activevoice

My problem isn’t moving on rollerblades—it’s stopping! I’m actually pretty good on rollerskates and ice skates, but I just can’t seem to master the brakes on the back.

Hard at work organizing my thoughts and preparing for the final write up-it’s due next Wednesday! The end of the semester is always a rough time, so I’m doing my best to get my other papers out of the way before really diving into this one. I’ve gotten so many great responses and seen so much interesting activity on this site, I hope I can do it justice and give it my full attention-in spite of my current state of sleep deprivation :)

I spent four months in Dublin a couple years ago, and I think about the city and the people I met there everyday. Definitely go, and stay if you can!

Just finishing up my graduate degree in Boston, and have moved half of my things to my future home in Colorado—including my yoga mat. Aside from this, it’s the final crunch time in the semester, which leaves little time for anything beyond hurried workouts here and there. It’s been about 9 months since I have done yoga, and I am craving it. I have never been flexible, and yoga at least gave me a more normal range of motion (I could touch my toes!). I really feel how much I need to start again; I lift weights and run a lot, and my muscles always feel a bit tight. It will be a relief to have the time to fit in a few yoga sessions each week.

This goal has become increasingly important to me as I’m realizing just how many people around me spend their days complaining! Each day is a new exercise in finding things to be unhappy about. It’s exhausting to be around, and frankly, I think it’s an exhausting undertaking. I think the trick is really recognizing what you have, and consciously appreciating it everyday. I find that I rarely have a “bad day” anymore, and can always find something to be happy and optimistic about, even when things go wrong that upset me. I realize now that most day-to-day things that go wrong just aren’t that bad.

The trick now is figuring out how to “cultivate” this, and encourage it in others. Of course, you can’t force change in anyone who’s unwilling, but I think optimism is a worthwhile thing to try to cultivate. I know my days have been much brighter, and it also helps with that difficult goal of “becoming a morning person!”

This goal sort of falls onto a wishlist-I wish I had the time and money to spend the time trying to do it! As a teenager, I biked across Wisconsin several times on weeklong trips, and caught the bug. I love being the one to power my own travels-literally! No gas or motors required. Plus you run into such interesting people and places when you take the backroads and aren’t closed off from them by a car or train or plane.

For now, I’m considering changing my workouts to more triathlon-type training, both for the variety and to get back into activities I love. Maybe this will spur some action on this goal.

I’ll be moving out to Colorado from Massachusetts in June. We’re hoping to get an annual pass to Rocky Mountain National Park so we can tackle some of the easier trails to start with, and maybe work our way up to Long’s Peak toward the end of the summer. It will be quite a challenge, as it will definitely take me some time to adapt to the altitude. I’m generally pretty athletic and love to run, but even running 1-2 miles at a moderate pace has left me floored each time I’ve been out there recently. I guess it will just take some time. Living in Colorado and having full access to the mountains has been a lifelong dream, and I’m so excited to take advantage of it!

I’ve made some great progress on this goal, thanks to the generous users of 43 Things who have spent time talking with me and answering questions over email. I’m starting to put it all together, and should have a final product in a few weeks. If anyone happens across this and would like to be interviewed on their experiences with 43 Things, please let me know!

Thanks again to everyone who helped. Your thoughtful responses are much appreciated!

Currently at one set of 15 and one set of 10. I’ve also been using a belt to add a ten pound plate, which takes me down to about 12 and 8.

Twenty-five still seems like a long way off.

It’s those first minutes when the alarm goes off that make or break me. Either I snooze forever or am able to immediately get up and enjoy the morning. Once I’m up I’m fine—I never nap, and rarely feel tired during the day. Unfortunately, I usually end up snoozing.

I was really good about it when I was on a crew team—5:30am practices were no problem. Summer also helps. I’m much more likely to get up to run in morning when it’s cool.

I like someone’s idea of singing first thing in the morning. I may scare the neighbors, but I’m ok with that :)

Loved every minute of it and would love to do it again.

I am particularly interested in examining learning and motivation and how active use of the site affects both—or whether it does at all. I hope to find out why people are drawn to the site, and whether public sharing and the various community-building features contribute to learning and to motivation to work toward goals.

The more I look through the site, the more I am seeing limitations in the structure. While articulating goals and sharing them is a starting point, there seem to be few structures that support action toward the goals. Connections with others seems cursory; you can see who else is interested in your goal, and even have a discussion with them, do you really form a cohesive “team” around the goals? I’m not even sure how one can become a part of a team. I haven’t seen it anywhere on the site, and it seems somewhat arbitrary. Where can you build a plan of action—either for yourself or for the team? This seems to be a frustration of the people interested in using 43 Things for social action. Broad goals, while noble, often need to be narrowed down to objectives, plans, etc. It all sounds hopelessly corporate, but that’s the start of my thinking on this :) Then again, maybe the ability to write entries about the goals are enough. It’s something I’ll have to explore.

I am conducting research on the site and on this issue for a course. If you are interested in being interviewed about your experiences on 43 things, please let me know.