. Make Drue’s Halloween costumes and concert apparel
60. Make paper and then make something from that paper
61. Learn to play the guitar
62. Each month participate in one of sh1ft.org’s photography projects
63. Act or do a comedy routine onstage
64. Do something ridiculous or outrageous, video it and post it on YouTube
65. Participate in the 365 days project (http://www.flickr.com/groups/365days/)
66. Participate and crush NaNoWriMo
Educational Goals
67. Read the entire booklist of 1001 Books To Read Before You Die
68. Create or join a monthly book club that meets in person
69. Learn to speak French fluently
70. Start working towards my Bachelors degree
71. Visit each and every museum that is part of the Smithsonian Institute
72. Tour the White House, Capital Building, and Supreme Court
73. Tour Mount Vernon
74. Master or re-master the following: Linux, Wordpress, PHP, Photoshop, Cocoa and Android (you know, all the things I let go when I joined the ranks of “Management”)
Health Goals
75. Donate whole blood every 60 days
76. Give up soda for 1001 days
77. Get eight hours of sleep every night
78. Complete a CPR and basic first aid course
79. Learn how to meditate
80. Practice meditation daily
81. Learn the basic yoga asanas
82. Declutter. Give away or sell everything I don’t currently use or need
83. Spend a week on a silent retreat
84. Have an in-person conversation with my father
Social Goals
85. Karaoke
86. Join Pub Quiz night two Tuesdays a month at Auld Shebeen
87. Participate in the 100 strangers project
88. Accept every invitation out with friends – new and old – that do not conflict with a prior commitment
89. Host a dinner and game party once a quarter
90. Meet the people who are friends of mine (on Facebook or online) in real life and spend some time getting to know them away from the computer
91. Join a team sport.
92. Go on a blind date
Volunteer Goals
93. Build a Habitat for Humanity home
94. Volunteer at the DC Central Kitchen
95. Help a complete stranger for the common good
Career Goals
96. Submit my art to a gallery show (or showcase)
97. Create an online gallery for my photography and art work
98. Start my own media company
99. Have my blog(s) listed in the Technorati top 1000
Monetary Goals
100. Be debt free (not including potential mortgage in case I have one of those).
101. Have three months of savings tucked away in an account that goes untouched.
For more information, please go to Day Zero Project
Folding paper has always been my passion. Paper airplanes in particular. I’ve been trying to fold all 50 paper airplanes at paperairplaneshq.com and I’m close to folding them all. I never thought there were that many kinds.
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55. Buy other ingredients/food items from Trader Joes. No more Whole Foods
I was intrigued by this. Do you mind me asking why no more Whole Foods? I’m new to trying to be more environmentally-conscious, healthy in general, and just aware. I’d appreciate your input.
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Hi Pamela! I should really rewrite that. At the time I put together the list, a slew of articles came out about how Whole Foods employees were really not treated well. A few months ago I spoke to a Whole Foods employee who explained that this is not actually the case. Whole Foods is consistently ranked one of the most employee-friendly places to work. I think The Agitator said it best here: http://www.theagitator.com/2009/08/15/whole-foods-2/
So I am changing that up. I love shopping at both Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods and love our Whole Foods here in CA since 80% of the products in the store are local.