Honestly, we fall for it all the time: overnight success is possible.
I refuse to believe this anymore. Anyone who looks like they have an overnight success either worked their bums off for it for a long time, OR that “success” didn’t stick around (which in my mind, isn’t a real success).
Why am I talking about this? Because the SMALL things that we do really, really matter.
Making my own list of 30 Before 30 (a bucket list of 30 things I wanted to do before I turned 30) TOTALLY changed my life. But I can only recognize that now four years later.
I had no idea if any of it “mattered.” I wasn’t sure where I wanted life to take me; I wasn’t even sure who I was any more.
So I made a list of things full of things I was missing in my life, things I was drawn to, what I wanted to learn about, experience, and explore. It was not a list of goals–it was a list of ways I wanted to grow my soul.
All of it was simple stuff: make 30 new recipes, go on 10 dates with my husband, start a blog, etc. (You can see the original list here.)
Not on my list: start a podcast, grow a community that is focused on self-development, become a growth coach, teach online, etc.
You NEVER know where the little things will take you. You won’t be able to guess what the end is from the beginning. And all of the small ways we allow ourselves to develop, to stretch ourselves, to lean into our interests are what make us full, whole women who have so much more to give.
That’s what I’ve learned from creating my own Do Something Plans.
I am going to challenge you to make your own in 2020. There is no “perfect” formula for this; nor do you have to cross off every single one on your list.
The transformation lies in the process, not the outcome.
That being said, I have a framework for you that you can learn about by listening to THIS EPISODE.
I’d also recommend leaning away from goals (habit formation, achievements you want to have, systems you will improve, etc.) and more into the “impractical” but still very important ways of stretching yourself. Do something that scares you.
Below is my plan for 2020; and below that, I’ll document how it goes for me. My list from 2019 shows you that perfection doesn’t exist, but it also shows you just how much you can do when you open the doors to develop who you are, outside of goal-making (which is also great!).
Monica’s Do Something Plan for 2020
I’ve decided to make this year’s plan themed, as well. It’ll be my year of CREATIVITY, which is something I have been lacking a lot. That means much of this plan will center around stretching my creativity (numbers 14-onward). Make your plan fill what you are missing!
(note, this list is the original, but COVID-19 shifted priorities. The edited listed is below.)
- Read 50 Books
- Visit Yosemite as a family
- Go on 2 family trips
- Go on 2 over-nighters with Brad
- Take 1 trip with Brad
- Start a monthly Hiking Club
- Run a race
- Go on 10 trail-runs
- Get a road bike
- Participate in a triathlon
- Go camping as a family
- Wear a fancy dress
- Try 10 new ice cream flavors
- Try out for a play
- Complete 10 masterclasses
- Perform on stage
- Attend a regular dance class
- Perform in church 3 times
- Have a paint-night (or paint, myself)
- Draw in a sketch-book
- Write poems in a notebook I carry around
- Write for MYSELF (was going to write a book in 2020, but thinking I need a year of writing, period)
- Buy and learn how to play the ukulele
- Learn how to play and sing classics (like the Beatles) and cover current pop songs
- Bake 20 new challenging recipes
- Learn 5 new songs on the flute
- Learn how to be a better story-teller
- Attend a ceramics class/night
———-
- Read 50 Books
- Visit a National Park as a family
- Go on 2 family trips
- Go on 2 over-nighters with Brad
- Take 1 trip with Brad
- Start a monthly Hiking Club
- Go on 10 trail-runs
- Get a road bike
- Go camping as a family
- Wear a fancy dress
- Try 10 new ice cream flavors
- Complete 10 masterclasses
- Have a paint-night (or paint, myself)
- WATERCOLOR!
