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numbers and goals
Nov. 12th, 2012 09:24 amWhile I've been digging around in decluttering websites, I've stumbled across two unfamiliar-to-me "things", one related to setting and maintaining goals and the other related to "simplicity". (I also stumbled across Joe's Goals, which is super cool in a simple way, but which doesn't have a number in the title, so I'm not talking about that here). The goal "thing" is 43 Things (distinctly NOT 43 Folders, which is a workflow/personal organization/tickler/GTD "thing"), which I had to look up -- and then discovered it's an Erik Benson project. Ha! Always nice to find out what people you used to work with (and found enjoyable as people, but didn't maintain contact with for whatever reason) are doing now. The simplicity "thing" is Project 333, and that's what I'm actually here to muse about, for more or less the same reason I once blogged about the 50 book challenge (http://50bookchallenge.livejournal.com/profile): the goal state made my head explode. Let me explain.
When I first heard about the 50 book challenge, I immediately tried to figure out how I could possibly reduce my annual book consumption to 50 books. I figured I could first leave out a whole bunch of stuff as "not counting" and still meet what I assumed to be the general theme (e.g. don't count books read to children, type of thing). Then I thought, hey, I haven't really been reading that much in the last few weeks -- maybe this wouldn't be that bad. I went over the previous month's consumption and once again, junkie that I am, said, no f*cking way. Then I _read_ the explanation, and understood it was an _increase_ stretch goal, not a _decrease_ stretch goal. Then I felt very foolish. Then, IIRC, I blogged about Silly Me.
Project 333 is to pick out 33 things to wear over the next 3 months. So they've already built in some seasonality -- you aren't required to cover multiple seasons/climates in that 33 items.
http://theproject333.com/getting-started/
"What not: these items are not counted as part of the 33 items – wedding ring or another sentimental piece of jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear, and workout clothing (you can only wear your workout clothing to workout)"
I'm not sure what to make of this. Let's say you work at a fast food place; does your work uniform count towards your 33 things? (Scrubs, military, name tag, security badge, etc.) My guess is: no. The idea that in-home lounge wear doesn't count makes me go bwah ha ha ha ha, because the number of items I wear outside the house over the course of 3 months is really, really, really low. Embarrassingly so, particularly since some of the items are color-identical duplicates. _And she's not counting underwear_, altho I might want to ask some things like, socks?
There is one aspect to this that could be a problem for me, that comes under the heading of Everyday Carry (EDC). But I'm betting pocket stuff doesn't count, any more than she is counting the contents of purses. She is counting sunglasses, however. Does she count prescription eyeglasses? What if you have more than one pair?
When I first heard about the 50 book challenge, I immediately tried to figure out how I could possibly reduce my annual book consumption to 50 books. I figured I could first leave out a whole bunch of stuff as "not counting" and still meet what I assumed to be the general theme (e.g. don't count books read to children, type of thing). Then I thought, hey, I haven't really been reading that much in the last few weeks -- maybe this wouldn't be that bad. I went over the previous month's consumption and once again, junkie that I am, said, no f*cking way. Then I _read_ the explanation, and understood it was an _increase_ stretch goal, not a _decrease_ stretch goal. Then I felt very foolish. Then, IIRC, I blogged about Silly Me.
Project 333 is to pick out 33 things to wear over the next 3 months. So they've already built in some seasonality -- you aren't required to cover multiple seasons/climates in that 33 items.
http://theproject333.com/getting-started/
"What not: these items are not counted as part of the 33 items – wedding ring or another sentimental piece of jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear, and workout clothing (you can only wear your workout clothing to workout)"
I'm not sure what to make of this. Let's say you work at a fast food place; does your work uniform count towards your 33 things? (Scrubs, military, name tag, security badge, etc.) My guess is: no. The idea that in-home lounge wear doesn't count makes me go bwah ha ha ha ha, because the number of items I wear outside the house over the course of 3 months is really, really, really low. Embarrassingly so, particularly since some of the items are color-identical duplicates. _And she's not counting underwear_, altho I might want to ask some things like, socks?
There is one aspect to this that could be a problem for me, that comes under the heading of Everyday Carry (EDC). But I'm betting pocket stuff doesn't count, any more than she is counting the contents of purses. She is counting sunglasses, however. Does she count prescription eyeglasses? What if you have more than one pair?