OK, I’m changing my end date to December 21, since that’s the official first day of winter. I think it’s going well. . . .

Things to finish (2 out of 6 done):

• Have my ring resized.
• Create an altered book.
• Practice discardia.
• Write a letter to Cindy Sheehan.
• Reflect on my first year in Chicago.
• Challenge myself this fall!

Things to make specific progress on (6 out of 10 begun):

• Read 43 books about my city Read 3 more. Working on one right now.
• Explore 43 new places in my city Add 6. I think I’ve already got there, just need to post them.
• Get the medical care I need Get this MRI bullshit figured the hell out! Also, begin bodywork/massage therapy. Made new neuro appointment; tried a massage therapist but she was so-so, so I’m still looking.
• Stick to my FlyLady routines like glue Build an evening routine which I can live with, and stick to it. Doing the routine most evenings and it’s helping a lot!
• Volunteer Post about most recent experience; decide whether to start a new volunteership or take a break.
• Not have a headache. Get a follow up CT scan and discuss with doc.
• Have a better relationship with my brother Get through the current horrific family crisis without causing any further damage to an already strained relationship. Had an exhausting but important visit, and had some really good talks with my brother. Still tentative, but it feels like we’re both reaching out for the first time in . . . well, ever.
• Find alternatives to Google products. At least post about the alternatives I’m already using.
• Get strong Keep riding the bike as late in the year as possible. Rode yesterday! Hopefully will ride some more this week.
• Be a better friend Remain close to caught up on returning emails and phone messages.

Ongoing things to do (1.5 out of 3 going well):

• Journal Not so much.
• Stick to a budget So far so good!
• Accomplish 3 things every day Well, not every day, but this is happening lots of days.

Next steps . . . post about Chicago books and places; try to break through whatever block is keeping me from feeling creative at all, so I can get back to journaling and deal with the altered book project.

See more progress on: Challenge myself this fall!

Here is what I’m aiming for by December 15. I’m trying to be more realistic than I was with my summer challenge.

Things to finish (6):

• Have my ring resized.It’s at the jeweler’s – just need to pick it up.
• Create an altered book.If I don’t get this done by December 15, so help me god, I’m giving up.
• Practice discardia.I already did this over the weekend! And I’m going to do it a bunch more.
• Write a letter to Cindy Sheehan.Or else give up.
• Reflect on my first year in Chicago.This will hopefully turn into a blog post.
• Challenge myself this fall!

Things to make specific progress on (10):

• Read 43 books about my cityRead 3 more.
• Explore 43 new places in my cityAdd 6; this can include new places I go or writing about the places I’ve been but didn’t add. Events don’t count.
• Get the medical care I needGet this MRI bullshit figured the hell out! Also, begin bodywork/massage therapy
• Stick to my FlyLady routines like gluebuild an evening routine which I can live with, and stick to it.
• VolunteerPost about most recent experience; decide whether to start a new volunteership or take a break.
• Not have a headache.Get a follow up CT scan and discuss with doc.
• Have a better relationship with my brotherget through the current horrific family crisis without causing any further damage to an already strained relationship.
• Find alternatives to Google products.At least post about the alternatives I’m already using.
• Get strongKeep riding the bike as late in the year as possible.
• Be a better friendRemain close to caught up on returning emails and phone messages.

Ongoing things to do (3):

• Journal
• Stick to a budget
• Accomplish 3 things every day

That’s 19 things total, compared to 26 from the summer, and only 6 to fully finish, as compared to 12 before (and really one of the 6 is already done). I think this is really do-able! Here I go!

See more progress on: Challenge myself this fall!

Well, I’ve totally dropped out recently, which has sucked. But I still kept on track with some things. Here’s my final assessment of my accomplishments:

Succeeded:

• Have my ring re-sized.
• Get people to fill out this johari and nohari thing.
• Tell my father I love him.
• Give up gluten for one month. (Either do this, or take it off the list, or change it to a more useful goal.)
• Survive my first Chicago Spring.
• Buy a bike.Yay for Chapman!!!
• Use del.icio.us.
• Synchronize my 43T things and Remember the Milk tasks.
• Challenge myself this summer!
• Practice discardia. Do this at least one more time.
• Get the medical care I need. Get back on antidepressants; get more help with my neck and shoulder (meds, therapy, or both).
• Get my LCSW. Find out what this entails in Illinois.
• Adopt 2 children. Make a short list of 3 to 5 adoption agencies that might be good matches for us.
• Get strong. Have a plan by the end of the summer.
• Be a better friend.
• Volunteer

Failed/Gave up:

• Organize my Issues of Vegetarian Times by August of 2007.
• Create an altered book.
• Post 100 quotes that I like for whatever reason! Get up to 60.
• Stick to my FlyLady routines. Continue doing my morning routine most mornings. Have an evening routine and do it most evenings.
• Read 43 books about my city. Read at least 3 more.
• Explore 43 new places in my city. Add at least 6 more.
• Be sexually healthy. Figure out what what will help me achieve this goal.
• Journal
• Learn CSS
• Quit my job.

