As of September 15th there’s actually 107 days left of 2008, but that’s close enough to one hundred. Here are 30 small things you can do to end 2008 with a bang and hit the ground running in 2009:
1. Create a “100 Days to Conquer Clutter Calendar” by penciling in one group of items you plan to declutter every day from now until December 31, 2008. Here’s an example:
- Day 1: Declutter Magazines
- Day 2: Declutter DVD’s
- Day 3: Declutter underwear drawer
- Day 4: Declutter books
- Day 5: Declutter kitchen utensils
2. Eat no junk food–create your own definition of junk food–from now until December 31, 2008.
3. Every night write down 5 to 10 things you’re grateful for.
4. Laugh for 5 minutes straight every day and enjoy the cardiovascular, mood-enhancing, and creativity-stimulating effects of laughter. Studies show that simulated laughter has the same health benefits as spontaneous laughter, so if you can’t find something funny to laugh about, laugh anyway.
5. Read a little every day and finish reading at least one more book by the end of 2008.
6. Create a strategy for becoming an early riser. For tips on how to become an early riser refer to my post, Sleep Extravaganza: 40 Tools, Tidbits, & Resources to Help You Conquer Sleep. You have 60 days to refine your strategy and then 40 days to practice the final strategy to make sure it becomes an ingrained habit.
7. Eat five servings of vegetables every day.
8. Eat three servings of fruit of every day.
9. Losing a pound of fat requires burning 3500 calories. If you reduce your caloric intake by 175 calories a day for the next 100 days you’ll have lost 5 pounds by New Year’s.
10. Get a pedometer
11. Take out your dictionary and learn a new word every day.
12. Meditate for 15 minutes every day. Try the The Silva Life System if you’ve never been able to meditate.
13. Don’t eat any white bread, pasta, or rice for the next 100 days. Switch to wholegrain instead.
14. Work on your business plan every day for the next 100 days. For example:
- Day 1: Create a brief description of the business/service you’ll be providing.
- Day 2: Create a mission statement.
- Day 3: Describe why you feel the marketplace needs your product or service at this time. That is, describe the need that exists and how you plan to fill that specific need.
- Day 4: What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?
- Day 5: What’s going on in the industry you’re entering (economic trends, outlook, growth pattern, and forecasts)?
- Day 6: Describe the group of people to whom you expect to offer your service. Who are the potential customers for your service? Does your target market have the money to afford your product/service?
- Day 7: Which niche would be easiest to find and market to? Is this niche too big or too small?
- Day 8: What are the top 5 needs of your niche?
- Day 9: Create your marketing strategy. How will your customers find out about you? How do you expect to reach potential customers? What are your advertising and promotion plans?
15. Set up a daily idea quota. Thomas Edison would set up idea quotas for himself and ended up with over 1000 registered patents. They don’t all have to be good ideas, but the more ideas you have, the more likely you are to hit upon a really good and useful idea.
16. Sit down to create every day for the next 100 days. The comedian Jerry Seinfeld makes sure that he creates every day by marking a big “X” on his calendar for each day he sits down to write. He then makes it a point not to break the chain of “X’s” by not missing even a single day of working on his craft.
17. Watch no more than half an hour of television a day for the next 100 days.
18. Set aside a dollar a day. At the end of the 100 days invest in four third world country entrepreneurs through kiva.
19. Connect with someone new every day for the next 100 days, whether it’s by greeting a neighbor you’ve never spoken to before, following someone new on twitter, leaving a comment on a blog you’ve never commented on before, and so on.
20. Stimulate your brain every day. Here are some ideas:
- Create a mind map.
- Complete a sudoku.
- Play chess or a board game.
- Experience new tastes.
- Try writing with your non dominant hand.
- Engage in a friendly debate.
21. Scourge the internet for productivity hacks and adopt one productivity hack per day. Here are some examples:
- Simplify your to-do list: Go over your to-do list and ask yourself for each item: “Does this really need to get done?”
- Use two computer screens.
- Create a system for storing all passwords.
22. Scourge the internet for frugality tips and apply one frugality tip per day. Here are some examples:
- Go to the grocery store with cash and a calculator instead of using your debit card.
- Take inventory before going to the grocery store to avoid buying repeat items.
- Scale back the cable.
- Do you really need a land line telephone?
- Consolidate errands into one trip.
23. Create a vision board or a mindmovie and look at it every day.
24. Plant something–whether it be a herb, a small plant in a flower pot, or even a Chia Pet
25. Choose a foreign language and learn one useful phrase in that language every day for 100 days, for a total of 100 phrases.
26. Come up with a theme and take one photograph related to that theme every day for the next 100 days.
27. Walk through your neighborhood and pick up one piece of trash every day.
28. Create good karma: for the next 100 days do one kind deed for someone every day, however small, even if it’s just sending a silent blessing their way.
29. Say the following affirmation every day when you wake up: “Every day in every way I am getting better, better, and better.”
30. Write down one positive thing that you’ve observed about your partner every day. At the end of the 100 days give him/her the list as a New Year’s Day present.
Recommended Product:
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