I am a big lister. Lists allow me to not forget, to keep some traces. I love writing but sometimes, I just prefer listing things, no pretty words, simply the facts.
Deina (TheAmpleGoddess) shared her list not so long ago, which reminded me of mine. I neglected it complety for months, and the clock is ticking. But I realize that I achieved more goals than I thought, it makes me happy and help me to go through the “guilt” !
Setting goals can be useful to stay on track, and you can always change these goals along the way…
I discovered this project in 2008, via the blog of my friend Sandrine. I thought that I needed goals, and that having 1001 days to achieve them was the right amount of time: neither too short nor too long (1001 days=nearly 3 years).
Some of everyday life goals, others are life changing ones. As I re-read them to post this article, I noticed that I should modify some because of what my life is like today. I don’t erase them, just twist them.
Here is the thing: build a list of 101 things/tasks you wish to accomplish. These things have to be precise, without any ambiguity. You have to check your list often, because you can forget about it. It’s okay if you don’t finish it, but the fun thing is to see crosses on every point of your list when you reach the 1001th day 😉 Keep track of it, what is currently being done, what is done etc.
You can use this tool to calculate your end date: time & date.
Start date: August 27th 2008
End date: May 26th 2011
My code:
Items that are crossed are done
Items in italic are in progress
Self-Help/Esoterism
#3. Finish my 1 Creative Journal, and then start a new one. (complete August, 2010)
#15. Do not use anymore the manual book of my Oracle Gé when I do a reading.
#18. Create my prayer necklace.
#31. Learn and use lithotherapy.
#32. Learn about 50 plants to use in phytotherapy.
#35. Experience a shamanic travel.
#39. Write daily in my Journal.
#43. Master alpha meditation (or another meditation)
#57. Buy and read 3 books about shamanish in order to know more about it.
#67. Create an altar.
#68. Sort my Book Of Shadows, and maybe do it again completely.
#73. Gather some informations about the Art-Therapy Institute of Vancouver. (Complete in 2009, unfortunately I don’t have what it’s asked to attend…)
#78. Finish Julia Cameron’s program via The Artist Way.
#94. Become a Reiki Master.
#95. Give a tarot/oracle deck as a gift to Grenouille.
#92. Initiate Grenouille & Koala to the power of Energy (how to feel and use it).Home Sweet Home
#2. Become home owners in Vancouver area. (gathering money to have the needed downpayment; creating a Home Wish Journal, found the area we’d love to settle in)
#44. Decorate our home with paintings I created (at least one in our bedroom, one in the kitchen, and two in the living/dining room). (still in progress but because I want to add more personal touches. There is one painting in our bedroom, some in the living room, but there’s no space in the current kitchen to hang someting)
#65. Have a vegetable garden and eat our own vegetables/berries/fruits
#101. Create our own decoration for the whole home (define precisely our style, and do according to it)Well-being
#7. Lose 20 pounds
#8. AND do not gain them back
#16. Practice the 5 tibetans every morning => I have to twist this one into another morning ritual
#17. Swim at least once a week. => no pool nearby, and as I don’t have my driver license it’s challenging
#47. Do yoga with the girls, three times a week, as long as they still like it. => they both still do yoga ! but I have to integrate more structure, and to learn yoga myself first.
#49. Go to the beach or the pool in a 2-piece swimsuit. (COMPLETE, but it’s not in a bikini yet)
#51. Weight myself only once a week
#52. Wear my beloved Levi’s pants again => it won’t be possible. I have to replace this goal.
#66. Learn digipressure (find the exact name of this)
#86. Do not use chemical deodorant anymore
#89. Find how to love my body and feel sexy againFamily & Couple
#12. Ban definitively spanking in our home
#33. Learn to recognize trees with the girls
#42. Writing again a journal about the girls’ life, so that they’ll have traces in the future, maybe with some pictures
#56. Meet my half-brothers
#88. Renew our wedding vows
#90. Do the Montessori method at home (the material is too expensive, I have to find how to create it myself)
#99. Have a midnight bath with my lover somewhere in the Pacific
#100. Top secretMoney Money & Organization
#9. Find long term solutions for not being overdrawn
#10. Sort our clothes, give the ones we don’t wear anymore (COMPLETE December, 2009; when we moved from France to Canada, but a new decluttering would be good)
#14. Save up 50 cents a day in a piggybank for 1001 days
#21. Planning the week meals every sunday (we forget to do it sometimes)
#22. Do the grocery shopping only once a week
#48. Eat lighter and more balanced dinners
#61. Fold and put in order clean laundry as soon as it’s dry (I hate doing laundry, it’s really a chore to fold the clothes etc. But we do our best. Still some improvements to be done though)
#70. Compost our garbage => I want to change this one.
