30 day challenges

I absolutely love TedTalks and I found some inspiration from this one by Matt Cutts (who apparently got his inspiration from others). He wrote a novel in 30 days. Was it good? Not according to him. But he did it. I find New Years resolutions to be difficult. A year is way too long for most things. I need mini goals, so I thought the idea of 30 day challenges is great! And I also completely get what Matt says about new experiences slowing down time. Apparently the idea for 30 day challenges is common, there's websites that let you track your progress and many blogs dedicated to various 30 day challenges (see http://30daychallenges.net/ and http://30daychallengearchive.tumblr.com/ for example).

So I started my first 30-day challenge last week. My goal is to work through the book Microsoft Access 2007 Data Analysis by the end of February. I have been trying to learn more about databases for awhile and I decided this is the kick I need to get started. I will let you know how it goes in a few weeks!

I am hoping to get hooked on these eventually, with breaks in between each challenge. Some of my ideas are really something new or different, and others are just things I need to make myself do. These are a few of my ideas so far:
-write a thoughtful letter or email each day
-do something creative each day (like drawing or a poem)
-organize a fundraiser
-complete a big home project (since we moved, there are so many of these)
-learn a newer version of GIS software
-do something outside the house each day (it's easy to stay home since I'm not working right now)
-meditate for 20 minute a day (so easy to do, yet so easy not to do)
-get rid of a file a day (having been a perpetual student, I have way too many files)