Posts mit dem Label challenge werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Posts mit dem Label challenge werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Goal Outline - Photography Challenge
Die Challenge sollte ja selbsterklärend sein ;). Ziel? Ich sollte Mark.us mal mit den Posts einholen har har har. Und vielleicht schaff ich ja endlich auch mal eine Challenge … wär schon nett!
20 Days to Organise and Clean your home
Liebe Leser von Mark.us!
Es tut mir leid, dass ich Mark.us zwischen seiner Positionierung Teil 1 und 2 unterbrechen muss, aber über einen Blog, den ich verfolge, bin ich auf folgende Challenge gestoßen:
Und da ich noch keine Challenge angenommen habe, aber seit Beginn als Autor geführt werde, wird es nun Zeit, dass auch ich in den sauren Apfel beiße ;D. Nächsten Montag beginnt die Challenge und dauert zum Glück nur 20 Tage. Davor gibt es einige Pre-Challenge-Tasks, die ich etwas verspätet vorher noch unterbringen muss.
Also begleitet mich die nächste Zeit durch unsere Wohnung und macht am Besten auch gleich mit - Geteiltes Leid ist halbes Leid!
Bis dahin,
Liebe Grüße,
Beatritsche von Beatritsche's Kreaktivität
Es tut mir leid, dass ich Mark.us zwischen seiner Positionierung Teil 1 und 2 unterbrechen muss, aber über einen Blog, den ich verfolge, bin ich auf folgende Challenge gestoßen:
Und da ich noch keine Challenge angenommen habe, aber seit Beginn als Autor geführt werde, wird es nun Zeit, dass auch ich in den sauren Apfel beiße ;D. Nächsten Montag beginnt die Challenge und dauert zum Glück nur 20 Tage. Davor gibt es einige Pre-Challenge-Tasks, die ich etwas verspätet vorher noch unterbringen muss.
Also begleitet mich die nächste Zeit durch unsere Wohnung und macht am Besten auch gleich mit - Geteiltes Leid ist halbes Leid!
Bis dahin,
Liebe Grüße,
Beatritsche von Beatritsche's Kreaktivität
Short Update
For those of you wondering (if someone actually does anyway), I will reconsider the whole challenge/blogging thing during the next few days and come up with some changes.
The first few challenges went rather well but at the moment I feel too restricted by the 30-days-blogging every-day-about-the-progress-with-daily-picture-thing that I was trying to keep going during the last few months. I think that it was a good way to start me into action but now I feel a certain stress with sticking to this scheme. This slowed me down and caused the 1 month delay in blogging to slip, so now I'm actually up to date, which puts even more pressure on my spare time.
The first 3 challenges have proven that I can do it and that I'm not predestined to fail every project I tackle. I also like blogging but to have to come up with text and pictures for every single day is difficult at times and I think that on most days it was more quantity than quality. I decided to change that. I will no longer blog daily but only when I have to tell you something. I will keep you updated on my projects but maybe many of them will not strictly follow the 30-Day rule (e.g. the current clear-out-challenge). Also there will not be a picture with every post, only if I see fit.
If you want to follow me more closely you can follow my new twitter account at twitter.com/mark_us_now where I will tweet about my current life and status in general and also about my projects and thoughts which are too small to justify a full blog entry.
So I hope you stay with me for my upcoming project (which will be clearing out all my old clutter from my apartment) and see you soon (all of my 5 devoted readers;-)) with a new post in about a week.
The first few challenges went rather well but at the moment I feel too restricted by the 30-days-blogging every-day-about-the-progress-with-daily-picture-thing that I was trying to keep going during the last few months. I think that it was a good way to start me into action but now I feel a certain stress with sticking to this scheme. This slowed me down and caused the 1 month delay in blogging to slip, so now I'm actually up to date, which puts even more pressure on my spare time.
