No Soap or Poo Update

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Even though I haven’t mentioned it for a few months, I’m still not using soap or shampoo in my daily shower. I haven’t received any complaints about smell, or made any about feeling dirty. However, I have received some feedback because of my earlier post about the no soap or poo experiment and wanted to share.

(Note: Names have been omitted for privacy reasons.)

Gave it a try

One of my loyal readers decided to try a no ‘poo experiment for herself. After about a week, though, she decided to return to her beloved shampoo. There seem to have been two reasons for this return:

  • She didn’t try long enough to get past the normalization period. The more chemicals you use in your hair, the longer it will take for it to return to feeling normal without them.
  • She likes how the shampoo smells and wanted that back. I can certainly appreciate this, and see no other way to achieve the same results.

Hair stylist gives compliments

Another friend decided to test the no ‘poo experiment as well. After about a month, she thought that her hair still hadn’t normalized but was willing to continue on. A month later, she was still going. When she went to her stylist for a trim she received compliments on her hair. After explaining the experiment, the stylist remarked that the reader had exactly the results that so many people pay a lot of money to achieve.

Loves the results!

After reading about my experiment, a friend of mine decided to give it a try. I didn’t hear about it until after a few weeks of no soap. Like me, he hadn’t received any complaints and decided that he liked it just as well, if not better, than having to use soap. Since no soap seemed to be working for him, he decided to try no ‘poo as well.

He waited until after he got his hair trimmed (which is still about twice as long as mine) and gave it a go. A week later he told me that he loved the results! He didn’t need to use any gel in his hair any longer, which he had been doing for years.

Deodorant makes you stink?

A couple of friends read about the experiment and both decided to test it out. He had never given such an experiment any consideration and was quite pleased with the results. She has always had sensitive skin and struggled to find soap and shampoo that wouldn’t irritate her. No soap has proven to work out wonderfully for her! She isn’t quite comfortable testing out no ‘poo, though, and was still looking for a shampoo that works for her the last I heard.

The most interesting thing that I learned from their experiences came from testing out no deodorant as well. He hasn’t ever been a huge user and skipping that daily step didn’t bother him in the least. She was a heavy user, however, and was amazed to find that she smelled better when she quit using it. Needless to say, she was quite annoyed to find out that Dove had been making her stink!

What about you?

Have you tested out either no soap or no ‘poo? I’d love to hear how it went, either in the comments or via email.

Meet Your Goals Automatically

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Whether they are new for 2011 or not, you probably have some goals for your life. Have you set yourself up so that you will meet them automatically?

Life’s easier when you arrange it

I have a series of goals to achieve during 2011; some of them are fairly simple (a day trip, some books to read, and some drawings to draw) while some are more complex (complete undergrad degree, build a successful business, and spend 4 weeks on motorcycle trips). I’m sure you have a range of goals as well, from simple to complex. No matter how involved they might be, however, none of your goals will complete themselves.

The simple act of writing them down is a great step in the right direction. But no matter how fancy a list you’ve created, it won’t do the work for you. You still have to take action to realize your desired results. Before taking action, however, it is in your best interest to plan out how you will be achieving your goals. Make sure that your plans include the individual steps you need to take and time frames to complete them in.

Example in progress

One of my big projects for 2011 is to complete undergraduate degree, including two minors. While this goal is fairly automatic, assuming I follow through with the program that the school has set out for me, I still have to make sure that I get certain tasks done on time in order to graduate in December.

    Here’s what I have to do and when I want it done:

  • Do paperwork for Business minor – start: 1 Jan – end: 31 Jan – Though I have taken all of the required classes, some of them were during my time in Ireland. There is still some paperwork to be completed to get the necessary credit and be eligible for the minor. Then I have to actually apply for the minor itself.
  • Do paperwork for Art History minor – start: 1 Jan – end: 15 Feb – This application is a simple form to fill out, though it is through a different college within the university than the business minor. With less paperwork to do, I gave myself less time for this task.
  • Apply for graduation – start: 15 Feb – end: 28 Feb – This application only consists of an online form, which I can do from home. I wanted to make sure my minors are taken care of first, however, in case they might interfere with each other for some reason.
  • Complete spring semester – start: 12 Jan – end: 30 June – This is a fairly automatic process, especially with 7 semesters of practice behind me.
  • Complete fall semester – start: 10 Aug – end: 20 Dec – Even more automatic, with 8 semesters behind me.

