Borderline Ridiculous

Hello. My name is Danielle. And I'm a plan-aholic.

While I'm not sure if that's true in every sense of my life, it's definitely true when I have a goal to achieve and failure is not an option. (Is it ever an option, really?) So as I prepare to make the rest of my twenties as action-packed and fun as humanly possible, I've spent some time creating a few tools that I hope will help me along the way.

1) The daily reminder.
This past week I formalized my list even further by printing out a hard copy, laminating it, and putting it on the wall next to my mirror in my bathroom. Naturally, I spend a lot of time there every morning getting ready, so having my "Operation 30 Before 30" list there as a daily reminder of what I've set-out to do is a good visual. I may have to keep moving it so I don't get too used to it. (Can't have it become like wallpaper.) And I'm not quite sure if I'll worry about crossing off completed items as I go since I'm sure the only way to go would be Sharpe on the lamination. I'm actually secretly hoping that it'll help me to memorize the list so that when someone says, "I'm in for #26", then I'll know they're down to dance MJ-style with me to Thriller. :-)

2) My planning "dashboard".
I almost cringe at the use of the term (as we use it at work all too frequently), but in order to be able to take as many trips as needed to accomplish my list, there'll be quite a bit of planning involved. Managing vacation days, travel, transportation, and dates of events that are beyond my control will take some effort, so I created a tracker of sorts to help distinguish which items on my list I already have a solid plan to accomplish (like the tickets I already have for Chuck Berry and Dispatch), versus which I still need to give some thought and attention (um...everything else). Even though right now the list is skewed heavily on the "not yet planned" side, I'm planning to figure out the details in the next few weeks. (Yes, planning to plan...a standard practice for me.) If you've expressed any interest in joining the fun, then I just might be bothering you soon to pull together the details.



3) A lovely Gantt chart.
Aside from my trusty Google calendar, I wanted a way to map out the potential activities on my list to make sure I not only had time to do them, but time to prepare as well. I expect this to come in most handy as I determine which marathon and triathlon to do since the preparation involved will take months, not weeks. I'm also envisioning ways I can knock off two things at once as I travel for my baseball trips. (On that note, I think I'm narrowing in on Boston, San Diego, Seattle, Phoenix, and/or Denver for my next stadiums to fulfill #1.) I can't wait!




So while I realize the amount of time I've spent creating these reminders and tools is not something many people would deem worthwhile or even necessary- I don't care. Just having the framework of a plan makes me feel one step closer to accomplishing my list. It may be borderline ridiculous, but it works for me!

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