#044 – Record a tiny video every day for 1 year (1/12 – January 2024)
Let’s be honest: there won’t always be a monthly recap of my progress on my 101 Things in 1001 Days project. Sometimes life is going to get in the way and there won’t be much to report, and at other times I might be deep in the weeds of some longer-term goals. In the months where there’s something worth saying I’ll try to write a little recap like this one.
January 2024 has been a really productive opening month for my goals. Despite some pretty interesting chaos in my personal life I’ve been able to fully complete 3 of my ‘Things’ and make good headway on another 12. I can’t remember another round where I have had such a strong start, and my theory is that the list I’ve written this time around is authentically built for my truest self, and therefore unfolding without a whole lot of effort.
COMPLETED
#069 – Rewrite my resume
I think it’s nice that I was able to complete Thing #069 first! If you want to know what happened next, I wrote about it here.
#019 – Rejoin the gym
It had been so long since I’d been to the gym that I started to have some mild social anxiety about ever showing my face there again. Rejoining the gym is something I’ve wanted to do for years, and I knew that putting it on my list would give me the kick up the butt I needed to just get on with it. I booked a personal trainer, asked him to demonstrate how all the machines work again, and now there’s pretty much no stopping me. I’ve got 24 hour access and a plan, and it feels good to have stopped procrastinating over something so dumb.
#100 – Volunteer
A funny thing happened last week when I realised that a project I was working on was accidentally going to qualify for an item on my 101 Things list. Somewhere in the first half of January I found out that my contract at work was going to end quite suddenly, and on the same day I came across an unpaid website redesign project for a not-for-profit organisation that I really love. The cause is dear to my heart, and the timing of the project gave me much-needed purpose in my day outside of submitting applications for jobs that made me want to die. I had to laugh at myself when I remembered – 40 hours into the project – that item #100 on my list is ‘Volunteer’.
IN PROGRESS
#001 – Track my health and fitness goals for 12 months
At the end of each month I am setting goals for the month ahead, and keeping track of them in my paper planner. I’m really enjoying the accountability that it provides, and I’m also never locked in to anything for more than 4 weeks at a time so I’m less inclined to give up. So far, so good!
#020 – Distance challenge: Hume Highway (Melbourne to Sydney – 840km)
This is just a different way of tracking my steps, I guess. January hasn’t been a fantastic month for distances because I’ve been welded to my desk, but at the time of writing I am 105km in (which puts me somewhere around Tallarook, VIC on the map). It’ll be cool to see this map zoom out more and more as I get closer to Sydney in the months ahead.
#023 – Weight loss goal #1
I’m not doing anything crazy towards this at the moment, but small changes add up and there are a few bad habits that need attention. The strategy for now is to be more mindful about what I eat (and why I’m eating it), move a bit more than usual, and strengthen the parts of my body that I need for some of my future goals. I’ve also bought a sit/stand desk to help make those passive hours at my computer a little less life-span reducing.
#036 – Record 25 piano covers
Here’s the first one – a little Wendy Matthews cover.
#044 – Record a tiny video every day for a year
This originally began as a ‘1 second every day’ project, but I’ve decided to give myself some creative flexibility with the length of the clips. You can see January’s compilation at the top of this post.
#050 – Build and maintain a website to document my 101 Things progress
You’re looking at it! I’ll call this done once I’ve built out the other pages, but it’s starting to take shape.
#052 – Take a short course in a personal interest
I am enrolled in a course about The Science of Wellbeing, mainly so that I can say I graduated from Yale. I am only a few classes in but it’s really interesting and I have already recommended it to others.
#057 – Maintain Duolingo streak (follow me @elzxbth)
As at 31 January 2024, my Duolingo streak is 759 days.
#063 – Read 10 biographies of people I admire
Currently reading: Nick Drake by Richard Morton Jack. It’s an authorised biography about one of my favourite musicians who overdosed from antidepressants at the age of 26, just a few years before I was born. He achieved next to zero fame until well after his death, but his 3 studio records are amongst my favourite of all time and his story is absolutely captivating.
#068 – Read 5 career-related books
Currently reading: Good To Great by Jim Collins, and The Modern-Day Assistant by Lucy Brazier.
#070 – Find a fulltime job that I love
Here is some background about why this is important enough to be on my list. I signed a new permanent contract today (and could not be more excited about what’s ahead!) but I won’t be marking this complete until I have a few months under my belt and can say that I really do love it.
#071 – See live music in 20 different venues
Started strong with a phenomenal performance by Gregory Alan Isakov at The Forum on 28 January 2024.
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January wasn’t without its failures though – there were a couple of items on the list that I attempted at the start of the month but didn’t follow through with. I started my Couch to 5K program strong, but didn’t return to it after an unplanned break. I also abandoned a 30 day yoga challenge after giving myself a wrist injury. I’ll return to both of these goals down the track.
It’s probably unrealistic to expect that every month is going to be as productive as this one when it comes to my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days – especially as I start a new and somewhat ambitious job next week. But it’s great to have cracked the back of the challenge, and I’m going to do what I can to use the momentum from January to keep chipping away at my list next month.