Other than the school semesters, the schedule is fairly self-created. I wanted to make sure to spread things out and give myself plenty of time to complete each individual task. Realistically, I could easily complete all three of the applications in less than a week. However, with other goals in progress at the same time, school in progress, and life happening, I felt that the extended time-frame would give me plenty of breathing room.

I have noticed that I don’t look ahead in my planner more than a day or two. This means that deadlines can catch me by surprise. In order to prevent this surprise, I planned out not only the deadlines but also the start dates. This way I don’t have to think about when I need to get started, but just do what my calendar says.

My system

Having taken the time to plan out the dates for the various steps, it would be a shame for them to exist on the spreadsheet in my computer and not be seen again until my quarterly review. Thus, I’ve set up a system of reminders so that I know when to begin tasks and also when they must be completed by.

    There are three main components to my reminder system:

  • Planner with sticky-notes – The various end-dates have been noted in my planner in red. I wrote out sticky-notes with my starting dates and placed them where they belong. These sticky notes can be added to as needed, and also moved from day to day as I work on the goals.
  • Google calendar – Both the beginning and end dates have been added to my google calendar as well, so that I see them no matter which calendar I look at.
  • Email reminders – The notes in Google calendar have been arranged to send me an email reminder on the proper dates.

Between these three notification systems, there is no way for me to avoid my scheduled beginning and end dates. Daily reminders will help me ensure that I take the actions required to complete the individual steps.

If I kept everything on one calendar it would be easy to simplify my system. However, I know I don’t check either calendar on a daily basis, and so I have to keep this information in both places.

Another option that I considered was to create a poster-sized calendar of my goals that I could hang in my office. This calendar would display the end-goals, the individual tasks, and their deadlines. This daily reminder would help keep me motivated and being able to make big red slash marks across completed goals would be quite satisfying. Though it isn’t completed yet, I haven’t ruled the idea out.

Have you set up your system?

Having a reliable system to remind you of your next steps is amazingly important to achieving your goals. It doesn’t take much time or energy to plan out your goals, their next steps, and the important dates. By taking a bit more time you will be able to create a system that works perfectly for you. Maybe you only need the end dates noted in your planner, or perhaps you’re like me and need multiple reminders. If that isn’t enough, you could set up a daily email to remind you of the days tasks.

No matter what you need to do, take the time to set up your system. It will make completing your goals for the year so much easier.

2011 Action Plan

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After reviewing my life in 2010, I set about deciding what I want my life to look like in 2011. I followed this basic template to set my goals.

2011 – The Year of Foundations

 

    Business – Build a business to support my wife and I’s ideal lifestyle.

  • $900 take home each month
  • Build a business to focus on upon graduation.
  • Look into rejoining Military

 

    Friends & Family – Strengthen relationships through spending more time together.

  • Speak to family/friends once each week on phone
  • Have friends over at least once a month

 

    Travel – Meet previously set travel goals

  • Motorcycle trip over Spring Break
  • 3 Week trip from coast to coast over summer
  • See Moonbow again

 

    Spiritual – Grow closer to God and share that love with others while hopefully helping them to do the same.

  • Become better Christian
  • Read books that have already: Practical Christianity, The Jesus I Never Knew, How to get what you Want, etc.

 

    Education – Complete undergrad degree.

  • Read 52 books
  • Complete undergraduate degree (and dual minors)

 

    Physical – Get into better shape and stay there.

  • Pass hybrid Air Force/Army PT test
  • Stop drinking sodas
  • Begin and continue a weight lifting routine
  • Run consistently each week

 

    Marriage – Continue strengthening our relationship and having fun together.

  • Work through new relationship book together
  • Go on a date every month
  • Read “His Needs, Her Needs” – this is an annual goal, to help my wife and I stay connected
  • Spend 15 hours of quality time with my wife each week
  • Go on a vacation together

 

    Financial – Keep finances in order and in line with God’s will, as I understand it.

  • Give away a percentage of income

 

    Art – Keep art fun while completing projects of personal interest.