The first 3 challenges have proven that I can do it and that I'm not predestined to fail every project I tackle. I also like blogging but to have to come up with text and pictures for every single day is difficult at times and I think that on most days it was more quantity than quality. I decided to change that. I will no longer blog daily but only when I have to tell you something. I will keep you updated on my projects but maybe many of them will not strictly follow the 30-Day rule (e.g. the current clear-out-challenge). Also there will not be a picture with every post, only if I see fit.
If you want to follow me more closely you can follow my new twitter account at twitter.com/mark_us_now where I will tweet about my current life and status in general and also about my projects and thoughts which are too small to justify a full blog entry.
So I hope you stay with me for my upcoming project (which will be clearing out all my old clutter from my apartment) and see you soon (all of my 5 devoted readers;-)) with a new post in about a week.
Goal Outline - Multi Health
My next challenge will not deal with my hobbies as the last two did, but with my overall health and well-being. The last few months have been stressful and exhausting at work and now that it is winter time I usually tend to get lazy and depressive. So to conquer that trend I will use this month to focus on my body. I will eat healthy, take my time for sleeping and give myself a treat with long baths and time to relax. I could have made several separate challenges for different parts of my well-being but I considered that this would take up too much time and many of the tasks seem rather small to devote a whole month of blogging to them. So I put several tasks together to one big challenge.
The planned tasks for the next 30 days are:
- to sleep every day without an alarm clock
- to eat 5 pieces of fruit every day
- to drink only water, tea or fresh juice
- to reduce sugar and sweets as much as possible
- to give myself a full bathroom routine comprising but not limited to the use of conditioner, peeling, body lotion and such every time I would normally only shower and shave
Probably not every task will be easy and maybe I will set another challenge sometime in the future if one of the tasks is especially hard for me. This time I really look forward to the challenge because my expectations are to get back some energy and overcome my usual winter depression and laziness.
30 days: Writing a Novel - Aftermath
Given the fact that a particular idea for a sci-fi-novel is bobbing around in my head for over ten years now but my lazy self could never get around to actually write something down I chose this challenge to finally do something about it. Since it coincided with the NaNoWriMo I took their approach and participated. As a starting point for my novel I wrote down a timeline of historical events that lead to the world in the distant future were my story takes place long ago. I used that historical timeline together with some keywords on a general plot outline, which I also noted down years ago. This was my whole starting material. The things I missed was a strong antagonist, character names and also a big showdown. My hope was that these necessities would come as soon as I get into the process of constant writing. Making things up as you go along is a big part of the NaNoWriMo approach and since I usually need hours to develop a single name for a given character and then lose interest in writing any further this approach appealed to me very much.
What did I expect from this challenge? Well, to be honest I know that I’m far to removed from writing fiction for so long now that I rather wish for a ghost writer to just write down my ideas than to make it myself. What I wanted to achieve is some kind of text which has a considerable length and which at least plots down my novel idea in any kind of form. I was not expecting to get a sensible piece of good literature. It was more a challenge of willpower and to prove myself that it is possible to write down an elaborate and long idea. The hope was that the feeling of getting things out in the real world would give me a sense of success and motivation to go on and continue to be creative.
So what was the result? Well, as you know if you have read the blog so far, I aborted the challenge after 19 days because I couldn’t stand the process. I made it through ⅔ of the time of the challenge and managed to write about ⅓ of the planned 50000 words. I am happy that I have at least gotten some text done and I still think that with some refining my idea can be a decent novel some day in the future, but some obstacles blocked my way now so I will come to the things that lead to the premature ending of this project.
The first thing I noticed during writing is, that writing a long text as such is no longer such a special task for me as it might have been 10 years ago when I first wanted to write a novel. 10 years ago my phrasing in the fiction sector might have been better than now, but then I was unable to even imagine to write such a long piece of text. Today I write texts as a living. I write letters, patent applications and petitions the whole day and if I count the words or pages of what I write each week I think that the amount will be enough for two novels each year. The only difference is that these texts are separate pieces and never one long work of art. Nevertheless the technical process is the same. So, not only do I know that I can write this amount of words, which means that I don’t have to find this out any more, but the actual work itself interferes with how much energy I have left for writing anything else. If I already write 50000 words a month, every month, there just isn’t enough energy to double that amount.
