A couple of months ago I came across a website, 101 in 1001 days. The idea intrigued me. Set a certain number of talks to be completed in a certain length of time. And do it out in front of the world. Or at least the World Wide Web. I’ve adapted the idea.

         From June 1 to September 7, which is 99 days, I will document my progress towards 9 tasks. Those tasks, in no particular order are:

Read the Bible in 91 days
Write Cookbook
Write Time Tracker manual
Write “How to pray” booklet
Reorganize E&M
Prepare RFW workshop
FTHRW duties – PPMs, Membership roster, regular duties
Tutor a student
Scan negatives

          I plan on creating a page that will outline what each task means to me, why I chose it and what I hope to accomplish. Throughout the 99 days, I’ll occasionally post my progress and thoughts or insights. (If I really have it together, I’ll create a chart for tracking progress. I doubt that is going to happen. LOL) .

          Knowing me, I’ll probably even try to post changes to the plan. I can’t seem to get through a day without changing something, even if it’s only what I planned to wear. That flexibility is probably my greatest strength, but it is also a huge weakness if not held in check. I start lots of projects and only finish a small percentage. This 9 by 99 project is designed to combat that trait. (“That means no changes!” I tell myself.) I’ve committed to finishing these 9 things and I only have to do it in 99 days. When (notice I didn’t say if) I dream up new projects I want to start (I already have a few I couldn’t put on the list ), I’ll just tell myself I can start on September 8. Or after all these 9 projects are finished. (Wouldn’t that be great? To finish all of them BEFORE the deadline.) Until then, I stick to the plan.

          Obviously, these are not the only things I’ll be doing during the next three months. Just this past week, I’ve had to take time to plan a one-day VBS, harvest and process several things from the garden, cook meals and do routine household chores, attend special meetings and even prepare and deliver a speech, all things NOT on the 9 by 99 list. These nine tasks are the most pressing long(ish) projects in my life. Most of them have been “in the thinking stage” for months. This is my attempt to propel them out of thinking stage and into the doing stage. Knowing my own penchant for starting projects and not quite finishing them, I’m giving myself a reasonable deadline. At the end of 99 days, it will be obvious which projects are finished, which almost finished and which, if any, never got touched. Hopefully, in the process, I will also have focused a little more and changed “course” a little less than usual.

          Wish me luck!