  • Fill two notebooks with sketches
  • Complete personal projects

 

There you have it, my goals for 2011. Some of these goals will enable me to complete some of the items on my Life List. Some are just building the foundation for long-term goals. Some are just for fun.

Let me know what you think of my goals and watch as I work on them.

Stop Planning and Just Do It!

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Are you a great planner? Do you love coming up with ideas, lists, and plans? Do you then carry out those plans? If not, you might fall into the rut that I do – planning but not executing it.

  • I often think about travel, but don’t actually go anywhere.
  • I create business ideas but don’t build anything.
  • I plan out art projects but never actually make anything.

As I have been planning for 2011, I’ve been doing my best to create actionable plans. I want 2011 to not only be the year of foundations but also of action.

Making actionable plans

(Note: I think that planning is a valuable aspect of any venture, but there also comes a point when you have to stop planning and just get started. The perfect circumstances will never occur.)

It’s easy to come up with a dream, an idea of something that you want to complete. It takes a bit more work to turn that idea into a goal.

Good goals need to be clearly defined and have measurable standards to compare your results with. This is where I struggle. I’m excellent at coming up with lists of ideas that are related, but not actually creating a plan that can be followed. That sense of busyness that comes while making those lists make me feel good, but don’t actually get anything done.

So, in 2011 I’m making the goals on my action plan easier to achieve. I am spending the time now to lay out the steps that I need to take, in proper order. This way, over the coming year I will be able to follow the plans that I have laid out without needing to take the time to figure out what the next step is.

My goals for 2011 are clearly defined; they’re very specific and I can picture exactly what outcome I want to have achieved by December. They are also measurable with specific metrics that I will compare my results against and know exactly when I have reached them.

There comes a time to stop planning

Now that my action plan is ready to go, it is time to start acting on it. I have the map laid out before me and know what steps I need to take. Any further planning would be busy work, with no actual progress being made. And so, work has already begun. I’ve already started moving toward my goals. Books are being read, posts are being written, exercises are scheduled, and products are being created.

What about you? Are you stuck in the planning process, or are you making the progress you need to make to reach your goals?

You Can Change Your Plans

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Over the last two weeks I’ve been going through my annual review and
planning for 2011. I love this process: reviewing results, making lists of things I want to do in the upcoming year, and outlining the steps I need to take to get there.

Because of this enthusiasm, I actually finished my 2011 Action Plan nearly a week ago. Except that I keep thinking about it and tweaked one of my goals the day after I “finished”. Then a few days later, I changed two more of my goals, adding a new one and combining three others. Just yesterday I tweaked another of the goals after discussing it a bit more with my wife.

Change is part of life

As you’re well aware, change happens. Even though I was happy with my action plan, I am glad that I kept thinking about it and made the changes that I have. These changes will make the goals easier to reach (because they better align with my strengths and interests), not interfere with each other (fixing something I struggled with in 2010), and provide a fuller life in 2011 (because some of the goals are just for fun).

Sometimes change is not a good thing

While I’m happy with the changes that I made, I’m glad to have them out of the way. Even though it’s perfectly fine to make changes to my Action Plan throughout the year (it is mine, after all), I much prefer to keep it the way that it is, as long as it is working. So I will be working through my plan three months at a time. Each of my goals naturally has a good stopping point scheduled for those time periods.

In order to help me stay the course, I will be utilizing quarterly reviews. Every three months I have a day scheduled to review my progress for the quarter, and over the year as a whole. These are the times when I will be checking my progress and seeing if my goals need to be tweaked or changed.

Other than these review periods, however, I will be sticking to my plan. It’s too easy to stop because something is hard or stressful. By building in pause points and knowing that I have a break coming up, it will be easier for me to focus on the goal and completing it.

I’m excited!

Out of the three years I’ve been doing annual reviews and action plans, this is the one that I’m most excited about so far. I have some great goals set for 2011, a detailed map for how to achieve them, and reasonable time-frames for work on them in.

How is 2011 shaping up for you?

Building Foundations

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It recently occurred to me that this time next year will find me a bachelor degree holder. *gasp*

This means that 2011 will be a year of foundations. The bachelor’s degree is not an end to itself, but is a stepping stone to where I’m going next. Unfortunately, I don’t know what that next step is yet.

