February is the best month for month-long Challenges.
We here at Grumpy Rumblings have decided upon two challenges: one for each of us.
#1 is going to do a boring challenge. She will write for 30 min for work each and every day, including Saturdays. There will be no failure. No excuses. (Barring things like hospitalization, of course.) The hope is that after 28 odd days of that, going back to 5 days/week will seem easy. Hope.
#2 will be doing the Steampunk Challenge. My plan is to read 3 steampunk books during February (maybe ambitious?) and post brief reviews of each.
#2 is also considering doing different challenges each month. These are instead of New Year’s Resolutions because I feel capable of keeping each one for a month, but not for a year.
Jan.: Figure out list
Feb.: Steampunk
March: inbox zero at work
April: Floss at least 4 times per week every week
May: write every day for 30 min., without fail
June: Eat less junk, more veggies (#1 suggests joining a CSA)
July: get-a-handle-on-my-money month
Aug.: TBA
Sept.: Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night!
Oct.- Dec.: TBA
Hm… #1 is intrigued by this idea, but is not sure that she has enough willpower. Except for floss. #1 is totally up on the flossing every night, but she does that already. She’s awesome that way. #1 is going to have to make a decision at some point about whether or not she’s going to go back on metformin this year and begin the long slow vomitty process of getting her body ready to reproduce, which would mesh with #2′s June goals since #1 has to eat like a perfect eating person in that situation. More on that in an unfinished post that will probably appear sometime in March.
January 30, 2011 at 2:15 am
I did a few monthly challenges last year – they worked great!
January 30, 2011 at 6:13 am
Awesome. Links?
January 30, 2011 at 5:53 am
The Inbox Zero concept is a very good one. It is really just a special case of the urgent/important matrix. And e-mail always seems urgent, the way that new ones BOING! pop suddenly and excitingly into your inbox. So, yeah, the key is to very rapidly determine which e-mails are *important*–based on sender, subject, and, if necessary, scan of the contents–and then to employ a system that ensures these important e-mails get dealt with appropriately. E-mails that are unimportant–even if they are urgent–must be ignored with extreme prejudice.
January 30, 2011 at 5:54 am
Oh, and just to amplify, “important” means “important to *your* professional and/or personal goals”, *not* anyone else’s. Corollary is that other people’s failure to plan ahead is not your emergency.
January 30, 2011 at 6:05 am
Especially when the other person is a student!
January 30, 2011 at 7:32 am
Good luck on your challenges…….I feel that they are a good way to try new things. Plus, sometimes they stick. And it is always better if you have a partner, like you guys have going for you (even though you are at opposite ends of the world). Good luck! I look forward to seeing your progress in the months ahead.
January 30, 2011 at 10:57 am
Look forward to yours too! (You’re on our link love for next week.)
January 30, 2011 at 8:23 am
Yay for inbox zero! I’ve been at that happy state for a few years now, can’t imagine how some people let all that stuff pile up. Drives me crazy to look at some people’s inboxes.
What I did to start off was to create a folder called “archive” and just moved everything in there and started over from scratch.
Now I have a folders set up as follows at work (in accounting speak):
01 – Jan 2010 month-end
01 – Jan 2010 misc
etc. etc.
And specific projects of course.
I know you don’t read Ramit Sethi’s blog, but he had an interview with BJ Fogg and the productivity p0rn to come out of that was to floss at least one tooth daily – and call it success even if it was only one. I think that’s maybe a better way than your 4 x / week deal.
January 30, 2011 at 10:37 am
Ha! One tooth per day! It may come to that. I’ll keep that in mind. I think that once I get over the hurdle of actually getting out the floss, starting to floss, etc., I will probably want to keep flossing at least half my teeth at once. Perhaps I should play silly music while doing it.
January 30, 2011 at 10:41 am
#1: You could put the floss next to your remote or your desktop. Easier access.
I also recommend Glide floss. It makes a HUGE difference. It is comparatively expensive but well worth the expense.
January 30, 2011 at 11:38 am
I need Jameson-flavored floss.
January 30, 2011 at 11:49 am
You can probably make that.
January 30, 2011 at 3:48 pm
I would drinke itte before itte had time to soak into the flosse.
January 30, 2011 at 4:39 pm
I HAVE Glide floss, I just hate to floss. I updated the post to add a goal for the summer!
January 31, 2011 at 6:30 am
As a procrastination tool I keep my inbox at zero. I’m actually trying to break myself of my obsession to get everyone of my emails into a folder!
January 31, 2011 at 5:22 pm
ha! Good point!
January 31, 2011 at 1:42 pm
You really should floss every night. ;)
January 31, 2011 at 5:21 pm
#1 agrees. Oral hygiene is so important.
January 31, 2011 at 2:50 pm
I love flossing, I feel awful if I miss a night.
My goal for right now is to stay awake until bedtime. That is all I can muster for now..
Looking forward to hearing about your progress and decisions!
January 31, 2011 at 5:21 pm
get better soon!
January 31, 2011 at 4:24 pm
I have hopelessless and completely given up on having an empty inbox. Rumors have it that we are migrating back to Outlook for gmail, so I’m hoping to just leave my gmail inbox behind me like it never existed. I wish I was better at keeping my contacts in my contacts/address book instead of having to fish through emails, business cards and 25 other places for people’s phone numbers.
I’m not a very organized salesperson.
January 31, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Sounds like you need a personal assistant! Don’t we all?
February 1, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Oooh inbox zero. What is that? I should totally do a floss challenge. I hate floss. HATE it. In that same department, I also hate Listerine.
I’m doing a Spending Diet this month. *sigh* Not excited at all but it’s sort of mandated by the gods. I’ve also made this the month I tackle the insane closet in my hallway as well as get myself a home office that works.
I like the monthly challenge thingy. Nice idea.
February 1, 2011 at 1:02 pm
Ooh, we will add you to our Sat. link love.
February 2, 2011 at 2:59 pm
I really like the monthly theme idea.
This free webinar recording has several ideas that might help with the inbox zero pursuit: http://www.lifecontained.com/email-exhale-webinar/september-10-recording/.
As for floss, I agree with the glide comment. It makes all the difference.
Best wishes on the challenges!
February 2, 2011 at 7:25 pm
[...] and Maggie of Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured: These two set a single challenge each month. While I can totally appreciate #1′s writing [...]
February 4, 2011 at 11:52 am
[...] Another hmmm, it seems I’m setting myself up for Monthly Challenges like one half of Grumpy Rumblings. [...]