Could you recommend some year-long projects?

December 31, 2018 8:59 AM

I did a few year-long projects in 2018 (1 Second Everyday videos), set some goals (read a certain number of books, run a certain number of miles), and tracked some data about myself (total steps for the year, miles traveled by plane) and it has been a genuine pleasure to look back at the results and the progress I made. Could you recommend some similar year-long projects for 2019? I’m particularly interested in data and projects that are relatively simple to track and/or accomplish with my phone, laptop, or e-reader, but I’m open to other projects, too.

I'm interested in both general recommendations of things you think might be interesting or things you’ve done in the past that you enjoyed or found meaningful. I generally have a terrible memory for day-to-day or week-to-week things, and one of the most surprising outcomes of my goals, projects, and tracking from 2018 is how much more I remember as a result!

So far, for 2019 I’ve decided to:
- Use the Reporter app to answer daily questions and track location data;*
- Track the number of pounds of clay I throw on the wheel;
- Set a goal of reading 35 books, tracked via Goodreads and Kindle (repeat); and
- 1 Second Everyday videos (repeat)

I have an iPhone, a Windows laptop, a Kindle, and an old Fitbit. I’m open to considering other (sub-$200) devices and apps, too, if they would have particularly interesting results.

*sciencemandan's question is helping me think through this, too, but if you have other short daily questions to recommend I add to my list in Reporter, that would be great too! (So far I’m using the standard built in questions and a mood-tracking question.)

posted by cimton to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Do you know how to knit? You can make a Sky Scarf. Basically you note the colour of the sky at the same time every day, choose a colour of yarn that matches, and knit a row on your garter stitch scarf. At the end of the year, you have a scarf that is also a record of the weather.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:36 AM on December 31, 2018 [6 favorites]

In 2018 I've been doing DuoLingo (Pro; there was a nice New Year's sale) on my phone in a language I know well enough to get by in but struggle with the formal grammar of. Lately I have been really feeling the progress I've made, and it's increasingly natural to switch to that language for everyday phrases. The app does daily reminders and has a (very forgiving) "streak" feature that I've come to like much more than I thought I would.
posted by teremala at 12:19 PM on December 31, 2018 [4 favorites]

This CNBC article claims that if you carefully/religiously/visually track your income, expenses and savings you might end up being a millionaire and retiring early. I wish I was younger to give it a try, since I can't retire "early" now. You might want to read it and see if you think it's something you'd find worthwhile (???).
posted by forthright at 12:27 PM on December 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

Build a wooden ship. Maybe hard to quantify, but still - you'll have a wooden ship. If you don't like wooden ships, you sell it at a profit.
posted by BWA at 3:14 PM on December 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm finding that as I get older and the old bonds weaken, I'm losing contact with old friends, so I've been trying out goals like "write a long email/letter to x people" or "meet up with x people for coffee/lunch/drinks" etc. to reconnect. Sometimes x is a specific list of names. Left to my own devices, I'd probably never get around to reaching out (and left to their own devices etc.), so although it feels a little weird to gamify relationships through goal-setting, it's also just been, like, really nice to see people I haven't seen in a long time, and recognize that by expressly carving out space in my life for it.
posted by cdefgfeadgagfe at 5:13 PM on December 31, 2018 [3 favorites]