This might have been only part of the reason why this challenge failed. The other main part was that the NaNoWriMo approach is very stressful. If you fall behind it gets harder and harder to reach the finish line. All you can think of is the amount of text you have to produce. Every time inspiration or energy fails, your goal gets a little bit further away and the feeling of failure drags me down. This leads to all kinds of physical symptoms (headaches, tension, insomnia…yes I’m very sensible to that kind of thing) and inhibits further progress so that the goal gets farther and farther out of reach. It is really a downward spiral.
What have I learned from this challenge? I learned that writing fiction as a hobby is a very energy robbing activity. It is isolating in the sense that I cannot do it while doing anything else, like talking to my wife or watching tv or anything. I have to isolate myself, concentrate hard to get into a mood of inspiration and then use this one or two hours to really get along. During writing, my emotion is spiraling up and down. Sometimes I feel like watching a movie in my head and can only barley keep up with writing down what I see. At those times I feel like a big creator, it lifts me up, I feel invincible. But then comes a phase where I doubt everything, my whole existence is at stake, everything I do or think or believe is questioned and deconstructed till there is nothing left but blackness and depression. These ups and downs transcend into everyday life, influence my physical well-being and my relations to others. It would be really neat to have my own novel in hands, but really seeing and feeling the costs of the creative process was new and this is the main part of what I learned. Often in life we all want to have one thing or the other but most often we can only fathom the costs to reach these goals. To try and do it, gave me a clearer picture and I noticed that having the manuscript was not worth the cost at the moment and hence I decided to stop.
Will I finish the novel? Yes. I’m still motivated to do this and blame at least some part of the tedious process to choosing the wrong approach for myself. I thought about two different approaches that I will try during a future challenge. One approach consists of writing every day but without looking at the wordcount. This might be less stressful and lead to less text but also to less negative symptoms. Another approach would be to split the remaining story down into plot parts and distribute the parts over the course of 30 days like I did with the crochet challenge. So far I have already planned my next few challenges so trying to write again will not be scheduled until somewhere next summer at the earliest.
What is always uplifting for me, is writing these summaries. Pondering about my past project, analyzing and planning future projects gives me great pleasure and motivation and this alone is reason enough to continue with these challenges.
Goal Outline - Writing a Novel in 30 Days
So what is my next challenge? I will try to write a novel in 30 days. 50000 words is the goal of the National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) and I will try to participate.
If you know what the NaNoWriMo is you will probably notice that something must be wrong here because NaNoWriMo always takes place in November and now it’s almost December and this years event is nearly over. Well maybe you are new to my blog and haven’t read the ‚About this Blog‘ section, so I will state it again here, that I always post my blog-entries with a one month delay. This has several positive aspects. First of all it is easier to reach your goals if you don’t tell too many people. At least that is an idea that was stated in this TED video and I think this makes sense to me. The second and more practical reason is that with a one month delay I don’t put too much pressure on myself to write, edit and post my entries on a daily basis. I can scribble down some notes and write my blogposts comfortably on the weekend and have some space if something hinders me from blogging. This is really very helpful and I still get the result of a neat blog with regular updates.
So back to topic. If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, please check out the Website or Google it. There is a lot of info about it so I will not explain much. Basically the idea is to write a fictious piece of text with a length of 50000 words within the month of november. It is also a community experience but I must say that I’m not so much the kind of guy who is interested in the big community thing or the forums and stuff of the official NaNoWriMo but rather in the actual writing itself. I just registered because my challenge coincided with the official challenge so I thought I check it out and participate officially.
