Prologue

Over the years, I’ve worked harder and harder to find meaning in life. But the more I've looked, the more I’ve wondered if I was going about my search the wrong way.

I've been looking for meaning through experience, but I think now that I've always had it backwards. Life will never be defined by extravagant experience, but about finding extravagance in common experience. So for 2009, I'm going to focus less on living large, and focus more on living well. Each month I'll start a new month-long project (like trying to run 3 miles faster than George Bush), to find uncommon results from common experience. Each project will involve daily activity, so every day of 2009 you can check my progress on the monthly projects and see what I discover.

None of these projects will cost much—in fact, I think most will be free. So if you're looking for a year uncommonly rich, you can join me. There's no membership required, just participate and comment if you want. Either way, get ready for a year I hope is unlike any other.

Epilogue

I stumbled across the finish line, but I manage to complete 8 of the month-long projects successfully. Blogging is now over at Wonderfam!

 
 

It's February, and February was a …

A Month of Accomplishment (about)

 

~ or ~

 

Forcing myself to finish something (about)

 

p.2

How to prepare for something you’ve never done

Written by Nathan on December 30, 2008 at 8:56 pm from Prologue.

It’s been pointed out by many people that my chances of success on this first project—to run 3 miles faster than Bush—are slim. Generally, doubt is followed by “How are you training?” I think the doubters are hoping that some part of my preparation will produce sudden hope that maybe I can succeed after all.

Sure, 3 miles in less than 20 minutes would be hard for most people to run. In fact, when I was in high school I could run 2 miles in 13 minutes, but that pretty much wiped me out. So under normal circumstances I wouldn’t consider this a realistic ambition. However two considerations lend me hope.

  1. George Bush, president and former substance-abuser could achieve the feat despite the enormous stress he’s spent his life applying to his body.
  2. Since I committed to try ages ago, I don’t really have a choice in whether I try or not. And if I have to try, I may as well believe there’s a chance I can pull it off.

This is actually close to the same mentality I’ve taken in the past when I tried things I’d never done before… starting a business, touring in a band, hiking through alligator ponds, international travel, marriage. In every case, despite the fact that the odds could seem stacked against me, I knew someone less qualified than me had succeeded before, and went for it with pretty good results. (Pretty good results in that I’m still alive and married.) This is probably the same thinking that will inform what other project make up this Year of Months.

So today, I got a massage and tomorrow I’ll get a haircut, so at very least I’ll be relaxed and well-groomed when I try to make this happen. And who knows, maybe I’ll even stretch a little.

(1) Comment

One Response to “How to prepare for something you’ve never done”

  1. Leland says:
    December 31, 2008 at 9:40 am

    You should definitely stretch. I look forward to reading your updates. I don’t think I’ll be joining you this month, though.

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