Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A Year with Daily Challenges

Inspired by Leo Babauta's "A Year of Living Without", I decided to create a challenge for myself.
Some of Leo's great challenges are just not really applicable for me: Not using the Internet for half a day would bring me in serious job problems. That's not what I want to happen. I want to try new things out, leave things out, get out of my comfort zone (at least a little bit). The worst thing that could happen, that I learn nothing new. The best thing that could happen, is that I change the way I live my everyday life. And I believe, it will make fun. At least in hindsight.


January

No calories after 5:30pm. And no eating after 5:30pm. I tried this from time to time, but failed regularly. This month shall be different. Instead of eating or drink sweetened stuff, I will drink water or unsweetened tea.

February

This month I will drink at least two liters of fresh water each day. This might become hard. But it could be worth it.

March

No alcolhol. I drink not that much. At least I think I don't. In a typical month perhaps six 0.5-liters of cola-beers and one bottle of wine. That month it will be zero.

April

Either working out for at least 30 minutes or being outside for one hour. I have no idea how to make it work. This is one of the most challenging items on this so far to me. The tricky part will be no to cheat on the workout, but to really work out.

May

No coffein. No coffee. No Latte. No Cappuchino. No Cola. I will replace it with apple juice, water and tea.

June

All distances less than 3 km must be done by foot or bike. This will mean to go shopping by foot or bike. Heck, almost everything I can do in my town, I have to do by foot or bike. Exceptions are allowed only if it's too heavy to transport by bike or foot.

July

No video entertainment. I will not watch any movie or play a video game. Not on my computer and not on my phone. Instead, I will read. Or talk to my wife. Or play boards games. (I have severeal board games, which are challenging playing single, in case no one has time to play with me.). July is a great month for not sitting inside and watching TV or movies.

August

Waking up before 5:00am. This one will mean, that I have to go to bed early. It will be challenging, but surely the most fun. August is the month I look forward most, because of this.

September

Maximum half hour usage of private internet a day. As a programmer, I rely on information gathered from the internet very heavily. You always run into some problems, you cannot solve by yourself. It's not about this kind of internet usage. It's about checking your private emails, it's about surfing amazon and updating your wishlist. It's about the sunken time on reddit. I will replace it with time for family and reading book. I got the feeling, I will read more book this year than in the ten years before.

October

At least one hour of quality time with my kids. And by quality time I mean playing, reading and taking a walk with my kids. In my normal life, I seldom take the time to really enjoy life with those loved ones. (That's a shame actually!). And when I take the time, I'm often distracted by other things I want to accomplish: Books and internet articles to read, phone calls to make, things to cook, stuff to clean up -- you name it. This month will be different.

November

Write a blog post something every day. I have no clue how to accomplish this without writing extremely boring stuff like "Today I ate a banana.". <irony>Photos may be helpful.</irony>

December

No Smartphone usage. I am way too fearsome to go completely mobile-less like Leo. But I will use my wife's feature phone this month. It will rely on pen and paper for notes, contact and calendar updates. Yes, most feature phones have a calendar and contacts, but I hate using them. GTD with no smartphone will also be hard. But I will figure it out. I will replace this habit with being alive and watching all the other people whose attentions are drawn to that little device.




2014? Let's bring it on!