Randomness - Writing Stuff Down

Writing Stuff Down

If you're like most people I know, you write lists.  Maybe it's a to-do list, a grocery list, or just a list of things that are on your mind so that you don't forget them.  I do the same thing.  Some things, though, I never write down.  For me, goals and dreams typically remain in my head.  It's not that I don't have them... I just don't write them down.

I'm not sure what keeps me from writing them down.  Maybe it makes them more real when they're written down.  Maybe when they're written down someone else might see them.  Whatever the reason, I just don't do it.  Or, should I say, I never used to.

About a year ago I heard about the Day Zero Project.  Essentially, it's a project where you try to accomplish 101 goals in 1001 days.  The neat thing about it is that it's an entire community, so you can see how other people are doing on their goals and what kind of goals they have.  If you're having a hard time coming up with 101 goals you can even see what the most popular goals are!

On a whim, I decided to try to come up with 101 goals for myself.  It was tough, but I did it.  I worked on them, I tracked them and I made progress.  Then the site went down.  For good.  I hadn't written the goals anywhere else, so although I felt a sense of relief at not having the responsibility of finishing all 101 goals, I also felt a bit of disappointment knowing that I'd never see how well I did on my goals.

A strange thing happened, though.  I remembered a bunch of my goals... and I kept working on them.  Apparently most of my goals weren't really that important to me, but a few of them were.  You want to know what made them stick with me, what made them real goals instead of something that could be dismissed or forgotten about?  The fact that I wrote them down.

When you write something down it becomes real.  It ceases to exist as just a thought and takes on a life of it's own.  It doesn't mean it's going to happen, but it does give it a better chance of happening.

If you want to start a list of your own, I just noticed that the Day Zero Project site is back online.  My list of 101 goals is even still there!  Now that I've had a few months without it, though, I'm not sure if I want to use it.  I know what my real goals are and I'm working towards them every day.