100 Goals in 1000 Days

Today, I launch both a new blog and a major life project. My metagoal is to complete 100 other goals over the next 1000 days. This list includes a wide variety of small, medium, and large targets that I intent to finish before January 22, 2012. These 100 goals included things I want to see, experience, read, try, own, taste, learn, visit, and become; however, some can be done in a single day while others will require dedication and regular practice over months.

A few of these goals I have been considering a long time, such as numbers 75, which I first imagined when I was seven years old while others I conceived much more recently. Some items have been included exclusively for my own enjoyment; yet, a number of much more significant plans will impact my self-growth and\or enrich the community-at-large.

This is not my “Life List” (also known as a Dash List, Legacy List, and Bucket List) as I do have a different set of 101 goals (private) for my entire lifespan including several that have a time horizons of 30 to 50 years; nevertheless, when crafting this new list, I did indeed transfer some items from my Life List if I thought they could reasonably be accomplished within the 2.75 year deadline. 

I do plan to track my progress online as often as possible. Additionally, over the first few weeks, the blog itself will likely be upgraded in style and format as I find better ways to record the status of various goals. 

Also, this is not a ranked list. The numbers were assigned randomly for the first 97 items, so the first goal on should not be thought as the most important.

Here is my 100 Goals in 1000 Days List:

1. Go Zorbing
2. File for a US Trademark
3. Attend a 10-day silent Vipassana Meditation Retreat
4. Go snowshoeing
5. Fly in a one of the following: balloon, blimp, or zeppelin
6. Learn to juggle
7. Walk on fire (firewalking)
8. Spend a weekend within a rare Futuro House
9. Visit Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
10. Undergo a comprehensive “Executive” medical physical
11. Study Philosophy
12. Start a Non-profit organization
13. Achieve and maintain a BMI of 21
14. Craft a 50 Year Plan      
15. Publish an article/essay within a professional magazine or academic journal       
16. Explore Vanuatu (attend a traditional Kava ceremony)
17. Attend all four Opera within Der Ring des Nibelungen (Wagner’s Ring Cycle)
18. Attend a renaissance faire donning full Elizabethan era regalia
19. Become PADI Scuba Certification
20. Open a Swiss bank account
21. Create a List of 500 Vital Questions
22. Drive an Aston Martin
23. Host a Large Party on 11-11-11 (Friday, November 11, 2011)
24. Define Phytotarian
25. Interview 10 best-selling authors (by phone, email, or face-to-face)
26. Take an overnight trip on a train
27. Donate, sell, trade, or toss 100 possessions
28. Buy a new bike
29. Run a 5K
30. Classical Weekend in the Twin Cities: attend concert of Minnesota Symphony Orchestra (Saturday) and concert of Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Concert (Sunday)
31. Visit Napa Valley
32. Stop Drinking caffeinated beverages (coffee, soda) on a daily basis
33. South Dakota trip: visit Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Bad Lands, Wall Drug, and the Corn Palace
34. Attend my high school class reunion in 2010
35. Raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon
36. Complete my Essay on the Law of Tens
37. See the following four William Shakespeare tragedies ‘live’: Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, & King Lear.
38. Project ‘Cool Yule’: send 500 custom Winter Solstice\Christmas cards
39. Build a snowman like Frosty (corncob pipe, button nose, two eyes made out of coal, old silk hat, and a broomstick in his hand)           
40. Take two-week “Technology Sabbatical” and do not use anything invented after my birth year (car = yes; mp3 player = no).  
41. Start a second business.
42. Take a Yoga Class
43. Learn a second language (conversational level)
44. Go on a mind expanding weekend in Chicago: visit The Field Museum (Saturday), Shedd Aquarium (Sunday Morning), and Adler Planetarium (Sunday Afternoon). Enjoy dinner at the Custom House on Saturday evening.
45. Interview 10 successful entrepreneurs  (by phone, email, or face-to-face)
46. Get my first manicure/pedicure
47. Outline the basics of the ‘Brassica Diet’ online.
48. Host 10 dinner parties
49. Play Baccarat in Las Vegas or Monte Carlo
50. Publish my first book
51. Entomophagy: Dine on Pan Asian/Insect Cuisine (Ants, Crickets, Scorpions) at Typhoon in Santa Monica, CA
52. Watch a movie at old drive-in theater
53. Plant 100 trees
54. Listen to the top 100 ‘Best Jazz Ever Released on CD’ (recorded before January 1, 1996)
55. Send 10 ‘kudos’ or ‘thank you’ cards once a month
56. Visit a Quaker Meeting House, Sihk Gurdwara, Baha’i House of Worship, and Jain Temple               
57. Donate 10% of my current wardrobe to charity.
58. Read 100 Non-fiction books
59. Walk 1,000,000+ steps in 100 Days
60. Eat 100% Vegan for six months
61. Write a short story or comic script
62. Give a speech to 1000 people
63. Learn to fly fish and spend an afternoon angling for trout.
64. Read all of Stephen Jay Gould’s 300 consecutive essays (Jan 1974 to Jan 2001) from his monthly column “This View of Life” in Natural History                 
65. Master Idea Mapping (Mind Mapping, Concept Mapping)
66. Attend the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta 
67. Take an Outward Bound course.
68. Learn Aikido
69. Attend Adult Space Academy (yes, Space Camp)
70. Visit Hawaii
71. Wear a stylish black tuxedo with a hand-tied bowtie for an entire regular day (grocery shopping, afternoon walk, out to eat, etc.)
72. Dive in a submarine
73. Afternoon Tea in The Lobby at the Peninsula Hotel, Chicago (Yes, a Tea Party)
74. Teach a class
75. Search for ‘Charismatic Microflora’ and extreme prokaryotes within several different habitats using Dyer’s A Field Guide to Bacteria
76. Build a robot
77. Design the prototype for the ‘100 stratagems and strategies’ tool. 
78. Cruise Vacation with interesting people and exotic places
79. Pick Apples from an Orchard
80. Visit Redwood National Park in CA, United States
81. Take DJ lessons
82. Collect 100 unique vegetarian\vegan recipes
83. Compose my Will and Living Will
84. Read Robert Fagle’s Translations of The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid
85. Pay for the next ten people behind me in line at a movie
86. Learn one of these Massage Techniques: Lomi Lomi, Swedish, Thai Yoga, or Shiatsu.                                                  
87. Perform 200 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, and 50 pull-ups
88. Conduct an Original Experiment
89. Raise a Cephalopod
90. Plant a vegetable garden
91. Take the Ferry across Lake Michigan from Milwaukee, WI to Muskegon, MI. Explore Muskegon.
92. Trust Fate: Make a decision (when considering two very attractive options) with a coin toss
93. Start a Mastermind Group
94. Lose 25 Pounds
95. Ride at least three of the following: Elephant, Camel, Ostrich, Horse, Mule, Llama, and Tortoise. 
96. Rent a Houseboat
97. Visit San Francisco
98. Save $3.00 a day for each of the each of the 1000 days; monthly deposits into a ’100 Goals’ account to accrue interest too.
99. For every unfinished goal on this list as of December 31, 2010, I will donate $10 to a charity (TBA).
100. Inspire at least 100 others to create their own personal ’100 Goals in 1000 Days’ list.