#80. Buy fresh fruits and vegetables in a market once a week. (We don’t go to a real market and I don’t know how these fruits & vegetables store we got to are called, so I’d say this goal is 50% achieved.)Cooking
#5. Bake a fraisier on my own (COMPLETE for my 24th birthday in September, 2009. It was very good but a visual disaster. I related it on my cooking blog, but in French. Tell me if you want the link)
#20. Succeed in baking macarons (COMPLETE, with my friend Nathalie)
#27. Bake our bread so we don’t have to buy some (i don’t do it everytime, so we eat both store bought and homemade bread)
#28. Eat light for dinner
#53. Write a blogpost on ABC-Cooking every other day (I decided not to write there anymore, I still cook and still am a foodie, but the passion of having a cook blog is gone so i cross this task)
#24. Become an expert in japanese cooking (I am on the good way. Living in Vancouver making this a lot easier than when we were in France !)
#79. Bake some chocolate croissants (my brother in law arrives tomorrow with the chocolat, 1,6kg of chocolat specific to make chocolate croissants !!)
#93. Cook a magical meal once a monthCreativity
#4. Draw 5 characters I really really love (I have to count, but I think it’s COMPLETE)
#13. Make manual activities with the girls
#25. Create the digibook of Koala, from before her birth to her first birthday
#26. Create the digibook of Grenouille, from before her birth to her first birthday
#30. Learn how to knit again (My mom taught me how to knit when she came in June 2010. I just know the basics now. I used to knit a lot with her when I was a child, but forgot completely over the years)
#38. Learn how to develop black and white photographs
#40. Learn the basics of sewing (idem that for knitting)
#58. Take 20 pictures of meals I like (I have to count ! I took a food photography class last year)
#64. Contact Violette Clark to know if she does workshop for adults, if yes attend one (I contacted her, but didn’t attend one of her workshop yet. So it’s 50% done)
#81. Journal outside at least once (COMPLETE in April, 2010. And it was art journaling with both my daughters, so even better ! some pictures on my facebook, if some of you are friend with me there)
#82. Attend one of Suzi Blu’s pajama chat (gosh this is old ! this was when I was in her Petite Dolls class 😉)
#83. Create 10 candles
#84. Create 2 woodburned mixed media artworkReading
#37. Read the 7 books of the Harry Potter saga (COMPLETE in 2009)
#41. Read all the books of the Earth’s Children saga
#76. Make 5 of my books travel
#87. Read all the books of my spirituality section that I began or forgot I had (As I am an avid reader, I buy books often and the list goes longer ! I’ll list the book, to have an exact idea of what waits for me)Social Life
#6. Have at least one new friend in the real life (COMPLETE Nathalie, met thanks the forum PVTistes.net, and that is my best friend here in Vancouver)
#29. Write at least two letters a month that I send via snail mail
#36. Meet C. et P. (50% done on January 11th 2009, the day before our big departure from France, I met C.)
#74. Organize a game night with friends before the big departure
#75. Organize a girls only week-endTravel
#50. Discover Seattle (we went a few times, but we have to list what there is to see because the 1st time the girls gone crazy exciting, the 2nd we were tired and only went to Blick)
#55. Go whale watching
#69. Spend some days in Yukon
#72. Do the transcanadian in familyGeek Life
#54. Write two or three blogposts on Inner Voices every week (COMPLETE)
#60. Learn to develop in PHP
#85. Learn the basics of cssMiscellaneous
#1. Create this list and organize it
#11. Define what I wanna do professionally and do everything possible to achieve it (I don’t know if I can consider this as complete or not. But it’s on the really good way)
#19. Try a drug to know its effects
#23. Learn how to speak and write japonese
#34. Learn signing
#45. Finish to translate the book I started, even if it’s only for myself
#46. Know all the canadian provinces, their major cities, and where they are located
#59. Get a new tattoo
#62. Write a cookbook
#63. Watch two movies in english each month, without subtitles (COMPLETE, now, I watch everything in english, I really improved my english !)
#71. Become totally bilingual in english/french and vice-versa (almost done, there are still words I don’t understand, but it’s an everyday learning)
#77. Pass my driving licence
#91. Go to the movies once a month (very impossible without a baby sitter !)
#96. Have another reading with S., with my lover with me
#97. Attend a pow-wow concert
#98. Attend one of Lisa Williams’ show (she’s coming in Canada. But only in Montréal and Québec city. I’m very disappointed that she’s not coming in Vancouver. But I know I’ll go, someday)
PS: I don’t know why, WordPress erases the option that marks the things as done. So for now, I put them in a different colour until we find a solution.
You’ve really inspired me with your wonderful list and to have 1001 days to complete it, that makes it actually doable for me. I think I’m going to start my own list…thank you for the inspiration.
Peace & Love,
~Barb~
I’m glad you’d like to start this too. You’ll see that having a list is very helpful, and it’s good because you can keep track of your progress.
Of course, you can decrease the time and number of tasks 🙂
I love this project! And your list is great–so diverse and interesting. Now I am thinking about what I might want to do in the next 1001 days…
Hi Kim !
Tell me if you start this too 🙂
I’m a list maker too. But my goals change so often that the 101 in 1001 would be too much for me to manage.
If you want, I can help you with #29. I love writing and getting letters via snail mail. And we could get to know each other better! Et on peut le faire bilingue! Let me know…
Sophie
Yes, I like the idea but as I said (or thought), you can always change the numbers 😉 Like 10 things in 10 weeks or whatever !
I’d love to write to you, I love getting snail mails but it’s very rare. In english or in french, I don’t care lol 😀