Challenge: Try something new for 30 days

I was watching this video on TED the other day Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days
"Is there something you've always meant to do, wanted to do, but just ... haven't? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals."


I'm sure there's things we've all been wanting to do that don't rank high enough on our priority list (doesn't have to be new) but would still like to do and might make us a better person.

So now I'm putting the challenge out to the SS community to try something you've been wanting to do and do it everyday for 30 days. Let us know what you're doing and the progress too. But more importantly - report post 30 days on the outcome of your challenge.

For me I have a couple:
- To go for a run or bike ride everyday. This is not new but currently I do it very sporadically and it's something I've been procrastinating about for a while so now I want to commit to doing it consistently
- Do something to make my husband feel loved and appreciated. We both lead pretty busy lives and even though we know we love and appreciate each other it often goes unsaid a lot of the time so I want to remind him of this without assuming he knows it already
- I want to get an on-line gallery / store happening for the photos I've taken over the years. I have about 60 ready to go but have well over 70,000 photos sitting on various hard drives that need to sorted and the picks to be edited so I will aim to get at least 1 photo edited a day

I realise I've slightly deviated from the point which is to try something new, but I also need to be practical. As much as I would like to write a novel or learn a new language I am very time-poor at the moment so am wanting to embrace this challenge without compromising on the other aspects of my life but have it still being a challenge.

Here we go!
 
Great idea, I'm going to jump on this thread to try and hold myself to account with my latest hobby.

I've had a guitar for over 10 years, I never got passed being able to strum D E A, (OK, maybe a C and a G too when I got really adventurous).

We went on a short break a few years back with some friends and ended up in a great little hippy rental house in Freo for a couple of nights, there was an old guitar in there with a string missing. We had a blast belting out drunken 3 chord songs, badly.

We are going away again next week, same group, so a couple of weeks back I though I'd try and learn a few more chords, practice a little and take my guitar with us, so I started practicing simple chords ever day for the last 2 weeks.

This time, I'm going to try and stick with it and actually learn, so after years and years and years of saying I was going to take lessons, I finally did.

I'm 2 weeks in so far, practicing every day and have had 3 lessons. Already I can play and understand more from the last 3 weeks than the previous 10 years.

I will report back in 2 weeks time, at the 30 day mark, and let you know how I'm getting on.

Good luck with your running/cycling/cataloging.

Tony.
 
I've had a guitar for over 10 years, I never got passed being able to strum D E A, (OK, maybe a C and a G too when I got really adventurous).

Wha? :confused:

Similar situation, but I reckon they are the harder chords........

Em, Am mega easy IMHO..... :eek:

The Y-man
 
Wha? :confused:

Similar situation, but I reckon they are the harder chords........

Em, Am mega easy IMHO..... :eek:

The Y-man

My teacher said to me to pick a few songs I like, we'll cram them so I have something fun to play and practice whilst I'm away then we'll go back to basics when I get home.

I took a couple of Adam Eckerseley songs in on a CD, (Long Enough to Disappear and Give Her the World). He laughed, as they are pretty tough ones! (had no idea when I picked them, I just like how they guitar on them sounds).

He's amazing to watch, he'd never heard the songs, or even of the band. He played the tracks thorugh a couple of times then just belted them out, flawlessly. Incredible to watch and hear.

So, along with my A M D C G, I now know some weird no-name chords too!

Hey Y-Man, if you're still tinkering with it, give this site a look. It's a very comprehensive on-line tutor system, operated by a great bloke and completely free. Takes you right through from beginner to intermediate. I tried online courses before and never got anywhere, but this one is really structured, gets great reviews from the guitar forums and is fun and free.

From what and how my teacher told me we'd be learning, it very closely follows this site.

www.justinguitar.com
 
So, along with my A M D C G, I now know some weird no-name chords too!

Hey Y-Man, if you're still tinkering with it, give this site a look. It's a very comprehensive on-line tutor system, operated by a great bloke and completely free. Takes you right through from beginner to intermediate. I tried online courses before and never got anywhere, but this one is really structured, gets great reviews from the guitar forums and is fun and free.

From what and how my teacher told me we'd be learning, it very closely follows this site.

www.justinguitar.com

Thanks.

Never heard of an "M" chord though? :eek::D

The Y-man
 
Nice Tony & TV!

Well, I'm ashamed to say the start of my 30 days hasn't been that great...
I forgot I had plans yesterday evening and didn't leave myself enough time to go for a run and the dinner I had last night hasn't agreed with me and I'm feeling pretty blech today as a result. I'll see how I'm feeling in a few hours.

I've gotten one of my hard drives out of storage and went to load the photos on the PC but PC hard drive is almost at capacity so now have to get friendly with the delete button before I transfer anything over and crack open lightroom and photoshop.

Done a few things for my husband as per point 2.
 
