I’ve recently encountered the Day Zero Project through my friend Bryant. To quote directly from the Project Web site:
The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.
The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).
My current plan is to begin this project on Sunday, February 1, 2009 – which will allow me to end on Sunday, October 30, 2011. This makes me happy for many reasons, particularly that I can wrap up on the day before Halloween and therefore take the following week as a personal vacation.
And therefore, the tasks! I’ll be working to chronicle the actual work, the logic behind my choices, and my true progress in the main portion of the blog, but this page will serve as the primary list and home for shorthand tracking of my progress.
Regular text = task unbegun.
Italicized text = task begun.
Bold text = task completed.
FOR CREATIVITY
1. Write daily in my (meatspace) journal for one full year.
2. Complete my working art / design studio.
3. Create a Day of the Dead Calavera.
4. Create a semipermanent Day of the Dead ofrenda for my father.
5. Complete my “Woodenwork” with Carl’s gift.
6. Get skilled enough in leathercraft to mimic a Haida tribal design.
7. Get four short stories published.
8. Get ten poems published.
9. Get two non-fiction pieces published.
10. Design and complete my Shaman’s Coat concept.
11. Design and produce the five-piece Adveriad T-Shirt Collection.
12. Design, create, and print a batch of holiday cards from scratch.
13. Draw something I find professional, beautiful and worthwhile.
14. Complete 25 paintings.
15. Sell one painting for > $100.
16. Complete my first professional novel.
17. Complete my first fantasy novel.
18. Draw, write, and complete a 12-page comic book.
19. Design and publish a roleplaying game.
20. Create a complete altered book.
21. Design and produce a beer label.
22. Design and produce a wine label.
23. Create an artist’s portfolio online.
24. Get another band to record one of my songs.
25. Cook 25 meals, each using a new recipe.
26. Blog weekly – which means having something to blog about.
FOR FINANCES
27. Build an appreciating stock portfolio with stop-losses in place.
28. Build savings to > $5000 and keep it there for a year.
29. Set up a shopping cart on my web site.
30. Use every item received from a farmer’s market for 1 full season.
31. Stay under our $300 budget for dining out for six months. (0/6)
32. Have a two-day garage sale.
33. Learn to mend my own clothing.
FOR OTHERS
34. Plan and throw a vintage cocktail party for 10 people.
35. Attend a Kane County Cougars minor league ballgame with a group.
36. Mail out holiday cards to 50+ people.
37. Establish a weekly phone call with each immediate family member.
38. Visit my grandmother once in every season.
39. Design and maintain the front lawn of our house.
40. Donate all my old shoes and organize those I keep.
- All shoes donated to the Vietnam Veteran’s organization.
41. Work with Doogs on “The Crosstraining List”
42. Donate > $250 to worthwhile charities. ($235 @ 7/17/09)
- United Proud Patriots
- Paralyzed Veterans of America
- Planned Parenthood
- Amnesty International
- National Parks Conservation Association
43. Work at a local soup kitchen at least once.
44. Host a showing of The Suicide Tourist, followed by discussions.
45. Go to a protest march for a cause I believe in.
46. Volunteer at the Ginger Blossom Farms.
47. Repair our windows so we can open them in the summertime.
48. Tell everyone I know, in writing, the things that I admire about them.
49. Get the Triskele Moon Studios Web site to over 10,000 hits.
50. Hit every deadline for The Edge of Propinquity – no slipups for 1001 days.
- Slipped: July ’09.
FOR HEALTH
51. Drop weight to 180 lbs, and stay there or below for 1 full year.
52. Rejoin Weight Watchers and regain lifetime status.
- Rejoined 7/20/09
53. Attend 3 consecutive months of weekly yoga classes.
54. Go one full week (7 days) without alcohol.
55. Bench-press 225 lbs.
56. Swim a full mile without rest.
57. Participate in a stair climbing race.
58. Ride the entire Fox River Bicycle Trail (33 miles)
59. Go to the dentist every six months.
60. Rock climbing, Joel. Rock climbing.
61. Complete the 1500 point challenge in the UL fitness center — Scheduled for 2010.
FOR TRAVEL
62. Visit Europe.
63. Visit Boston.
64. Visit the Pacific Northwest.
65. Return to the John C. Campbell Folk School for a class.
FOR EDUCATION / DEVELOPMENT
66. Take fencing lessons for at least two months.
- Have coordinated for 3 months of lessons with a private coach in return for working on her Web site.
67. Take horse riding lessons for at least two months.
68. Learn conversational Spanish.
69. Learn to make good sushi.
70. Read every play Shakespeare wrote.
71. Read Ted Hughes’ Life and Songs of the Crow.
72. Read all of the Icelandic Sagas.
73. Read The Iliad.
74. Read The Odyssey.
75. Watch the entire Kurosawa catalogue.
FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
76. Get and use a composter for the garden.
77. Keep and use utensils and dishes at my desk at work.
78. Get and use a rainwater barrel for the garden.
79. Get and install a clothesline for drying clothes.
80. Green recycle all old computer equipment in the house.
81. Purchase a hybrid vehicle.
82. Volunteer at a State Park at least four times.
FOR ME
83. Get together (not counting GenCon) with 10 friends who I haven’t seen in over a year.
84. Set up RSS feeders for my web browsing habits.
- Did this but it didn’t take. RSS doesn’t work for my style, I think.
85. Keep a weekly calendar consistent and up to date for 1 full year.
86. Understand (and use) all the functions of a new mobile telephone.
87. Go into the city proper to do something once a month.
88. Get a new tattoo.
89. Become a licensed celebrant.
90. Put together a photo album of our honeymoon.
91. Identify 100 things that make me happy.
92. Run a 4-hour game at GenCon for my friends.
93. Try geocaching somewhere you could get lost.
94. Get rid of the old comic books in the basement.
95. Get a leather club chair for my reading corner.
96. Attend a Midnight Mass at my old church.
97. Attend a meditation at the Zen Buddhist temple in Chicago.
98. Spend 2 of my 3 birthdays doing only things I really want to do.
99. Live one other day per year as though it were my birthday.
100. Maintain and report consistenly on the 101 in 1001 list on my blog.
101. Throw a party on October 31, 2008, to celebrate the 1001 Nights.
That’s it – the 101 tasks I plan to accomplish in 1001 Nights as part of the Day Zero Project. Wish me luck!