Nothing works like the threat of a little social pressure and mild internet taunting to help motivate positive changes, so in the spirit of, err, writing checks that our collective asses can cash (I need to fire my writer…), here are my Medium Term Goals! Who wants to join me?
Rules:
Make a list
Set a time frame
Check them off
Profit!
I’ll start it off in the following post.
In 18 months I turn 40, that’s kind of my inspiration. So:
Timeframe: March of 2018
Goals:
[ ] Have my own place
[ ] Three pullups in a row, unassisted
[ ] A 401k that isn’t embarrassing
[ ] Six chapters of my book in good shape
[ ] A creative or artistic endeavor that I haven’t done before, done well
And the big one…
[ ] Get my cat Charlemagne back 
Who’s next!
Timeframe: The end of this week.
Goals:
[ ] Get my place spotless in preparation for the hecticness of the week to come.
[ ] Get my bicycle back in order and my uni permit. Figure out how long (and humidsweddy) my commute is.
[ ] Find notebooks that don’t suck.
[ ] Do a quick gen chem review.
[ ] Do a quick calc review.
[ ] Make up a lunch menu and acquire said lunchables.
How do we gamify this? Do you show up at my house and gut punch me if I don’t do it? Do I bring you a basket of unbrined olives if you’re not keeping up?
One vote for unexpected front door punches.
Yeah, I could use this. Measurable, definable shit. No “try not to”, just actual stuff.
So, next 3 months:
[ ] Leave the house at least once. A trip to the art gallery maybe.
[ ] Lose minimum half-a-stone in weight.
[ ] Create at least 6 new things. (Paintings, sketches, tunes etc.) One a fortnight sounds about right.
That’ll do. It aint much, but I don’t want to overdo it and fail. Could use a few in the W column.
Yes! Yes yes yes! A million times yes. Two steps forward, one step back is still fuckin’ progress.
[ ] Build anti-olive trebuchet prototype
Promise to take it to downtown Campbell. Those damn trees are decorative around there. (I like olives, but olive oil on sidewalks is not cool.)
I only have 17 months! No fair!
SMART objectives?
I wouldn’t say they were all that smart, but thanks. 
ETA: I mean,I should really be doing stuff that’s longer term and working towards something more stable, but I’ll take what I can get right now.
Long ago I was threatened with having to sing for a half-hour on the busiest intersection in downtown Vancouver if I didn’t make a 3.3 GPA. I believe I made the Dean’s List. (I hate singing because I’m rotten at it!)
Goal for next 30 days:
[ ] 30 minutes reciting and writing affirmations daily (inspired by Louise L Hay and actually had good conversation with a stranger yesterday on how powerful the affirmations are)
[ ] use my Bullet Journal daily and decorate the pages
[ ] Write a penpal letter (or postcard) roughly every 48 hours until I’m caught up
[ ] Sort, file, recycle paper clutter in the “spare room.”
**
**
(ah shit, writing letters is a really good idea)
Edit
(I just googled How To Write a Letter, and this seems spot on. http://www.nhcs.net/parsley/curriculum/postal/friendlyletter.html)
Sorry @japhroaig - that’s what I thought it said…
By the end of September:
[ ] Update resume with university stuff
[ ] Go to the business school career center and… talk to them? Get the ball rolling, whatever.
School starts Monday, so I really have no other goals besides keeping up with homework.
By 30 days from today (12 noon September 17):
[ ] Have upgraded from Vista to Win 7.
Yeah, I know, welcome to the 21st century. I’ve had the upgrade disk for two years, it’s just never convenient to take down my system for however long it takes to do the upgrade. I can’t do the in-place upgrade; I tried that, it just chugged for four hours then said “sorry, can’t help you”. I have to do the tabula rasa install instead, on a separate drive, then copy over my data and reinstall all my apps. God.
VIsta to WIn 7 just in time for micro$oft to start shouting at you to upgrade to Win 10. That’s going to be a fun ride.
I hear ME is good. Have you tried that?
By end of today:
[ ] Get off this couch.
I prefer to start small, that way I can feel a sense of accomplishment.
Have you visited our unpopular opinions thread?
