Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Complete a goal every day for a year

"I'm trying to do this one but I'm low on money and have no friends.
I don't know how all those free-spirited women in movies do it. They make it look so easy to just walk out their door and have adventures. Maybe I just need to have a more positive aura. I'm probably blocking opportunities with my negativity. I've been trying hard lately to embrace life and do as many new things as possible but keep coming back to "need a better job" and "this would be fun or easier to do if I had at least one best friend""
said Niala on Bucketlist.

So, how to do this if you don't have any money or friends?
You know, most people don't have much money or many friends with whom to do things.
But most people's goals don't require money and friends to be completed.

Firstly, some goals cannot be completed in a day. Like "Watch the 250 best movies at IMDb". It would be better to change this goal into "complete 365 goals this year".

Secondly, Niala has listed over 400 goals. There's bound to be things you want to have done that can be completed without money (or with little money) and with no friends, or by making friends while completing it.
More about that later.

Thirdly, you can do this like Zombiegirl and write a precise list with dates, that will be easy to follow and complete, or you can have a "goal bowl" or "daily goal jar", and just pick up one and do it. To be able to do it this way, you need to choose goals from your list that you can do right now, without anything more than what you have right now.



Suggestions for goals that are completable in a day without money (or with little money) and with no friends

1) Divide your bigger goals into part goals that can be completed in a day.
Examples of this kind of goals are:
- lists of movies to see. Watch one movie a day. (remember to add "watched a movie a day for a week/a month/a year")
- lists of books to read. Read 1/7 of a book in a day. (remember to add "read a book a week for a year")
- if you plan to watch every episode of --- or listen every song on an album / by a certain artist, this can be achieved one piece/episode/album a day.

2) Go through your local events and see if you can participate in any for free, or if they need volunteers

3) Write a page / chapter / x number of pages / x number of words a day

4) Practice --- an hour (you will be able to learn anything if you practice one hour every day for a longer period of days.

5) Learn a new word every day / 10 new words (in a foreign language) / 10 new signs (sign language)
Very few people can learn a new language in a day, but you can learn a limited part of the language in a day. x number of words or sentences. Translate a sentence / x sentences / page of a book. Watch a movie / episode of a tv series. Read a comic book in target language.

6) Train a new habit every day. For example, there are already planned programs for a lot of physical challenges like "Couch to 5K" or "100 push-ups", and all you need to do is to transfer the program to your "goal a day" calender and make the partial goal; each step of the road your goal of the day.

7) Bake/cook a new recipe. Learn to bake/cook something. Bake/cook something and eat something you haven't eaten before. Eat something new.

Remember, unless you have defined that the result must be "perfect", look nice, taste wonderful, be made by all the rules of the book, you just need to bake/cook it to be able to say you have baked/cooked it.
You don't need to like it.
You don't need to make it ever again.
You don't need to save the recipe.
You just need to do it.

8) season related goals
- if there is snow in the area where you live, check off the "build a snowman", "make a snow angel", etc. goals, one each day.
- Go to a beach and build a sand castle. Heck, you don't need to build the sand castle on a beach. You can build in in kid's sand box. 2 years old kids know how to build a sand castle.


Yes, this is a sand castle.
Yes, it counts.
Yes, you pack a mold full of sand and turn it out of the mold.
Voilà. You're done.

Go read some season related "family bucket lists" or "(season) to do lists"
Get the "play in autumn leaves" and "go skinny-dipping" goals completed.

9) Kiddie-things
There are these "things kids should do before growing up" lists. Most of those are things that are quick, easy and free. You can use them to fill some "difficult days".

10) Climb a tree, a rock, a fence...

11)  be a moderator for a fan site, have a blog, etc. etc.
There really are no requirements. Anyone can create a Wiki for any subject or a bigtent group, or get themselves a blog, a twitter account, a tumblr account, Facebook account...

Now, if you want to get a SUCCESSFUL net endeavor, you need to work for it. Write into your daily calender weekly blog updates etc. There's a lot of free and good information and help about blogging and becoming a good blogger.
- be active, be reliable
- follow others, leave comments, likes, respond to tweets - be the kind of follower you'd want for yourself
- reblog, retweet
- be positive, polite and avoid irritating, flammable or sensitive topics. Be respectful, kind and generous.
- blog about things you are interested in
- create original content
- tag your posts
- have a common theme with your social media, connect the different accounts, and get active on Pinterest and Instagram (if you have a good smartphone)

12) Celebrate xxx
There are hundreds of different "national day of this and that" days. Every day is the day of something. If you find nothing interesting to celebrate, celebrate your unbirthday. That's 364 days a year.

