30 days of 120 minutes
A few days ago a wrote about 120 minutes to success, and I have been thinking more about it the past week. I really started thinking about all of the things I would like to accomplish and I thought about how huge those goals are.
When you’re in your 20’s it’s really hard to think about how you’re going to save a few million dollars to retire on. It feels ridiculous to even write that I want to have a few million dollars one day. It’s hard to imagine that one day I could be my boss’s boss, or what it would take to even get there.
This originally came about as I was planning a “no-spending month” for November so that I could save money for Christmas presents as well as save money for new work clothes if I need them. That got me thinking about step four of the success plan, and I figured if I was going to do one step I might as well try doing them all. I started thinking more about what I could accomplish if I were to put in a steady effort over a period of time.
Here’s the original “bootstrapper’s/marketer’s/entrepreneur’s/fast-rising executive’s effort diet” from Seth Godin’s original article:
1. Delete 120 minutes a day of ’spare time’ from your life. This can include TV, reading the newspaper, commuting, wasting time in social networks and meetings. Up to you.
2. Spend the 120 minutes doing this instead:
* Exercise for thirty minutes.
* Read relevant non-fiction (trade magazines, journals, business books, blogs, etc.)
* Send three thank you notes.
* Learn new digital techniques (spreadsheet macros, Firefox shortcuts, productivity tools, graphic design, html coding)
* Volunteer.
* Blog for five minutes about something you learned.
* Give a speech once a month about something you don’t currently know a lot about.
3. Spend at least one weekend day doing absolutely nothing but being with people you love.
4. Only spend money, for one year, on things you absolutely need to get by. Save the rest, relentlessly.
The recommended time period is six months, except for the limited spending which he recommends doing for one year. That’s a pretty long time and to be honest I am not sure I can keep up the effort for that long. So I am going to give it a shot, but only for one month initially.
That’s one month of spending on only essential items, one month of exercising every day, and one month of reading, learning, and blogging. This month should be interesting, and of course I will let you know how it goes.