I thought you meant do something new that you have always wanted to do but not found the time or motivation to do.

So, Next year Im going to attempt to live on a tropical island in the South Pacific for 30 days.

If it works out well then Im staying, not coming home. I have already lost the missus on that one, so D.I.V.O.R.C.E it shall be...:eek:

The other thing would be live & work on the road traveling around OZ.
At least I'd still have a wife...;)
 
Hi Kinnon, you might find this interesting. I utilise The Daily Practice in my life and it's working quite well.

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the-planet-in-4-easy-steps/

I noticed that you said that you wanted to write a novel, which reminded me of a story James told on his podcast recently about a guy who wrote something like 50 or 60 books in his lifetime.

When he was asked 'How did you manage to write so many books?' his answer was 'One page a day. If you want to write a book and you write one page a day, that is roughly one standard size novel a year.'

So if you set aside one hour a day, or even half an hour should be sufficient to write one page, there you go - one novel a year! This is how I approach major tasks/things that I need to get done in my business - one *whatever* a day.

I have a list of major works that need to get done and I focus on the one thing that is the top priority and do one *whatever* per day on it. Whether that is one step per day in my Procedures Manual or one page in the ebook I'm writing or things like that. Day to day it doesn't seem like a lot, but over a month you look back and go 'Wow! Look at how much I've gotten done!'
 
I thought you meant do something new that you have always wanted to do but not found the time or motivation to do.

That's the gist, yes.

I realised that when I was putting together what I wanted to realistically challenge myself with for the next 30 it wasn't anything new but in the spirit of the challenge they were important things I have been lacking time or motivation to do and had been de-priortising.

In the future when I have more time on my hands and can spend time doing things just for the sake of it that list will be a bit different. It would have something along the lines of write a novella, take a proper and well-thought out and set up photos instead of candid shots of my dogs, explore the area I now live in a bit better (can link it with taking of photos).

The other thing would be live & work on the road traveling around OZ.

This is on my bucket list too.
 
Hi Kinnon, you might find this interesting. I utilise The Daily Practice in my life and it's working quite well.

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the-planet-in-4-easy-steps/

I noticed that you said that you wanted to write a novel, which reminded me of a story James told on his podcast recently about a guy who wrote something like 50 or 60 books in his lifetime.

When he was asked 'How did you manage to write so many books?' his answer was 'One page a day. If you want to write a book and you write one page a day, that is roughly one standard size novel a year.'

So if you set aside one hour a day, or even half an hour should be sufficient to write one page, there you go - one novel a year! This is how I approach major tasks/things that I need to get done in my business - one *whatever* a day.

I have a list of major works that need to get done and I focus on the one thing that is the top priority and do one *whatever* per day on it. Whether that is one step per day in my Procedures Manual or one page in the ebook I'm writing or things like that. Day to day it doesn't seem like a lot, but over a month you look back and go 'Wow! Look at how much I've gotten done!'

A very good piece of advice right there.

One day at a time, piece by piece, bit by bit you can build an empire.

We have been creating a beautiful garden with many landscaping features over about 1 acre in the house paddock over the last nearly 4 years.

It's rewarding to sit back and soak up the splendour when the seasons change and new plants begin to perform.

It's been longer than 30 days but a worthwhile effort while work has been slow the last few years.
So glad I did take it up as something to do while things were quiet as Im now flat out with work and would have nil time to dedicate to this project.
No worries, it's 90% done already.

Now we move onto the building (reno the house).
Just need some time off....:D
 
Hi Kinnon, you might find this interesting. I utilise The Daily Practice in my life and it's working quite well.

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the-planet-in-4-easy-steps/

I noticed that you said that you wanted to write a novel, which reminded me of a story James told on his podcast recently about a guy who wrote something like 50 or 60 books in his lifetime.

When he was asked 'How did you manage to write so many books?' his answer was 'One page a day. If you want to write a book and you write one page a day, that is roughly one standard size novel a year.'

So if you set aside one hour a day, or even half an hour should be sufficient to write one page, there you go - one novel a year! This is how I approach major tasks/things that I need to get done in my business - one *whatever* a day.

I have a list of major works that need to get done and I focus on the one thing that is the top priority and do one *whatever* per day on it. Whether that is one step per day in my Procedures Manual or one page in the ebook I'm writing or things like that. Day to day it doesn't seem like a lot, but over a month you look back and go 'Wow! Look at how much I've gotten done!'

Looks like a good blog. I'd like to think I do pretty much all of the above already. To choose to be anything but happy and content is a waste of life and life is too short to waste!

I have a similar approach too with my tasks - I have a 'to do' list in outlook longer than my screen but what I try and do is chip one away a day and then it doesn't feel so insurmountable.

Hopefully it will feel the same when sifting through 70k-odd photos....
 
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