101: Reflections

So, in my absence, a lot of my thoughts pertaining to the blog circled around the 101 in 1001. 

The tl;dr version is: Naturally, like all grandiose goal-setting endeavors, this has technically failed. But there's a nice long read here about the ways in which it did not fail, and how I'm OK with the "failure" this endeavor entailed.

What the 101 has done for me

It had been years since I wrote out a list of all the discrete things that interested me. More shockingly, given that I am a planner by nature, I'm not sure I ever compiled anything resembling a to-do of personal development. I guess my planning was always externally-focused.


But there is nuance. There is grey area. This has only failed in the strictest sense: I will not complete those 101 goals in 1001 days. I'm OK with this. I've been whittling at the list in my blogging absence. Blog silence did not cleanly translate into goal stagnation. I slowed down, yes. My 101 was very ambitious given that the math works out to just over 9 days per goal. I won't accomplish everything on the list. Which translates to...

The 101 was a larger lesson in prioritizing. I had fallen into that classic trap of "Oh, That'd be cool if I could/would..." but, you know, never actually doing anything. Spending a little mental energy to compile all those wishes & wants, and to compare them to each other, gave me more motivation - especially once I looked at the time I had on my hands. The catch to this is that while I have some time, I don't necessarily have energy to match it. I was very gung-ho those first weeks, and there was - to a point - a feedback loop where the sense of accomplishment fueled me even more, keeping the energy going. But that eventually has diminishing returns. There is an equilibrium I have yet to establish where I'm accomplishing things with enough downtime to not burnout, which I struggled with in February. Note I've been talking about time, not money. 

There is, of course, the money prioritization. A LOT of my list demands funding. Whether it's saving for goals, or spending to gain materials/teachers for skills, this is probably the biggest constraint - and the major force in slowing the 101 down. But money as a constraint has brought focused creativity in working around it. In fact, this problem as posed by the 101 has, in part, solved itself with one of the goals buried within the 101: to visit the library more. In one of the bigger "Well, DUH" moments known to man, I remembered that the library (which, for those first 10 weeks, I failed to get to even once), packed all sorts of information for the various skills I'm looking to improve.  Ugh. DUH. So, yeah, weekly library visits - not a problem anymore.

So, I loosened up my ambitions due to time, energy & money. I also loosened up the "101" part. 101 is a large number, even when time/money/energy constraints are loosened. I knew I was simply creating filler toward the end...the last 10ish items in particular. So when I sat down to re-evaluate the goals I had set for myself it was no surprise that I wanted to replace ~8 goals and modify 2-4 more. 

The 101 likely won't continue on as "The 101" in this blog. I just haven't thought up a clever name to replace it yet. Who knows, I'm generally carrying on in the spirit of the 101 either way. 

So, What Have I Done?

-My dancing was going very well, until the studio took their Xmas break. I lost motivation in those couple of weeks. My foot started hurting. When I came back there was a new ballet teacher I don't learn as well under. It's been rough. Same with my flexibility work -  I *was* doing well, but going easy for my foot's sake and getting discouraged overall have undone the progress I was making. But my foot slowly gets better, and I'm finding new ways to dance (namely, Salsa). So I'm on the upswing again.
-Visited the indoor trampoline park

-Mr. Burly & I refinished the master bed together. 

-The home message & planning center is maybe 2/3rds finished

-I'm taking more pictures, even if with just my phone, for the purpose of having pictures in my blog. It's a start.

-The daily journaling has stopped. This is one of those goals that is very conflicting. I certainly have a desire to have a daily record, my memory can be sorta crappy - especially as days seem to blend together. But somehow it seems to take too much energy to write about the day. So, it's just not happening.

-Started my music file cleanup. It happens in fits and spurts.

-I work enough on my German to keep the low-level of ability I have, but I'm not working enough to get better.

-We covered the library goal.

-Visited new restaurants, continue visiting new restaurants

-Reading plenty more, knocked Let's Pretend This Never Happened off my list.

-Actively working on my left-handed legibility

-Building, and tackling, a Bucket List

-Weekly working on wardrobe streamlining/updating

-Going to First Fridays

-Planning on attending GenCon

-We got a couch

-Pinterest-inspired things: my planner, wardrobe cleaning/streamlining/updating, meal planning, a few recipes
-Visited the Eiteljorg (to see Nat Geo pictures), the Indiana State Museum (for the corn-lobby sponsored corn exhibit), the IMA (for Ai Wei Wei)

Look, Ma! I got corn! And a Corn God!

-Oddly enough, started working out, to dvds, in the morning. Something just clicked here. This will be its own post.
-Got back to my rainbow colored hair. (It's rather faded to blonde now, and I think that, while I'll continue color, it won't be as rainbow-ific in the future. But the blonde needs to go, and soon.)

Hey how 'bout another picture? I got this beauty for super-cheap at the neighborhood garage sale!

I'm not creepy at all. And my new owner has no intention of hanging me in the guest bedroom to creep.