The idea for my novel is something I carry around with me for almost 10 years now. My viewpoint and the message that I would like to communicate has changed several times during all those years, but some basic concepts stayed with me. I have written a kind of storyboard for the main plot points long ago and also a detailed history of the events that take place before the actual story but as with so many so called writers I didn’t have the diligence to actually write the novel itself. I am also quite a perfectionist so I have always had my problems with finding character names or other small details and this slowed down any attempts to start at all.
Well, the concept of the NaNoWriMo is quantity and a rather punk rock approach. Just write and don’t think to much about details. Work with what you’ve got. You can edit later on. I like that idea because maybe this is the way to finally really write something. So wish me luck and I will give you daily updates how I master this new challenge.
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| by the way the pictures of this month will contain various book art I found on the internet and that appealed to me. Hope you like it. |
30 Days: Crochet - Aftermath
So the first challenge is completed and now I have to summarize what I gained from it. First of all the facts: I made 16 finished project pieces and 2 almost finished ones. The Plan was to make 19 different projects but the asparagus was just not possible to make with the instructions and my skill level at the time. Of course some individual projects like the olives consisted only of two very little pieces, while the almost finished burger had several quite different and larger pieces.
Of course if someone reads this blog who is really good at crochet he/she will probably think that I am pretty pathetic because of the overall achievement of this challenge. I don’t know any people around who are good at crochet so I have no measure if I do ok or suck completely.
But the crochet itself was only the means to an end, namely to find a way to get anything done of the millions of things I want to do in my life. My overall problem is that I’m interested in so many things but never find the time to do any of them. Multitasking is a bitch because actually the more things you do in parallel the less things you get finished at all. If you are like me and want to learn three languages, while directing a movie, writing a book, knitting a scarf and learn to play piano during a week where you also have to train for a triathlon and in between go to the office to actually earn some money, then you probably know the feeling that you try to multitask to manage everything but end up in a total stasis and at the end of the week all you have done is hung out in front of the computer and checked your numerous news-feeds.
If you read the „about this blog“ part you probably know already that finishing things or sometimes even starting on any projects is really tough for me. So one thing I learned during this month is that breaking a goal down into manageable pieces and setting a finish line of 30 days is a good way to focus on only one thing at a time. And as you can see it actually worked for me. I was able to get most of the things done that I wanted to make and so finally can enjoy the success instead of the stale feeling of continued failure. I think especially the finish line is an important feature for me. Breaking down a goal into manageable steps is one thing but without a finish line I would again get the feeling that I won’t have time to make all the other things that interest me and therefore drop into stasis again. But so I know I only have to focus for 30 days and then I’m free for the next project.
An important lecture for me was to stop multitasking! This helped me at work, too. If you work on one thing then work on that thing and nothing else. There will be enough time for other things once you have finished. Another thing for me was to stop being a perfectionist. It is ok to plan ahead the course for a challenge but if you are unable to stick to it or unable to finish every single step you still need to keep going and don’t give up. Better get some things done than none at all. I know this is not any knew knowledge and I start to sound like a fortune cookie but really experiencing that these things work is exciting and uplifting.
At least I won’t start on such things as „live in the moment“ because I don’t believe that this is working for anyone. Maybe it works if you have no fear of ever failing at anything but who actually is so enlightened that he can say this from him/herself. Planning is essential for any project but you have to find the right balance of planning and margin for error.
During the challenge I also experienced that sometimes I’m actually scared of completion. Everything is going well during the planning phase, the beginning and during most of the work but as soon as the end of a piece is in sight I get the urge to stop and pause, almost fearing to cross the finish line. To overcome this feeling several times during this month also helped me because it seems to overwhelm me less frequent. Maybe I’m starting to like the active productive life I always wanted to have but so far were unable to realize in many aspects.
