9 by 99 in 2009

          A couple of months ago I came across a website, 101 in 1001 days. This person was documenting his progress on 101 different tasks he was attempting to finish in 1000 days. His blog stopped well short of his “end” time, so I don’t know how he fared, but the idea caught my imagination. I could do this. Oh, not 1000 days. That was way too long to hold my attention (apparently his, too ). But what about 3 in 30 days? 3 in 33? 10 in 100? I played around with some numbers, threw the idea out to Kitty and Shonna, and then promptly forgot about it.

          Until last week.

         As I was considering several of the disparate tasks I wanted to accomplish over the next few months, this idea popped back to the forefront of my mind. Perfect! If I chose 9 tasks to complete in 99 days, I could reach those goals by sometime in September. I considered several beginning times and finally settled on June 1. I’d already started one task that day, to read through the Bible in 90 days. Since I didn’t really want to start that task over, making June 1 the beginning date for my 9 by 99 in 2009 made sense.

         From June 1 to September 7, I will attempt to complete 9 tasks.

          I’m thinking this will provide just the motivation I need to stay on track. Deadlines energize and focus me, at least when they are real deadlines that I can’t fudge. With visitors to both my blogs watching my progress, I won’t really be able to fudge. I’ll either work on these tasks or I won’t. I’ll either accomplish the tasks or I won’t. I’ll either blog about the experience or I won’t. And the whole world (or at least those following my blogs) will know. I think this is just the motivation I need to refocus my writing.

          Blogging about the effort would also take care of one of the tasks, which is finding topics for my other website. Since many of my tasks are non-writing related, I’m going to blog most often on that site. I’ll periodically update readers here on my progress, but if you want details about my efforts, come visit www. StephanieShackelford.com/blog.

         My 9 tasks? In no particular order:

Read the Bible in 91 days
Write Cookbook
Write Time Tracker manual
Write “How to pray” booklet
Reorganize E&M
Prepare RFW workshop
FTHRW duties – PPMs, Membership roster, regular duties
Tutor a student
Scan negatives

         Want to join me? June 14 to September 20 is 99 days, if you want a few days to prepare. Or you can chose any dates that make sense to you. Just let us know and we’ll cheer you on, too!