So, that’s 16 goals which I either accomplished outright or met my summer milestones for, and 9 which I either failed at or gave up on. That’s not bad . . . but I think I’ll be less ambitious/more realistic with the fall challenge. (Yes, let’s do a fall challenge!)

I’ll post specific things under each actual goal. Although I only accomplished a little under 2/3 of my goals, this was extremely helpful for me. It really helped me prioritize and focus, and everyone’s encouragement was really motivating. Plus, just posting the updates was great, because often I didn’t even realize how much I was accomplishing until I wrote it all down.

Yup . . . worth doing!

See more progress on: Challenge myself this summer!

Done or given up:

• Quit my job. Gave up.
• Use del.icio.us. Done!

Progress made:

• Organize my Issues of Vegetarian Times by August of 2007. I organized 1 recipe!
• Have my ring re-sized. Got estimates and chose a jeweler.
• Get people to fill out this johari and nohari thing. So close! Thanks to everyone who has filled it out since I put this in my challenge!
• Survive my first Chicago Spring. Summer officially starts this month and I’m still here!
• Buy a bike. Checked out bike stores; narrowed it down to two I like.
• Challenge myself this summer! Yes!!
• Get the medical care I need. Restarted my depression meds; had an MRI.
• Stick to my FlyLady routines. Doing morning routine 5 out of 7 days and evening routine 2 to 4 out of 7 days!
• Read 43 books about my city. Finished Chicago, City on the Make.
• Explore 43 new places in my city. Checked out Hyde Park (thanks wembleyheads) and Navy Pier.
• Be sexually healthy. Good thinking is happening in this.
• Adopt 2 children. Confirmed registration for adoption information session later this month.
• Get strong. Started pushups and sit ups every morning and it feels great!
• Journal. Wrote down some of my dreams.

No Progress:

• Create an altered book.
• Tell my father I love him.
• Give up gluten for one month.
• Synchronize my 43T things and Remember the Milk tasks.
• Practice discardia.
• Post 100 quotes that I like for whatever reason!
• Get my LCSW.
• Volunteer
• Learn CSS
• Be a better friend.

Wow . . . a long way to go!

See more progress on: Challenge myself this summer!

Feeling a bit of trepidation, but a lot of excitement.

Things to finish this summer:

• Organize my Issues of Vegetarian Times by August of 2007. Have the recipes in the binder, by meal type. Creating a searchable database of ingredients is optional.
• Have my ring re-sized. I would like to have a wedding ring that fits by my 2-year anniversary!
• Create an altered book. Get this done already!
• Get people to fill out this johari and nohari thing. I really just want 2 or 3 more people to at least do the johari. Surely I can do that in the next 3 months.
• Tell my father I love him. In person. If I get to see him this summer.
• Give up gluten for one month. Either do this, or take it off the list, or change it to a more useful goal (e.g. figure out whether it’s gluten or soy that makes my tummy hurt).
• Quit my job. By the end of June, this will either be done or given up on.
• Survive my first Chicago Spring. This is basically done, just need to mark it off and post something about it.
• Buy a bike. Hopefully this month!
• Use del.icio.us. Already using it, but I want to get a lot better at sharing and networking (come on, Matt, send me some bookmarks!), and also post some of the cool stuff I’ve learned to do, and then I’ll consider this done.
• Synchronize my 43T things and Remember the Milk tasks. This might cause things to be added to this challenge.
• Challenge myself this summer! Yes!

Things to make specific, measurable progress on this summer:

• Practice discardia. Do this at least one more time.
• Get the medical care I need. Get back on antidepressants; get more help with my neck and shoulder (meds, therapy, or both).
• Post 100 quotes that I like for whatever reason! Get up to 60. Also, get 2 new quotes to make up for the ones I’ve repeated.
• Stick to my FlyLady routines. Continue doing my morning routine most mornings. Have an evening routine and do it most evenings.
• Read 43 books about my city. Read at least 3 more.
• Explore 43 new places in my city. Add at least 6 more.
• Be sexually healthy. Figure out what what will help me achieve this goal. Not necessarily do it by August, just figure it out.
• Get my LCSW. Find out what this entails in Illinois.
• Adopt 2 children. Make a short list of 3 to 5 adoption agencies which might be good matches for us.
• Get strong. Like the sexual health goal, I just want to have a plan by the end of the summer.

Ongoing goals

• Be a better friend.
• Volunteer
• Journal
• Learn CSS

Wow! That’s almost all my Things, represented on this list! I’m off to reorder my list to match this goal! I feel good already – I had no idea how many of my goals were so achievable!

See more progress on: Challenge myself this summer!