I do have some ideas, however. Three of them:

  • Business idea #1 – This business would be built around a hobby that I greatly enjoy and would like to have more time to pursue. It would be the most fun, though perhaps the most challenging to build an income around.
  • Business idea #2 – This business would be built around something that I’ve been interested in for some time. I have been told that I should pursue this more actively, and I can see where it could be fairly easy to generate an income with.
  • Career path – Of the ideas that I’ve brainstormed, this is the only one that involves working for someone else. It’s also the easiest and would traditionally be considered the most secure, though also the one with the least long-term income potential (though the fastest way to build a steady income).

(note: I realize that these don’t give away any details, but I’m still mulling them over at this point.)

No matter which one of these options I choose (or even if I decide to pursue a business and the career at the same time) I will be busy laying the foundations for them in 2011. Either of the businesses will have to be built from scratch and even the career I will have to start contacting the organizations and jumping the necessary hoops to land myself a job.

Deciding

This is the dilemma that I’m currently facing. I like all of these ideas, for different reasons. While I think that I can reasonably attempt two of them (a business and career combo) I am fairly certain that trying to pursue both business ideas while also attending school would be too much of a stretch for me.

I have a year to get one or two of these going. At least one of them needs to be successful in that time, because I will then have to begin paying back the pesky student loans and hopefully also allow my wife to quit working in order to better focus on school.

Answers not expected

I’m not really looking for you to tell me what to do, just trying to make the best decision for me. I’m not sure if I should:

  • Go for the most fun business, but one that will be harder to monetize.
    -or-
  • Build a less fun business, but one that could be easier to monetize.
    -or-
  • Get a stable job in a respectable career field. Immediate, steady paycheck, but less room for income increases down the road. Also means I’d be travelling more.

I’m not expecting any answers, but if you happen to have some input I’d love to hear it in the comments.

Planning for 2011

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I’ve recently begun the process of looking back over 2010, seeing how well I stuck with my 2010 action plan, and creating an action plan for 2011.

I first came across the idea of doing an annual review and creating an action plan over at the Art of Non-conformity website. Basically, Chris takes a week in December to look at how things went over the last year, and outlines a plan for the upcoming year. I know that I can tend to wander aimlessly so I thought that this would be a good idea. In 2009 I looked back over the year, and then made the 2010 action plan.

Some Realizations

As I’ve been looking back over 2010, a few things have occurred to me about the approach I took.

    Mistakes

  1. Some of my goals interfered with each other – Under the Physical category, I had two competing goals: the 100/200 challenges and the running. If I had focused on one or the other, I could have easily completed them. By having them both, I couldn’t decide and so completed neither one.
  2. I didn’t have a set of actions planned out – I had goals, but no plan to actually achieve them. So while I had some great momentum at the beginning of the year, it soon fizzled out because even though I had a destination, I didn’t quite know how to get there.
  3. It was out of sight – Even though I published my plan here on Adventure-Some, it wasn’t somewhere that I was reminded of it on a regular basis. After a few months it kind of faded from mind and I quit actively pursuing the goals I set.

    Fixes

  1. Scheduling – I still have a variety of physical goals that I want to complete in 2011. Instead of trying to do them all at once, however, I’m going to plan them out consecutively so that I can be sure to complete them.
  2. Make a plan, not just a list of goals – I love to plan, so I will take the extra time needed to figure out how to get where I want to go in 2011
  3. Display that map – I don’t know if it will be a poster on the wall, a new background on my computer, or a series of sticky-notes on my bathroom mirror, but I will be displaying my goals in a very prominent place.

While I’m fairly happy with the results of 2010, I’m also looking forward to what 2011 holds. With some planning experience behind me, I expect it to be an amazing year!

I’m in the process of drawing up the 2011 Action Plan. As soon as I get it finished, you’ll get to see what I have in mind for next year.

2010 in Review

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Before the year began, I sat down and created a plan for what I wanted it to look like. You can see that plan here. Looking back, I met some of the goals, while others fell to the side.

Life List goals met

First of all, I managed to cross a few items off of my Life List.