13) start writing a journal
A dream journal, health journal, book journal, movie journal, what ever journal - get a cheap composition book, a pen and start writing. It really is as easy as that.
Now, if you want a fancy art journal kind of thing, or do Project Life, scrapbooking in a specific way, if you want to have a fine, expensive journal and a good, expensive pen - or a lot of them - that's going to cost a bit more. But you don't NEED them. All you need is pen and paper. And the most important, essential ingredient. YOU TAKING TIME AND SITTING DOWN TO DO IT.
Frankly, it's better if you start with a cheap composition book and a cheap rollerpoint, and save the expensive stuff to the day when you can trust that you will actually do the work, when you have got in the habit.

14) Answer this questionnaire or that.
Again, just do it.
- 50 questions that will free your mind
- 5000 questions survey

15) Learn to play ---
Just pick what you want to learn to play, divide the chore in pieces that you are comfortable completing in a day, and go for it. For example "learn to play guitar 1/30"
And, yes, you can learn to play a guitar in 30 days. But you won't learn to play guitar WELL in 30 days. You won't be able to play EVERYTHING with a guitar after 30 days. You won't be able to join a band as a guitarist. You are not a guitarist. But you know how to play a guitar. You are still a beginner, and you will need to practice a lot. Like 1/2-2 hours EVERY DAY to become GOOD. But you can play a guitar, and you know if you want to keep playing guitar and you know your way around the guitar so much that you can start experimenting with more advanced playing.

It's like knitting. You can learn to knit in a day. But you won't be able to buy any pattern and think you'll manage.

16) Learn a craft
As said, you can learn to knit in a day. Heck, it doesn't take more than some 15 minutes. It's not difficult. That's how Kaffe Fassett started :-D
Most crafts are easy to learn, difficult to get good at. ;-)

17) Memorize --- (song lyrics, poem, Bible verses...)

18) Have a picnic

19) Improve ---
That's a question of practicing. Anything practiced improves your skills in it.
You could for example choose to improve your signature. The way to do this is to write your signature over and over and over and over again...
Or "improve my British accent"

20) Random Act of Kindness

21) Roll a cherry stem with my tongue

22) Send a postcard to post secret

23) Sing karaoke in public. A lot of pubs and bars have karaoke. A lot of them have it free. All it takes is for you to find out where the closest one is and go on a karaoke night and do it.

24)  Sleep only 4-6 hours a night / Sleep under the stars / Watch the same day's sunrise and sunset / Be awake from sunset to sunrise

25) Spend the Day BLIND

26) Wear a bikini / wedding gown / what ever
- Go to a store and try on one. Done.

27) Write a letter to my future/past self  - Write a letter to ---

28) Write with a quill and ink - you'll need quill, ink and paper. Then it's just to write.

29) Write with my blood as ink
Probably easiest with an dip pen.

30) Donate money/time/extra items

31) Finance a kickstart project

32) Donate blood
(Find out the rules where you live. I can't donate blood because of my medication. It also takes about a month before the initial tests are done for a first time donator or someone with a longer pause.)

33) Plant a tree
I suggest you plant apple seeds from the next apple you eat, and cultivate them until they are about 10 inches. Then you take a pot and a garden trowel with you when taking a walk, and plant the sapling in a nice place, preferably in a place where the grass is not cut and where people don't walk a lot, so that the tree may grow. In some 10 years your apple tree will produce fruits.

34) send a message with a balloon / send a message in a bottle / hide a secret in a library book / hide a secret in a book in a book store

35) Be a Tourist in You Own Town

36) Complete a 1000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (Perhaps not in a day...)

37) Finish a Crossword Puzzle

38) Have a Collection
Well... practically you would need more than one or two things to have a "collection", but let's say that you plan to start collecting turquoise jewelry. Then your first piece is the "starter piece of your collection"... and theoretically it IS a collection.

39) Invent something

40) Join a book club. (Or any other club)

41) Learn the Heimlich Maneuver

42) Learn to Juggle
It really takes just a couple of minutes to learn the actual technique, but getting good at it takes quite a bit longer :-D

45) Leave My Mark in Graffiti

46) Make a Balloon Animal

47) Own an Original Piece of Artwork
Take a piece of paper. Make art. Done. You now own an original piece of artwork.
Oh, you meant by some REAL artist? A piece that's actually GOOD?
Go to Etsy and buy one. Or any other art selling site.

48) Share Your Most Embarrassing Moment

49) Start Fire Without Matches. Yes, you can learn to do this right now, with what you have right now, and you'll learn this in a day. (Well... with certain reserves... if you are in prison, for example, you probably won't be able to do this. Right now...)

50) Surprise Someone

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