Give it a 100 (or 20, or 30) Challenge - October 2018

[ejchase]

In August 2017, a few of us were inspired by the video at the link below. It's the story of a woman who went to the gym 100 times to try to get herself out of a rut. I saw it when George Takei posted it on Facebook along with the question, "What would you like to do 100 times?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5FkshLcNLQ

Her video was part of a larger movement online called "Give it 100" which, as far as I can tell, is now defunct.

I decided what I wanted to do 100 times was work on my fiction writing at least 30 minutes a day. The times do NOT need to be consecutive. Since I knew I would miss a lot of days here and there, I was aiming to complete my 100 days by January 15, but because I wanted a certain number of the days to be one-hour or two-hour days I actually ended up doing 110 times in order to meet those goals and finished them in mid-March.

Others joined in at various points - nswef has counted times of a certain number of steps a day and I think has also counted days doing 15 minutes of decluttering and/or some writing. Chicken Lady got 30 days in her studio in November and has also counted swimming and various housekeeping/decluttering tasks.

Anyway, if anybody else wants to join in for 20, 30, 100 or however many times of something, please do!

Doing 100 days of working on my fiction writing was so transformative for me that I am now doing another 100. I'm on #64 and am hoping to finish this 100 by the end of November.

[Gardenarian]

Hi,
I somehow have never read this thread, and it's very serendipitous that I picked it now!

I recently started writing fiction, too. I gave it up years ago because I felt I was mediocre, and there are enough bad books in the world. But it's always been in the back of my mind, and a couple weeks ago I realized that if I had just written a paragraph, or even a sentence, every day - well, I'd be a much better writer now.

I've written every day for three weeks. I will start my 100 days today, which will end January 12 (thanks Google.) I am not going to set a minimum time - I'm still feeling pretty unsure of myself (that inner critic.) Some days I just set a timer for 5 minutes in the morning and evening, and that's it.

I'd also like to set a goal of cleaning house for 15 minutes a day for 30 days. I need to do the nitty gritty of cleaning, all the things I avoid. So, every day till November 3!

[ejchase]

Great, Gardenarian! So glad to have you on board!

[Teacher Terry]

G, doing some housework every day makes a huge difference. I never used to do that but started about 20 years ago and my house is always presentable and much less work. I probably spend about 30 minutes through out the day.

[Gardenarian]

Thanks for the welcome!
I have a hard time with housework - I do what's in front of me (dishes, laundry, vacuum) but let the other stuff go. Got some serious dust and grime to tackle.
I really think this will help!

[Gardenarian]

Day 1: done and done.
The timer for cleaning worked for me. I was cleaning the kitchen cabinets, and I since I knew I there was a limit I focussed completely on the task and did a thorough and satisfying job. Didn't clean a lot of cabinets, but, tomorrow. The first time I actually enjoyed housework in ages.
Wrote two pages (roughly 800 words.)

[Teacher Terry]

That’s great G! I also have cleaners that come once a month and for $60 clean 2 bathrooms and scrub the floors in the entire house on their hands and knees. Then the rest of the time I use my robot vacuum and robot mopped to keep them clean. When I first retired I dropped the cleaners but was paying more to the chiropractor because all the bending, etc was throwing my back out.

[Gardenarian]

I am going to look into cleaners!

Though... what I'm doing now is mostly deferred maintenance. With DD moved out, it's no longer like trying to shovel snow in a blizzard - things might stay clean for a while :)

[ejchase]

That's great, Gardenarian! Keep up the good work!

[Teacher Terry]

G, you can also hire them to do all the deep cleaning once and then it’s easier to keep up with it too.

[Gardenarian]

I'm thinking about a cleaner.

As I'm going through cupboards and bathrooms I'm also sorting out large amounts of dd's stuff (and getting rid of my own too.)
I think once I've got all her things in bins, bags, and boxes i may have someone come in to do the windows, sills, blinds, and baseboards and deep dusting (as in, the dust is deep!)

Got a big thing done - we have built in glass shelves in the bathroom and I completely cleared them and put them through the dishwasher then just put my own stuff out. Gives me a grin whenever I look at it :)

The writing is at a rocky spot but I'm doing it every day.

[Teacher Terry]

G, great progress. I think hiring all the deep cleaning will put you on a sustainable path. Every spring I wash all the windows, curtains etc for the year.

[Gardenarian]

Okay, it's well into November, but I wanted to check-in.
I missed a few cleaning days, but overall I'm staying on track. The cleaning has led to furniture rearranging and hanging pictures and all sorts of little improvements in our house, so I'm feeling good about it!
I've been writing as well, though I seem to have less imagination in my writing than in my cleaning. It's good practice though. I'm focusing this month on finding the best time, place, and medium for me to write in (hands get sore from using a pen, but the computer has it's drawbacks.)
I'm not adding any new habits this month; just going to keep trying to follow through on what I've got.
Thanks for the inspiration and support!