  • My wife and I went and saw the MoonBow.
  • Over the summer, I was able to purchase a motorcycle. My wife, Ms. Peeps, and I have been having a great time thus far and are already planning some big trips together.

Things that went as planned

  • I created a digital product,
  • sold some portraits,
  • completed all of my travel goals,
  • spent time with my wife,
  • read some great books,
  • finished some sketches,
  • and created emergency accounts.
  • Plus, by this time next year I will have earned my Bachelor’s degree!

Things that didn’t

  • I didn’t build a business, though I took some steps in the right direction.
  • I didn’t keep in touch with friends and family as much as I would have liked.
  • Not all of the books on my reading list were read.
  • I didn’t quite finish filling in two whole sketchbooks, much less try to get my own show.
  • After much contemplation I came to the realization that grad school just isn’t something that I want to do right now, which means that I didn’t even attempt taking the GRE.
  • Running fell by the wayside, and the pushups, situps, and squats challenges were forgotten.
  • Sodas have begun to creep back into my life, though I drink far fewer than I used to.

Good things that weren’t planned

  • I got to meet Chris Guillebeau, a favorite author and blogger. Never before did I understand people who would travel so far just to meet an author, but now I do!
  • Even though I now know I don’t want to go to graduate school right after finishing undergrad, I do have an idea of what the next step will be for me.
  • I have written and begun to focus on my short list.
  • New friends have been made.

It might not have been exactly the year I planned for, but it was still amazing. 2011? Will be even better!

How Much Does Your Dream Trip Cost?

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Do you know what it would take to complete your dream trip? Have you really planned out how you would go about it, much time you would need, and how much money it would cost?

If you haven’t, you might be surprised at how little it would really take.

My Dream Trip

I want to visit the lower 48 states, plus D.C., on the motorcycle.
(note: This is only one of my trip goals, but it’s a good place for me to start.)

This always seemed like a really big goal… until I decided to start actually researching it. I figured that I would first look at the most complicated way, so that every following discovery would be an improvement. And so, I calculated the distance from Lexington, KY, to every state’s capital. Fourty-nine individual trips.

Total mileage: 88,390
Assuming I get 40 miles per gallon, that’s 2,209.75 gallons that I’d need to buy. At $3 a gallon, my trips would cost $6,629.25! That doesn’t include any lodging, food, new tires, or anything else.

After doing a bit more research on others who have already done such a trip, I stumbled across this guy who managed to visit all of the lower 48 states in just 10 days. (Now that’s darn impressive!)

His mileage? Roughly 8,000.
Same numbers as above (40 mpg, $3 a gallon) and my trip now costs about $600. Whoah! That’s less than 1/10 of the original numbers. Even though this figure still doesn’t include food, lodging, or anything else, it is far less intimidating. Now this goal seems far more realistic and achievable.

Reaching an achievable goal

Now that I know this goal is actually within my reach, I’m far more inspired to figure out how to make it work. I don’t have to visit all of the states in a single trip. Breaking it up into different legs might raise the overall cost a bit, but each section would require less money saved ahead of time. Shorter trips would also take less time to plan and be easier to fit into a busy schedule.

With our practice backpacking, my wife and I could both comfortably camp during the trip, enabling us to keep our costs down for lodging. Even using a free stove we could make some delicious meals while on the road, so our food expenses wouldn’t be any greater than if we stayed at home.

Break down excuses

I’ve shared what I think about excuses before. In short, I’m against them. They only serve as artificial limits. My excuses for the motorcycle tour caused me to put off even researching it for some time. Once I did, however, I realized how silly most of them were. If you really want that adventure, you can find a way to overcome any excuse that you put in front of yourself. Maybe you have to embrace minimalism in order to save some money (or earn some from selling some unused possessions). Perhaps the tv needs to go so you can find the time.

My next steps

My wife and I have decided to spend our spring break next semester on a motorcycle trip. We don’t have it planned out yet, but we know that we’re going. We’ll cruise through a few states over the week, enjoying the scenery and company. One leg of the journey will be completed.

What about you?

What about your dream trip? Don’t you owe it to yourself to find your one place and start making plans to get there? Don’t let any excuses get in your way! I’d love to hear about your dream trip.