Life is so long. What do you do with your days?

July 3, 2009 11:53 AM

A little while ago I became obsessed with the notion that one could write a novel in a year, the idea being that all you had to do was write a page a day and at the end of a year you'd have a complete manuscript. So I did it! I finished it. And in all honesty, it's pretty bad. I might do it again, or I might not. But it got me thinking what other things people did, a little at a time, in their spare moments every day, that they were hoping would add up to something, some day. So I'm curious - what is it that YOU do?
posted by Sully to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (18 answers total)

I don't think this is what AskMeFi is for.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:57 AM on July 3, 2009

Yeah, "I'll go first!" kind of questions are basically the poster children for chatfilter.
posted by Justinian at 12:01 PM on July 3, 2009

Every day, I flag a post.

In 20 years, I will have done... something.
posted by splice at 12:04 PM on July 3, 2009

Whyever not Chocolate Pickle? It's a roundabout question but a question nonetheless.

As for me, I garden which is possible because I work from home. Over four years I have built up a handsome and jungly city garden from what was essentially nothing. I do it because it's fun but when I come to sell the house it will almost certainly have added value and saleability.
posted by rhymer at 12:04 PM on July 3, 2009

I read MetaFilter a little bit at at time, in my spare moments, every day, hoping it will add up to something meaningful.
posted by jabberjaw at 12:05 PM on July 3, 2009

Sure it will rhymer, until the buyer thinks about the money it will cost them to put in a lawn or pave it over.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 12:07 PM on July 3, 2009

Respectfully, rhymer, the guidelines are a little stricter than 'Is it a question nonetheless?'
posted by box at 12:12 PM on July 3, 2009

Because it's against the guidelines, rhymer. AskMe is not a free-for-all forum, and just because it's a question doesn't mean it belongs here. Flagged.
posted by Phire at 12:12 PM on July 3, 2009

Hey, don't you be badmouthing my garden!

Actually it probably will as it's quite low maintenance and generally conforms to the stylish London garden look, there not being that much you can do with a plot 16'x30'.

That said, if you added up the hours I'd spent on it, and monetized them, you'd be right that I'd better off stacking shelves at Tesco. Anyway, I'm off to catch the last rays of the sun under my fig tree, an experience some would say is priceless, but that I'd value at about £8.
posted by rhymer at 12:15 PM on July 3, 2009

I guess what might have helped this was an out-and-out statement by the poster saying "And now I want to move on to more small-bite-at-a-time projects!". Which might be their intention, but they haven't stated it. I know that I would love to get more ideas for projects I could work on a little at a time, which is why I clicked in.
posted by redsparkler at 12:16 PM on July 3, 2009

With some rephrasing, it could be a perfectly good question, but... yeah.
posted by notquitemaryann at 12:16 PM on July 3, 2009

I raise my kids.
posted by Quizicalcoatl at 12:17 PM on July 3, 2009

I've seen these questions asked a lot. Hell, this thread started out with examples from the OP. What's the difference here?

Anyway, I've tried doing a few photography things a little bit each day. The picture every day thing ended when I started realizing it was 11:30pm and I hadn't gotten anything so I got a picture around my room. I also tried it in the variants of self portrait and the same thing inthe picture each time.

Also tried the photoblog with a new picture each day. Even with 200+ photos from multiple sporting events each week I would find myself falling behind.
posted by theichibun at 12:17 PM on July 3, 2009

Respectfully, rhymer, the guidelines are a little stricter than 'Is it a question nonetheless?'

Perhaps I'm in an unusually amenable mood. But I thought it passed muster as a useful question, albeit one with a rather long preamble.
posted by rhymer at 12:19 PM on July 3, 2009

The thing is, this really could have been a good legitimate question. I'd be quite interested to know the answer to.. "I only have a little spare time each day. What activity could I do that gives a big result from small amounts of effort each day?"

My "answer" right now is two-fold: push-ups and blogging. Both take little time each day and result in great things over time :)
posted by wackybrit at 12:21 PM on July 3, 2009

If the question had been put "What are some cool long-term projects I can work a little bit at a time in my free moments?" I don't think anyone would have a problem. Just because it wasn't phrased especially well doesn't mean it should be pulled.

On preview, what wackybrit said. Stuff like whittling, learning to juggle, etc. would all be reasonable answers to what, I think, is a fairly reasonable question.
posted by Autarky at 12:31 PM on July 3, 2009

One day, as an adult, I decided I wanted to read the Bible. As I child I had read parts of it, mostly in Sunday school-type situations, but not the entire work. Every time I tried to approach it like sitting down to read a novel or a textbook, I just couldn't manage to keep it up. So, I decided to read it a chapter or two each day, beginning with the final New Testament book and proceeding backwards because starting with Genesis seemed to be particularly difficult (read "boring"). I think the first time I completed the whole thing from cover to cover it must have taken more than a year and I felt like I'd achieved something.
posted by fuse theorem at 12:32 PM on July 3, 2009

I knit, fairly slowly. Every five or six months, I have a new sweater!
posted by Kololo at 12:35 PM on July 3, 2009