- Write for MYSELF (was going to write a book in 2020, but thinking I need a year of writing, period)
- Buy and learn how to play the ukulele
- Learn how to play and sing classics (like the Beatles) and cover current pop songs
- Bake 20 new challenging recipes
- Learn 5 new songs on the flute
- Learn how to be a better story-teller
Documentation of Plan for 2020
- Read 50 Books
- Ask Again, Yes
- Present Over Perfect
- Educated
- Everything I Never Told You
- How Successful People Think
- Make Today Count
- The Good Neighbor
- Code Girls
- The Bookshop on the Corner
- Boundaries
- A Man Called Ove
- Commonwealth
- Grit
- Catch and Kill
- Where’d You Go, Bernadette
- The Moment of Lift
- Where the Crawdads Sing
- The Last Days of Night
- The Librarian of Auschwitz
- The Giver of Stars
- Becoming
- The Tattooist of Auschwitz
- The Alice Network
- The Year of Less
- Nine Perfect Strangers
- City of Girls
- The Hate U Give
- White Fragility
- Come As You Are
- Untamed
- The Dutch House
- You Are a Badass
- The Body
- Year of Wonders
- So You Want to Talk About Race
- Daisy Jones and the Six
- The Gifts of Imperfection
- What Every Autistic Girl Wants Her Parents to Know
- Before We Were Yours
- The Book of Mormon
- American Dirt
- Indistractable
- Dare to Lead
- The Winter Garden Mystery
- A Place For Us
- The Silent Patient
- The Alchemist
- Death at Wentwater Court
- The Royal We
- Finding Freedom
- Rodham
- One to Watch
- The Huntress
- Atomic Habits
- The Book of Longings
- Beach Read
- Requim for a Mezzo
- Womenly Anatomy of Arousal
- Olive, Again
- American Royals
- Born a Crime
- Finding Mother God
- Murder on the Flying Scotsman
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F—
- Battle of Brothers
- I’m Still Here
- The Heir Affair
- Hillbilly Elegy
- The Light We Lost
- HRH, so many thoughts
- I Declare
- Majesty
- Saints, Vol. 2
- Tiny Habits
- Stillness is the Key
- The Guest List
- (It felt sooo good to do this! I adore reading again, and it’s wonderful. I have big plans for reading and sharing more formally about it in 2021…)
- Visit a national park with a family
Going to count allllll the many regional parks we went to this year. - Go on 2 family trips
- Not super interesting, but we went to McCall with my family and to visit my in-laws back in CA in December . . . counting it, 2020!
- Go on 2 over-nighters with Brad
- Stayed in SF and went to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Nope, COVID.
- Take 1 trip with Brad
- Nope, COVID
- Start a monthly Hiking Club
- Nope, COVID.
- BUUUUUT, MY KIDS AND I HIKED LIKE A MILLION MILES
- Go on 10 trail-runs
- Blew this one out of the park!
- Get a road bike
- Nope, COVID and moving . . . Next year!
- Go camping as a family
- Nope, COVID
- Wear a fancy dress
- Nope, COVID
- Try 10 new ice cream flavors
- Tillamook mint chocolate chip ice cream (10/10!)
- I don’t think I tried nearly enough, but let’s call it at 5 new flavors
- Complete 10 masterclasses
- I have done 5, and several other online classes I signed up for!
- Have a paint-night (or paint, myself)
- Painted with my kids instead of friends. (COVID)
- WATERCOLOR
- I DID ITTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!! I took a free watercoloring class online, alongside some ladies in the Strive Hive. It was a blast!
- Write for MYSELF (was going to write a book in 2020, but thinking I need a year of writing, period)
- Been writing a few pieces for my writing class online
- Thennnnn COVID and I could barely keep my head above water.
- Buy and learn how to play the ukulele
- Purchased!
- DID IT!!! Again, took a free class on youtube and did it alongside gals from the Strive Hive
- Learn how to play and sing classics (like the Beatles) and cover current pop songs
- found a great app and have been doing this!!!
- So fun!
- Bake 20 new challenging recipes
- Made sourdough from my own starter!
- Croissants
- 7-layer cake
- All things sourdough
- Moving and not having access to my usual oven/materials shifted this, but I’ve transplanted this to 2021.
- Learn 5 new songs on the flute
- Nope.
- Learn how to be a better story-teller
- I think this is more of a goal than a Do Something . . . Lesson Learned.
