Tiny Houses are for Hipsters and University Students Like You

Day 12: Define Goals for this Year

It is really important, if one hopes to simplify their life and instill a stronger sense of meaning, to define goals in a concrete way.  To actually write what you hope to achieve is a powerful thing, and having a record improves the chances that you will fulfill them. I try to write goals all the time in the journal that I keep, little weekly goals (beside the school work to-do lists I have).  These little weekly goals help instill a personal sense of direction and bring me a stronger feeling of fulfillment at the end of the day.

Annual goals, however, I don't seem to make or keep as often.  Short term daily, weekly, and even monthly goals are my driving force.  Creating a year-long plan, however? Yeesh. No way.  Part of this is due to the summer blitz of unknowns at the beginning of a college student's calendar year, so setting goals in January is a no-go for me.  But now that it is April and I can (mostly) anticipate what my summer will entail, I can write out these goals with confidence that I can anticipate the general trajectory of the next year.

So I wrote out my goals for the year in the journal I keep right alongside all the other tiny goals I keep, available for my own perusal at my leisure.  Some are simple, personality or otherwise oriented.  Some are silly and deal with summer fun I hope to have (camping/exercising galore!).  And others pertain to college achievement and my summer job.

Day 13:Clean Out Closet

College dorm rooms are pretty small.  I'm like a cool hipster, living in a tiny house, being all selective with my possessions and getting really good at rotating wardrobes based on seasons. Keeping only tiny nick-nacks if they bring me joy (2 palm sized pigs and a pet rock named Leonardo) and being ruthless about what clothes I want to keep around.

Over Christmas break, my aunt introduced me to the "Marie Kondo Method" to possessions and (very importantly) clothes.  Basically, you pile high EVERY SINGLE clothing item onto your bed and really take a hard look at the MASS you have.  We own SO. MANY. CLOTHES. Then you touch every single piece and really think on what it is worth to you.  If wearing that item makes you genuinely happy, you keep it.  If you feel indifferent about it or it makes you feel guilty or sad, away it goes. I got rid of 4 bags of clothes this way, and I am pleased with the current state of my closet, so I didn't get rid of anything on day 13... :)  At the end of the year, when I'm back home in Glasgow for a few weeks, maybe I'll pile everything up again and have a spring cleaning.

HERE ENDS WEEK 2 OF THE CHALLENGE

Day 14: Take Step Towards Learning New Skill

Woo! I did my first embroidery today!! I've been planning on trying it for a while, but whenever I start anything new I am nervous that I'm going to mess up and waste material, etc.  I didn't have time to really plan out anything elaborate or draw a design, I just wanted to try out a few different stitches.  I now know that I need a needle with a MUCH bigger eye (I had unroll the thread into the six little threads and place each one through they eye one at a time...tedious), and that I care more for one kind of hoop over another.  Also, eyeing straight lines are hard.  It was good to figure those kinds of things out before I try to work on bigger projects on better materials, etc.

Back stitch "Hi" with a French Knot "i" dot. My french knot is no beuno. Better luck next time!

Day 15: Examine Daily Habits

Wake Up.  Panic all day.  Repeat.

Juuuuust kidding!

 Last year, however, I probably would have wholeheartedly agreed with that description of my day, Freshman year I felt panic stricken most of the time, actually. I'm not exactly sure what the change is this year, but I just feel comfortable completing routine homework and tackling bigger projects. Deadlines don't cause me to freeze and mentally tailspin like they used to.

This year, and specifically this semester, I have a real deal schedule that extends beyond fixed class times, like scheduled study time and group work time and a rhythm for when to complete weekly class work, etc.  Some habits that have sprung from this semesters routine are good, such as eating a (big) breakfast every morning, being way ahead on submitting work and doing the work a over the course of a few days, working out at minimum 2 days a week, etc..  Some bad habits, however, have taken root, such as working on the computer right up until I go to bed (resulting in wide awake tossing and turning for 45 minutes before sleep comes to me), checking phone immediately when waking up, watching TV too much on the weekends, etc. So, this day goes hand in hand with Day 5, Day 11, and Day 12(identify your priorities, goals, commitments), making sure that daily habits are reflecting how you really want to live your life.

Day 16: Don't Buy Anything for 24 Hours
Going a whole day without buying anything is really easy on campus, to be fair.  I can bring my own tea to class, I eat on campus (on a dining plan paid for months ago, so I didn't count dining going to the dining center as buying anything during the 24 hours), and there really aren't many more purchasing opportunities.

If I lived in an apartment, I suppose I would have had to worry about groceries and other necessities.  And if I wasn't going to college, maybe I would be planning on buying a household something or another (like, a fridge, or something). But on cute little UND campus, buying opportunities not a-plenty.

Day 17:Practice Single Tasking
Single tasking is real good for you and you know it. Maybe you don't know it. Most of the time I don't.

I use an app to keep myself off my phone during important testing weeks (finals week savior) that locks me out from checking my phone during a set amount of time that I program.  If I stay motivated and off my phone, at the end of a time period, I have a little tree planted that represents how long I stayed focused. If I look at my phone, the tree dies, and I have a withered stump to punish me the rest of the day.

You might be saying "WHA?"

For those emotional souls like myself, it works.  Even a virtual tree is enough to keep my off my phone (but the impending doom of a test is not?) and single tasking. Seriously, if you were planting a forest that looked like this, you would be pumped, right? You would be motivated to plant little cute trees and shrubs AND get good grades.

This is my greatest tree field yet.  That was a weird statement, I acknowledge that.

Day 18:Unfollow and Unfriend
I've been pumped for this day! WOO. I'm going to selfishly sweep through my Facebook friends and "friends" and get RID of people and pages that are negative, uninteresting, or people I just don't recognize any more. So, here is the tally, Everyone: I am 73 "friends" lighter on the Faceblog. And it's great. So, sorry people I don't know any more of have never really known.  No more seeing posts about Ellen's latest blog update.

During lent, one of the things I did was give up Instagram, WHICH WAS THE BOMB, because then when I got back on Instagram after 40 days, I purged myself of pages I didn't like and people that were negative.  If I'm going to be spending any time on social media, I am fed up with being dragged in any direction but up.  Being sobered up by reality is something I will leave for my reading the newspaper.  But Instagram is a fun-only zone now.

Here are some people (on Instagram) that bring me genuine joy to follow on:

• Laura Miller (a vegan chef that strings fruits and vegetables into necklaces and wigs, then dances in them.  It's everything you never knew you wanted to see.)
• Daisy Ridley (The adorable, smart, and humble woman who played "Rey" in the latest star wars.  She posts pictures of herself giving piggy back rides to Mark Hamill [Luke Skywalker] and uses hashtags like #putyourlightsabersintheair #ifyoujustDOcare)
• Chatty the Big Pink Pig (Because it is an adorable pig.  Like a regular pig, not that teacup crap.)
• Sara Hollenbeck (sarasheeplady, because puns and videos of sheep and goats are for everyone)

•