I'm doing 39 things
I hate this goal.
3 months ago
This goal is way too nebulous. Am I in shape now that I weight 10 lbs less than I did at the start of the summer? It all depends on how you interpret “in shape”.
traybucket's Life List
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1. lose weight
5 entries . 3 cheers36,392 people -
2. get in shape
2 entries . 3 cheers9,385 people -
3. implement GTD
1 entry . 6 cheers462 people -
4. learn how to drive stick-shift
1 entry . 15 cheers4,462 people -
5. start a blog
6 cheers969 people -
6. spend more time outdoors
13 cheers939 people -
7. Read War & Peace
2 entries . 3 cheers57 people -
8. read harry potter
6 cheers83 people -
9. learn guitar
1 entry . 6 cheers3,068 people -
10. master TextMate
4 people -
11. Learn a martial art
3 cheers1,454 people -
12. set up an aquarium
1 entry . 5 cheers13 people -
13. Read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
10 cheers536 people -
14. read every book I own
1 entry . 4 cheers2,121 people -
15. travel to every continent
4 cheers1,409 people -
16. finish unpacking
1 entry . 2 cheers122 people -
17. read the Chronicles of Narnia
2 entries . 3 cheers219 people -
18. Make new friends
4 cheers12,789 people -
19. write a book and have it published
4 cheers2,705 people -
20. Finish Reading The Fountainhead
6 people -
21. Contribute to an open source software project
1 entry . 3 cheers802 people -
22. See Cirque du Soleil
7 cheers254 people -
23. Learn Spanish
1 entry . 5 cheers15,507 people -
24. Do 100 sit-ups daily for 100 consecutive days
2 entries210 people -
25. develop a sensible disaster plan and survival kit
2 cheers40 people -
26. Reduce Paper Clutter in My Home
3 entries . 6 cheers5 people -
27. get promoted
1 entry . 1 cheer289 people -
28. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
3 cheers442 people -
29. visit all 50 states
3 entries . 1 cheer7,155 people -
30. hike the appalachian trail
2 team members . 5 cheers1,651 people -
31. get rid of all my clutter
2 cheers1,142 people -
32. write a book
2 cheers26,119 people -
33. master Ruby
1 cheer179 people -
34. Learn Objective-C
113 people -
35. Go mushroom hunting
1 cheer23 people -
36. see the northern lights
2 cheers16,927 people -
37. learn to ski
3 entries . 6 cheers847 people -
38. Do the Couch to 5k running plan
4 cheers312 people -
39. Write a will
1 cheer774 people
How I did it
It made me
Smarter about food. 
How I did it: The Farmer's Market in Worthington runs every Saturday morning during the warm months. I just make sure I'm there as often as possible. I had to rediscover cash, but I just make sure that hit the ATM on the way there each week. Read how I did it…
Recent entries
Current status
3 months ago
I’ve been using Stickk.com to motivate me on this goal, and it’s worked out well. I made my goal of 154.9 lbs this last week, so I need to get down to 153.9 lbs this week. That’s over 10 lbs lower than where I started.
#5 Vagabonding
2 years ago
Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts
This book is so short (203 pages, but a lot of it is references) that it scarcely qualifies as a book, but I’m behind in my quest for 20 so I’ll count it.
This is a book about both the hows and whys of long-term, low-budget international travel. “Vagabonding” is the term that Potts uses for this kind of travel, which he separates from “vacationing”. To Potts, vacationing is about escape—vagabonding is more about curiosity and discovery.
Potts spends much of the book exploding the myth that long-term international travel is the exclusive domain of the wealthy—before becoming a writer, Potts himself traveled Asia for over a year and a half financed entirely by doing landscaping work and teaching English in Korea for 2 years. According to Potts, not only is it possible for normal people to travel the world, but by keeping the budget and baggage low, normal people can have deeper, more fulfilling travel experiences than the rich people staying at the Hilton.
Potts offers many good pointers on the hows of travel—language, money, safety, health, etc, but it’s when he’s talking about the philosophy and attitude of travel that this book goes from good to brilliant. He talks about how the naive quest for authenticity leads many to pay large amounts of money for synthetic culture. He talks about ridiculous “anti-tourists” who show their superiority by visiting far-away places and refusing to go anyplace that mere “tourists” go. He talks about how travel is fundamentally a personal experience, not a status symbol.
This is book is one of the most intelligent, insightful books I’ve ever read. It was also extremely well-written and easy to read, so much so that I got it from the library yesterday and finished it today. It is also inspirational—so much so that I’m wondering how I can NOT take some time off to see the world for myself.