Before someone gets a wrong idea I usually am quite able to manage a lot of things in everyday life and by the average standards of society I think I’m rather at the successful end of the scale but when it comes to my personal projects and interests I tend to be very critical and these projects are the part about which I'm talking in this blog. So as a summarizing sentence I have to say that I’m very happy with the outcome of my first challenge. I managed to create stuff, to learn something about myself, found a way to tackle projects and also improved some aspects of my work-life. So now I will start to plan my next challenge.
Boot Camp
Today I had some time and I wanted to train for my upcoming challenge. So I grabbed some wool and started to make a small crochet piece.
I also tried a new technique for me - namely embroidery (well it was two points stitched onto the piece but still) - and I have to say this will require more practice than I thought. Especially when placing it on a crochet work of mine, with its rather uneven underground made of holes and supertight knots.
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| tool and wool |
But all in all it took me not more than maybe an hour. Ok, given that it was a rather small piece today (an apple-slice - see the finished work on Beatritsche's kreAKTIVität) I will need considerable more time each day during my challenge since most of the pieces I will make are larger than this one. So it will be a month full of sleep deprivation I guess, but without sacrifice there is no victory.
Coming up fast...
So the first challenge is about to start soon. The schedule of the last few weeks was crammed full with work and other stuff, and in the remaining spare time I was too tired to get anything done. Time and again I started to doubt if I will seriously reach my goal, if I can really finish the challenge and not fail after the first three pieces.
Since so many projects before failed right at the start, the fear of adding yet another one to the list of unfinished tasks is overwhelming at times. So far I have laid out the plan for daily goals but my experience in crochet work is not that big and I have no idea if my goals are easy or over the top.
To really achieve something I will have to make myself the rule, that I will not go to sleep unless I have finished my daily task. We'll see if that works out.
Since so many projects before failed right at the start, the fear of adding yet another one to the list of unfinished tasks is overwhelming at times. So far I have laid out the plan for daily goals but my experience in crochet work is not that big and I have no idea if my goals are easy or over the top.
To really achieve something I will have to make myself the rule, that I will not go to sleep unless I have finished my daily task. We'll see if that works out.
The Challenge within the Challenge
While planning my next few weeks of making crochet projects I realized that not only the project itself takes up time but also the blogging about my experiences.
So in reality blogging every day, if possible with a picture to make it more interesting is a challenge in itself. At least while I was researching for new 30 Day challenges I stumbled more than once over the „Write a blog-entry every day“ and „Take a picture every day“ Challenges.
Well so much for pushing my ego - now I continue with planning.
Goal Outline - 30 Days of Crochet
My first challenge will be about dedicating time to a hobby. I have tons of interests but barely find the time to really get anything done. So the next month I will dedicate my time to crochet one (or at least one half of a) piece of my choice every day and see if I can get as many items finished as I planned.
I started crochet because I stumbled across a book with patterns for sweets and candy. I’m not so much into making clothes or doily but little pieces of fruit, vegetables and sweets are the things I like. These pieces are mostly small and made relatively fast (for someone not so good at crochet as I am) and you get nice results.
Only problem is, that my life is not boring enough to find the time to do such things as sit around for hours making needlework. To really get several pieces together I will have to plan my next 30 days very carefully and really find the time to finish them in order to complete this challenge.
Right now I’m planning which pieces I want to make, what colors of wool I will need and how much time each piece will take. The minimum will be 15 pieces in 30 days but maybe I can cram in some more.
What do I expect as a result?
Well, for once I will have at least 15 finished pieces I always wanted to make which is surely a whole lot more than I would have ever made otherwise. But more importantly, I will have to use my daily time more efficiently to make room for a hobby. This time it may be crochet, but the principle is universal. My day consists largely of work and in my spare time I’m rarely at home. Either I work out, go shopping, meet friends or have any other obligations, so making room for a hobby will be the most difficult part.
If I master the challenge I will know how hard it is to realize this. Is it easy for someone with a full schedule to squeeze in one more hobby or isn’t it worth the effort to try? So bare with me and maybe this helps you decide if you would try something similar yourself.
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